Dear Social Justice Fund community,
I’m honored to share with you the work that our Rural Justice Giving Project did together over the past six months. With an ambitious team of 14 people, we exceeded our fundraising goal and got to fund an incredible group of grantees.
Over the last six months, we committed to learning together about grassroots organizing in rural communities across our region. Social Justice Fund NW always funds work in rural places, but this was a unique opportunity to focus our resources in communities often ignored by urban-centric social justice movements.
I’m proud to share that we raised $130,587 from 115 donors and made grants to six organizations across the Northwest! Each of these grants is for two years, which gives our grantees more stability in their funding and allows them to focus on organizing their communities.
I had been interested in joining a giving project for some time, and after starting a new job I felt like I finally had the time, capacity and resources to really commit to a giving project. I was also excited about focusing on funding organizing in rural communities and being a part of Social Justice Fund NW’s first Rural Justice Giving Project.
One of my favorite experiences from the Giving Project was traveling to Montana for site visits. Seeing the context in which our prospective grantees do their work really enhanced my understanding of why funding rural organizing is so critical.
I’m especially inspired by the work of Western Native Voice. I got to meet with some of their organizers and members at the Crow Fair in August. Their voter outreach and civic engagement work leads to concrete victories for Native communities & strengthens tribal sovereignty. The organizers at Western Native Voice have built a powerful Native American voting bloc on and off the seven reservations in the state. And this is their first grant from Social Justice Fund NW!
0Read more about the six organizations we funded in this Giving Project here. I hope you’re as inspired by them as I am.
Even though my Giving Project is finished, I’m looking forward to staying connected with Social Justice Fund NW. Down the road, I hope to participate in another giving project. I’ll also be at the SJF annual dinner in a few weeks, along with several of these grantees if you want to learn more about their work–hope to see you there!
In community,
JulieAnne Behar
Rural Justice Giving Project Member