We talk about community so much at CCF, but it was still so heartwarming to know how many of my friends and family I was able to lean on after being laid off… It is in this time that you find out just how much your support network is willing to do to be in your presence and support you. Cherish that.
Can people change? Captain America: Brave New World and CCF.
This is about superheroes, but more than that, it’s about how we judge changing, redemption, and accountability in our real-world institutions.
“I would have done more, but…”
In 1969, a law required private foundations to distribute 5% of their hoard. This means that a foundation hoarding $1 million only has to pay out a max of $50k. Most foundations do this – the absolute minimum – regardless of the condition of the world and how much funding is actually needed.
Becoming the desert’s memory
Becoming the Desert’s Memory reflects the endurance, wisdom, and adaptive beauty of disabled, Black, Native, and of color bodies – how we grow, re-member, and make meaning within conditions not meant for our thriving.
How to apply the foundational yogic principles of Yama and Niyama to Fundraising
I found it helpful to draw parallels between [the Yamas and Niyamas] principles and various elements of my life to better understand them. They’ve provided a framework that has shaped my approach to both work and fundraising efforts.
My legacy as a descendant of the Taíno and African peoples who withstood Cristoforo Colombo and his ilk
This is the story of one holiday of many that keeps the room’s colonial mythology alive. In telling it, I hope to help reconstruct the room in truth, so that its warmth no longer depends on exclusion.
When my life is no longer a priority funding issue: A love letter and a thank you note to resource organizers
Like resource organizers have always known, the interest of those with money and class privilege comes and goes, but the work continues. I know the work we do matters, and I am grateful that I get to do it with you.
Rethinking stewardship: Who deserves our time (and why)
How my lived experience as both charity recipient and fundraiser taught me that true stewardship should center community, not cash…
From assumptions to integration: Examining your positionality throughout your community-engaged partnerships
Examining your positionality before, during, and after engaging with historically marginalized communities is so important to the work and allows you to reflect deeply on who you are working with, and why you are working with them. I argue that this reflection can be extremely helpful to be a better researcher, funder, and community-engaged practitioner.
The case for unrestricted funding: Why true equity in philanthropy starts with autonomy
But what is unrestricted funding, and what room is there for it in the philanthropic sector? More importantly, how will it change the way we manage programs, and how will it contribute to building more equitable and anti-colonial practices within a still-colonial system?
Defunding of the ECJ Communities Grants: The scale of what is being taken from communities nationwide
The actions of the Federal Government have caused harm. For grantees, this has in some cases led to them laying off staff, spending limited resources without reimbursement, and may even result in threatening an organizations’ existence. It has certainly eroded relationships built with communities over years. And life-saving measures that were going to be implemented will not.
Maybe it’s time to acknowledge scarcity… in order to cultivate collective abundance
Someone working from [a Collective Abundance] model doesn’t wait for big grants to trickle down. They find creative, hyper-local ways to resource others in the community by sharing donors ethically, co-hosting campaigns, exchanging labor, pooling sponsorships, and even trading non-cash resources that reduce expenses.