Mission – Chinook Fund seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado.
Vision – Chinook Fund envisions a Colorado where social justice movements are abundantly resourced and liberated communities are thriving.
Lamar Unidos, Fall 2023 grantee
As we do our work, we are guided by the following values:
In our words and actions, we honor the inherent dignity, strength, and wisdom of the individual and the collective. We actively challenge practices that dehumanize and isolate people, and cultivate practices that bring people together across our differences to achieve community-led, systemic change, justice, and peace. We believe everyone has a role to play in collective liberation.
We build caring, respectful relationships with one another. Recognizing our interdependence, we are committed to action that moves us all closer to our vision of liberation, connection and abundance. We honor our relationship with the natural world, which sustains us all.
We are honest, accessible, and transparent in our work, and advocate for the same in our partner organizations and in the field of philanthropy. We understand the power and responsibility that comes with being a mobilizer of financial resources, and are accountable to our community.
We encourage learning, experimentation, and innovative thinking, as well as support the development of grassroots leaders. We embrace our role as leaders in the movement for social justice philanthropy, and are willing to take strategic risks in service of our vision of abundantly resourced movements. We intentionally center BIPOC leadership and prioritize funding BIPOC-led groups.
Over the course of a year, our board and staff members worked to imagine and craft our vision for the world we know is possible. We are excited to share our strategic plan with you. Special thanks go to Project Mosaic for their support with our strategic planning process.
As part of the strategic plan process, Chinook Fund board and staff comprehensively reviewed our core organizational pillars and reaffirmed our mission, vision, and values. You can trust that Chinook Fund remains steadfast in our mission to seed community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado. In support of our vision, Chinook Fund identified four areas for action in the coming years.
”Chinook Fund is forever committed to growing, evolving, and changing with the times. From our future name change to deepening our political education around Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty, this Strategic Plan affirms and powerfully centers grassroots and BIPOC leadership at all levels of the organization.
Crystal MiddlestadtExecutive Director
Chinook Fund’s founders named the organization after the Chinook Winds, a warm spring wind that melts snow over the Rockies. These winds were a symbol for the change Chinook Fund founders envisioned for our communities. We honor this history, and acknowledge that the term “Chinook” refers to a group of Indigenous Peoples, cultures, and languages of the Pacific Northwest, which the Chinook Winds were named after. We acknowledge and affirm the cultural, political, and historical significance of the term “Chinook” in the Pacific Northwest, and we look forward to gathering community feedback as we embark on the journey towards our new organizational name.
Action items:
Archival image showing the original ‘winds of change’ branding
With the support of community members, grantees, and board members, Chinook Fund will continue to develop and refine our organization’s understanding of Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty as it relates to grantmaking, political education, and organizational leadership. We committed to this racial justice priority, along with peers in the National Giving Project Network, during our 2019 strategic planning process.
Action items:
Justice for the People Legal Center, Fall 2023 Grantee
We look forward to refining Chinook Fund’s funding criteria to better align with the organization’s mission and vision. We do not anticipate significant changes to core criteria or priority areas. To drive this work forward, we will be convening a Program Committee that includes representatives from grantee organizations.
Action items related to rebranding/renaming:
DASHR, Fall 2023 Grantee
We commit to ensuring staff feel supported, resourced, and valued. To foster a healthy culture and work environment, we remain committed to a 32-hour full-time work week and plan to deepen investments in team building, collaborative goal-setting, and cultivating spaces of belonging. Meet our staff team.
Action items:
Chinook Fund Staff Team, Summer 2024
As we progress with our strategic plan, we look forward to continue seeding organizations at the forefront of racial, economic, disability, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ justice.
If you feel inspired by this work and want to be further involved with Chinook Fund, we invite you to join a Giving Project or make a gift to Chinook Fund.
