Project Members for SJF.
I learned about the Social Justice NW Fund through a random search online and was intrigued by the organization’s social justice lens to philanthropy. I joined a Giving Project because I wanted to learn more about what that meant, challenge myself in fundraising, and build community.
Joining a Giving Project was a way for me to take action after the haze of the election. I wanted to be a part of the movement/the resistance and this felt like the best way for me to support a number of badass POC-led, social justice-led organizations. It was a way to leverage my voice, my time, my community, and our collective dollars to build power.
The entire Giving Project process was an incredibly powerful experience.
One of the most meaningful takeaways for me was being able to engage with the discomfort of asking for money and confronting, especially, race and class privilege and assumptions, while staying connected to our group and the purpose of the Giving Project – resourcing movement work addressing root causes of injustice, led by people most directly affected.
Social Justice Fund NW provided me with an opportunity, as a white cisgendered person, to play a role in the movement that felt appropriate and fulfilling for my identity. Not only did I really want to move money toward social justice in the region, I was also looking for new ways to engage with my friends and family about racism and economic justice in our communities.
An interview with Chieko Phillips, Immigration Justice Giving Project member. Why did you sign up for a Giving Project? Immigration has never been “my issue” and given the increased political attention to the immigration issues, my lack of knowledge started to feel more like ignorance. I decided to join the Immigration Justice Giving Project not […]
As an undocumented individual who received the opportunity to join the professional workforce thanks to DACA, I wanted to be part of the solution to address the many challenges that our immigrant communities are facing with this administration. Joining the Immigrant Justice Giving Project allowed me to learn about front-line organizations doing the amazing work to organize and protect our immigrant communities across the region.
I signed up for a Giving Project because I wanted to learn more about who was leading change in our communities in the Pacific Northwest. I wanted to also learn about organizing work being led in rural communities. I was especially interested in being part of the Inter-generational Giving Project to meet people of different generations who had different perspectives and experiences than myself.
I always wanted to figure out a way to be active in social justice issues and what my action would be. I am not the kind of person who would be on the front lines and SJF helped me find that niche for me.
I am so amazed at how much I learned during this process. One of my main takeaways from this project is the importance of a broad, inclusive movement – one that is both led by those who are most impacted and that also works to engage a wide range of communities.
We as individuals are so powerful. An action makes such a huge impact when we are working together with other dedicated individuals.
SJF’s focus is on organizations led by and communities most affected systemic racism, organizations addressing the root causes of oppression and racism, and organizations that are nimble and able to address the changing needs of their community.
Asking people to support this work required that I be vulnerable, and sometimes voice strong opinions that might differ from the opinions of my family, friends, and co-workers. Yes, being able to raise the resources for this movement is important, but creating these moments to talk about Police Accountability and help build this movement through ourselves and our own communities is just as important. These powerful conversations might not have happened, if it weren’t for my involvement in this Giving Project.
One of the most important things I learned about gender justice work is that we need both organizations with proven strategies AND organizations coming up with new, creative solutions to achieve gender justice. No one is perfect, nor does any one person have the absolute solution to justice. We need to support a wide variety of organizations using different tactics and reaching different communities to see our vision of gender justice become reality.
In addition to expanding my personal analysis of race and class, the giving project positively challenged my understanding of how social change happens. I came into this project thinking that policy changes, from the top down, are what made positive impacts on communities and individuals. This giving project helped me see that what really drives long lasting and sustainable social change is when the communities most directly impacted are leading the fight against injustices.
This Giving Project is my third (Environmental Justice in 2011/Movement Building Giving Project in 2015) and each time I find them highly educational, rewarding, and inspiring. So I was looking for a Giving Project in 2017 to lift my spirits and to engage with others in meaningful social justice focused philanthropy!