What’s happening with… CCF Chapters?

By CCF 

Curious about what CCF Chapters are, and how to join or form one so that you can connect, translate the CCF values and principles into direct action and advocacy that works for your local context? We got you!

Imagine this: You’re fired up after first hearing Community-Centric Fundraising echo things that have long bothered you about the nonprofit industrial complex and the philanthropic sector. You joined the CCF Slack or Mighty Network and learned that there are others in your region that are organizing to do do something about it in your local context! You’ve inadvertently stumbled upon a CCF Chapter! 

Or… 

You’ve joined the Mighty Network and there isn’t a channel for your region, but you and some of your local friends and colleagues know there is critical mass to start one. You want to organize around what would make a difference in your community. You’re about to start a CCF Chapter! 

CCF Chapters are local groups that translate the CCF values and principles into direct action and advocacy that works for their local context. Chapters resource people doing the on-the-ground work, help improve their immediate felt environment at their jobs, help build solidarity with others experiencing the same oppressions, and they are beginning to cross-pollinate between each other to serve as critical infrastructure for the movement!

How to find your local Chapter (if there is one):

There are CCF Chapters being formed all around the globe! But so far, we have eight official chapters that have signed on with CCF Global and a CCF Book Club (which will be featured in next week’s “What’s happening with…”) The official Chapters include: DC Metro, Denver, Greater L.A., New Mexico, Sonoma County, Texas, Toronto, and WA Ignite! (with more being added all the time!)

We asked our chapters for details on their leadership, structure, and how to get involved, but as we all know: everyone is hella busy all the time, and we’re running on BIPOC time, so only a few were able to share their structures with us ahead of this article. As chapters share their information with us, we’ll add those updates to the new Current Chapters page here. Here are the details we received from chapters (in alphabetical order):

DC Metro

Chapters Stewards:

Structure: CCF DC Metro coordinates monthly virtual gatherings on the CCF Mighty Network and offers in-person community gatherings in the DC area once per quarter.

Join Them: You can join the Mighty Network regional chat for CCF DC Metro here (register for Mighty Network here), or fill out this form to be added to the email list.

Denver

Chapter Stewards:

Structure: CCF Denver meets virtually for a facilitated learning session one month and in-person for an unconference style meeting in the Denver Metro area the next. Additionally, they host monthly socials, and a white affinity group and learning space. Through the summer, they will be hosting monthly virtual Troika Consulting sessions in lieu of their regular meetings.

Join Them: You can join the Mighty Network regional chat for CCF Denver here (register for Mighty Network here), follow the Instagram here, or email them here.

Toronto

Chapter Stewards:

Structure: CCF Toronto meets periodically. They are aiming for meeting at least one time a year, if not more. They talk about the need for new gen fundraisers to find connection in CCF, talk about local issues (such as AFP GTC and its reckoning with anti-Black racism), and share opportunities to connect individually or as a group to follow CCFers. 

Join Them: You can join by reaching out to Esther, Rickesh, or Maria via LinkedIn.

WA Ignite!

Chapter Stewards:

Structure: CCF WA Ignite! meets in-person once a month on the third Thursday of the month for a lunch & learn (bring your own lunch) in Tacoma, Washington to talk about Community-Centric Fundraising, the principles, and get to know each other.

Join Them: You can join the Mighty Network regional chat for CCF WA Ignite! here (register for Mighty Network here), or email or call Jennifer Li Dotson (jenniferlidotson@gmail.com, 657-888-2622) or email Jarrod Wright (jarrodw@upliftnw.org).

You can find other chapters who are (fingers crossed) in the process of signing their Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) on the CCF Mighty Network. To learn more about that, check out our “What’s happening with…“ piece from last week!

How to create a local Chapter (if there isn’t one):

Local Chapters can be started by anyone who is willing to steward one! If you would like to form a group, here are some general guidelines and requests:

• Join our Mighty Network to find similarly interested folks and start up your own CCF group. (there may already be one started! So be sure to check first.)
• Review the CCF Values and Principles to ensure you are generally aligned with them. You don’t have to agree with everything, of course, since we are exploring and learning together. But, overall, you should generally agree with them.
• Center and prioritize the voices and lived experience of people of color and other people from marginalized communities.

If you want to make it official and want to organize with CCF Global and future iterations of the Chapter Cohort, reach out to Abigail to learn more and sign the MOA.

Some advice as you formulate your CCF Chapter:

• This is a movement, so try to be flat, equitable, and non-hierarchical in your leadership structure.
• Be okay with taking risks and making mistakes, and prepared to take accountability and do repair.
• Be thoughtful about colleagues who have disabilities, neurodiversities, caretaking responsibilities, those who are in recovery from alcohol or substances, those who must use public transportation, and more. Have meetings in accessible spaces, free from addictive substances, reachable by public transportation during times that may be outside of work hours, etc.
• Have fun. This is a movement to transform fundraising to be more aligned with equity and social justice. That sounds serious, but fundraisers have always been amazing, creative, hilarious folks. Create a sense of fun and community when you can.

If your community is mainly white, you can still form a CCF Chapter. Here is some advice:

• Be thoughtful about centering and not otherizing or burning out the people of color in your chapter. Too often, BIPOC folks are relegated to teaching positions and forced to spend their time continually educating others. It is tiring, especially in spaces that are meant to center them.
• Consider including a white ally affinity and learning group space in your planning. White allies can be extremely helpful by talking about various topics among themselves in order to prevent leaders of color from having to do the emotional and other labors of constantly educating our white colleagues and managing unchecked fragility.
• Be aware of the tendency of recreating systems of oppression including that drive people of color away from spaces. Ensure that you are not consciously or unconsciously excluding people of color. Take time to build relationships and where you can, encourage people of color, with the end goal of ensuring that leadership of your chapter is eventually led by people of color.

The immediate plans for Chapters:

CCF Global is beginning to set the groundwork to help Chapters cross-pollinate more so they can help each other solve the local challenges and build the movement out to be more accessible. To that end, CCF Global is organizing the first Chapter Pilot Cohort—a peer-led intentional space where Chapter Stewards will gather and decide what their biggest pain points are and solve them as a group!

The Cohort will also receive some value-added training from CCF Global, starting with Advocacy 101 next month!

The Chapter Pilot Cohort had an unofficial meeting during the CCF Family Reunion, and it’s first virtual meet and greet and discussion, but it’s not too late to join! 

Chapters who have signed a MOA with CCF Global will be invited to participate. 

Let us know in the comments, via email, or by carrier pigeon if you need to, what else you might need or want to know about CCF Chapters in order to get involved, build your own, or make change in your local context.