Skip to main content

Annual Report 2021

FISCAL YEAR JULY 2020 - JUNE 2021

Artwork by Evann Waterman | on Instagram @evannsumner

ABOUT CHINOOK FUND

OUR MISSION

Chinook Fund seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado.

Center for African American Health

OUR VALUES

As we do our work, we are guided by the following values:

LIBERATION

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.

INTEGRITY

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 steward of financial resources and are accountable to our constituents.

COMMUNITY

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.

LEADERSHIP

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.
Staff Wellness Retreat with Apprentice of Peace

34 YEARS OF SOCIAL IMPACT

Chinook Fund has a rich history of organizing and funding social justice work across Colorado. Visit timeline.chinookfund.org to learn more through our interactive timeline.

1,059

GRANTS GIVEN

$4M

GIVEN

390

ORGANIZATIONS

funded since 1987

LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Summer picnic with current and former Chinook Board members. Pictured left to right: Katie Terrazas Hoover, Ken Stern, Crystal Middlestadt, Nancy Hernandez, Angela Daniels, Brenda Sears, Mac Liman (2014-2020), Courtney Banayad (2014-2020), and Donna Chrisjohn (2019-present).

Dear Chinook Fund Community, 

I became Chinook Fund’s Executive Director in April 2018, poised to take the organization to the next level and move Chinook further toward our mission to seed community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado. At the time, we had a staff of two full-time employees, a Board of five, and were still in the early stages of our shift to the Giving Project model of donor organizing and community-led grantmaking. 

I write this letter to the Chinook community in January 2022, feeling struck by the tremendous growth and change this organization has experienced and embraced during this time.   

In just three years, we’ve doubled our staff to six, exponentially increased grantmaking distributing $526,000 to 80 organizations, and doubled our donor base to over 1,000 — the most grant dollars and donors in our 34-year history! 

In 2021, we moved 108 grants to groups across Colorado. Honoring our racial justice commitment, 90 percent of grantee groups were led by Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. Answering calls to action from groups like the Decolonizing Wealth Project, we leveraged our endowment to invest in Oweesta, the Longmont-based and longest-standing Native Community Development Financial Institution serving Native CDFIs and Native communities across the country.

We also bid farewell to Jess Nelson and S. Juliette Lee, two incredible staff members who played key roles in implementing our Giving Project model, increasing our grantmaking, and incorporating joy & fun into our work. We welcomed an inspiring cohort of six new BIPOC Board members, including several grantee leaders and Giving Project alumni, bringing our Board to eleven members. We leaned on leaders within our community to carry us through the staffing changes and recruited incoming staff members from our Giving Project and grantee community.

While we navigate these changes and celebrate our growth, experiencing incredible milestones, we also collectively hold and care for each other through the grief of an ongoing global pandemic, rise in political and white supremacist violence, escalating climate catastrophes, and the growing racial wealth divide. 

Protecting and nourishing seeds of hope during these times is perhaps one of the most powerful forms of resistance. On the days when hope feels out of reach, I return to the wise words of bell hooks: 

“Hope is essential to any political struggle for radical change when the overall social climate promotes disillusionment and despair.” 

I reflect on the powerful question from my dear friend, Michelle Castor: “Who benefits from our doubt, courage, worries, hope, or complacency about the future?*” These words help bring me back to the moment and to the beauty of what’s possible when we build and flex community power. These words remind me that living and taking action rooted in courage and hope are beautiful acts of resistance. 

I see the beauty of what is possible when I look to our grantees across Colorado who are cultivating communities of care and building grassroots power:

  • Pine River Shares, based in Southwestern Colorado, expanded their mutual aid program providing over $15,000 in economic relief and increasing food security by building a 2,000 square foot garden and dome to grow food year-round. 
  • Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization, based in Denver, held courageous conversations and took collective action to break mental health stigma and address a rise in violence impacting young people. 
  • El Alba Cooperative, an Aurora-based worker-owned cooperative, paused their plans to purchase a commissary kitchen opting instead to support catering entrepreneurs by acquiring a food truck. They continue to make moves to support community wealth building and economic stability for immigrant and refugee communities. 

Showing up with love and courage, Giving Project donor organizers raised an astounding average of $4,300 per member in 2021! Collectively, they mobilized over 1,000 donors to fund $370,000 in Fall and Spring grant awards, including $100,000 in multiyear grant awards to be disbursed over the next year. We deepened our partnership with Transformative Leadership for Change through the Another World is Possible Fund, expanding the vision to fund resilience across the social justice ecosystem, distributing $256,000 in “Resilience” grants reaching 52 groups.

I believe now more than ever, we must nourish seeds of hope and fund movements like our lives depend on it, because they do. Let us imagine and build the more just and beautiful world we know is possible.

 

In solidarity,


Crystal Middlestadt
(they/them)
Executive Director

Scroll Box to Read More

FAREWELL TO JESS & JULIETTE

This past Spring, we bid farewell to Jess Nelson and Juliette Lee, our two longest-serving staff. Each has contributed immensely to our growth over the past 8 and 5 years, respectively. Jess initiated and led the project to move Chinook Fund to an integrated database for accounting, donation management, and an online grants portal. Juliette’s leadership has been instrumental in strengthening the Giving Project as she directed eight Giving Projects and one Alumni Grant Making Committee supporting 144 members to collectively raise $826,620 from 2,494 donors!

While it’s a bittersweet time for me and our team, I am truly honored to have worked alongside such dedicated, brilliant, and authentic leaders. Please join me in wishing Jess and Juliette a fond farewell.

