By: Sagried Slater, Impact Revenue Specialist at Common Future

Overall, life was great; but the cauldron was boiling. The discord between who I was outside of work and who I was at work was palpable (admittedly a personal battle and not my employer’s). Values I held dear and upheld in “real life” clashed with who I was at work…Then I found CCF.

In 2010, I saw the Dalai Lama speak at Radio City. “Be grateful for those who give you the practice of forbearance,” he said. That stuck. I muttered it every weekday when I got off the subway in midtown en route to work — quite null of serenity.

Getting older is tough. Choices seem to carry a heavier weight. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I’m inching closer to breathlessness, or maybe it’s the decades of experience and insight. Beauty’s in the voyage, too, of course; it’s just opaque sometimes. I’m grateful to see it.

Even in my career. Especially in my career.

Through the values of acceptance and compassion, I’ve gifted myself grace. Whose path is paved?

Full disclosure: my jughandle of a path only recently landed me in nonprofits. While reassessing career choices, I considered how the sector had been a life constant through decades of volunteer work. I saw an opportunity. Then I sat on it for nine more years.

It’s not to say I was unhappy. Overall, life was great; but the cauldron was boiling. The discord between who I was outside of work and who I was at work was palpable (admittedly a personal battle and not my employer’s). Values I held dear and upheld in “real life” clashed with who I was at work. How can I advocate for authenticity and insist on it from others when I find discomfort in being my true self at work? Isn’t work most of “real life”? Inquiry is liberating. By the time our masks came on in 2020, the queries had led to an all-encompassing commitment to values alignment and a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration.

Then I found CCF.

My new colleagues at Community Credit Lab (CCL) introduced us: “We’re dedicated to Community-Centric Fundraising.” The first paragraph on the homepage hooked me. Now that made sense. So I unlearned and learned through the insight and righteous writings of CCL’s grant consultant Cami Aurioles, webinars with Marisa DeSalles, and The Hub.

CCL is also centered around racial and economic justice, so I anticipated parallels with CCF’s 10 Principles. From seeing the work as a whole (#9) to difficult conversations (#6) to prioritizing the collective (#2), there wasn’t a time when my colleagues did not represent the principles. It is a testament to values — individually and organizationally — to stand true.

Especially through an acquisition.

There’s something about these organizations grounded in equity, driven by justice, and shifting power to community-rooted solutions.

In October, CCL was acquired by Common Future (CF), an organization which is also focused on racial and economic equity (#10). The transparency and decentralized decision-making of CCL’s Co-Founders, Sandhya Nakhasi and Ryan Glasgo, throughout the process is reflective of their values, the work they do, and the words they speak. Our team was held with and in trust, respect, and transparency (#4,#6). If you’ve been through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), you know how organizationally and emotionally significant this is.

And the voyage…

So now I sit within CF’s all-BIPOC Revenue team — a team which created the Equity Commitment, a tool to balance the power dynamics of the funder/grantee relationship. Guided by Rakiba Kibria, radical candor and authenticity are encouraged. Breath!

There’s something about these organizations grounded in equity, driven by justice, and shifting power to community-rooted solutions. Does the work of dismantling oppressive systems inherently prioritize staff? In my experience, yes — and a bias for action, learning, and adaptability attract this inclination for intra-organizational alignment.

Why am I sharing all of this?

1. I want you to feel supported.
2. I want to shine a light on organizations giving us that support — living their values internally and challenging exploitive models.
3. I want that light to spore.

Working in supportive, flexible environments with inspiring, grounded, and thoughtful folx has validated my “nine-year decision” more times than I can count. In the past two years, my mother got diagnosed with breast cancer; I evacuated twice due to fires; my longtime partner and I had to move into an 8×9 room (yeah, we’re exes now); I moved twice; and COVID obliterated my mind for months. I know y’all haven’t forgotten the pandemic and upheavals. That convergence and balance of the personal and societal was/is overwhelming to countless people.

In truth, I am lucky and deeply grateful — mom is healthy; my extremely hard-working father finally retired (what up, grind culture); I’m alive; my brain works; I spent months abroad; I reunited with family and friends after years apart; and I love my new home. I named those afflictions to emphasize that I’m not sure I would have gotten through all of that with my mental health intact — let alone thrived — without the support from my organizations and the values they upheld during those times. Societally, my hope for a rising phoenix wouldn’t have endured, that’s for sure.

I wonder what I could have done with that support in a brighter year.

Think of what we could do together with that support.

A few years ago, I would never have shared those trials online. But I find myself contently — clumsily, at times — embracing my vulnerability fully in this comprehensive push for authenticity. Real life. Where my personal practice of forbearance includes expressing boundaries, where I gift myself grace, and where alignment enlivens this latest inch to breathlessness.

Oxygen.

“Put your mask on first before assisting others.” Y’all have heard it before. Whatever you need to find your breath, I encourage you to do it. Will it work? Will it be the right path? I don’t know, but inquire and maybe you will. It may not be easy; it likely won’t be. But if you’re here, you’re a changemaker. It’ll flow.

Transformation (#9). Healing (#10). Collective (#2). Abundance (#3).

There’s a fractal physiology to the breath.

Rise and raise, unicorns. “We got this.”