In community,

Crystal Middlestadt
(they/them)
Executive Director

OUR PEOPLE

STAFF

Crystal Middlestadt

Executive Director

S. Juliette Lee

Program Director

(Nov 2016-May 2021)

P. Barclay Jones

Program Manager

Marie Medina

Grassroots Fundraising Manager

Jess Nelson

Operations & Grants Manager

(May 2013-May 2021)

Hannah Rose Baker

Interim Finance & Ops Manager

(May-June 2021)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Davian Gagne

Co-Chair

Erik Ortiz

Co-Chair

Katie Terrazas Hoover

Secretary

Angela Schreffler

Treasurer

Angela Daniels

Board Member

Anna Ghublikian

Board Member

Candace Johnson

Board Member

Courtney Banayad

Board Member

(2014-2020)

Donna Chrisjohn

Board Member

Mac Liman

Board Member

(2014-2020)

Pamela Reséndiz Trujano

Board Member

Selamawit Gebre

Board Member

V.J. Brown

Board Member

COMMITTEES & VOUNTEERS

V.J. Brown, Giving Project Caucus Facilitator

Zach Booz, Giving Project Caucus Facilitator

Ken Stern, Finance & Investment Committee

Lucy Loomis, Finance & Investment Committee

Mac Liman, Finance & Investment Committee

Nancy Hernandez, Finance & Investment Committee

Christopher Newton, Development Committee

Marissa Saints, Development Committee

GIVING PROJECT CO-CHAIRS

Brian Jan, Spring 2020 Alum

Ky Hamilton, Spring 2020 Alum

Jess Whetsel, Fall 2019 Alum

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FUND

Grantmaking Committee (pictured L to R)

Crystal Middlestadt, Chinook Fund Executive Director
Courtney Banayad, Chinook Fund board member (2014-2020)
Neha Mahajan, Transformative Leadership for Change Executive Director
Tania Valenzuela, Transformative Leadership for Change Program Director
Judith Marquez, Chinook Fund Grants Manager (Fall 2021-current)

From L to R: Mac Liman (former Board Member), Katie Terrazas Hoover (Board Secretary, Spring 2017 Giving Project alumna), Crystal Middlestadt (Executive Director), Courtney Banayad (former Board Co-Chair, Fall 2018 Grantmaking Committee alumna), Erik Ortiz (Board Co-Chair, Fall 2016 Giving Project alumnus), Jess Nelson (Operations and Grants Manager), Cassandra Cordova (Former Development and Communications Manager, Spring 2017 Giving Project alumna)

THE GIVING PROJECT

The Giving Project is an innovative program for leadership development and social justice philanthropy. Over 6
months, we work closely with a diverse group of 25 people from all income levels who are passionate about social justice and want to strengthen their skills in fundraising, grantmaking, and grassroots organizing. They develop a shared analysis of race, class, and power within society, make a personal donation of an amount that is meaningful to them, then collectively raise and grant money to grassroots organizations working for social change in Colorado.

The Spring 2020 Giving Project granted

132,000
to 15 organizations*

The Fall 2019 Giving Project collectively granted

238,000
to 18 organizations**

*Includes $30,000 in multiyear grants • **Includes $70,000 in multiyear grants

Giving Projects have been especially successful at reaching traditionally underrepresented communities, including young people and BIPOC leaders, in Colorado and throughout the US. We are proud to collaborate with 10 other community foundations across the country to develop this innovative model for social justice philanthropy and donor organizing.

WE BUILD MOVEMENTS

Since 2016, Chinook Fund’s Giving Project has:

Trained

172

donor organizers

Engaged over

2,975

new donors and supporters

Raised over

959,000

for social change work in Colorado

Funded

87

community-led organizations

FALL 2020 GIVING PROJECT

Adam Vinueza
Adam Wright
Aisha Rios
Alma Urbano
Elizabeth Franz
Hana Low
Hannah Julaine Scarince
Hannah Rose Baker
Ian Sharkey
Isabel Munoz
Jackie Tran
Joanna Rotkin

Jocelyn Corbett
Joe Dorn
Justin Franzen
Kristine Burrows
Kyra Shields
Lisa Bates
Maureen Maycheco
Raisa Slutsky-Moore
Richard Eveleigh
Vince Hostak
Waeli Wang

Wow! The race-focused training through the Giving Project was phenomenal and greatly increased my understanding and appreciation of BIPOC-led organizations and the challenges they face in the traditional philanthropic environment.

SPRING 2021 GIVING PROJECT

This was an invaluable experience. I thank the entire Chinook team for making
this incredible opportunity available to me and past
and future cohorts. It’s life-changing. Hard in every
way possible, but extremely gratifying to support grassroots organizing in our community.

Allison Finnegan-Kihega
Amy Engelman
Charlie Haimbaugh
Claudia Garcia Curzio
Dee Arias
Emerald Green
Ihoby Rakotomalala
Jacob Sharkey
Jillian Laumbacher
Kelly Pierson
Laura Schneiter
Mika Emrich
Molly Delandsheer
Nina Sweeney
Rachel Garcia
Rachel Livingston
Shelby Bates
Sophanite Gedion
Sydney Hunter
Tiya Trent
Trena Moya

2021 DONORS BY REGION

Click to Expand

ABOUT THE ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FUND

DISTRIBUTED

256,000
In grants to 47 organizations; grant awards were $6,000 in 2020 and $4,000 in 2021

RAISED OVER

988,000
From national and local foundations, and over 200 individual donors since launching in May 2020
91
Of awardees were BIPOC-led organizations; 19% were based in rural communities

LETTER FROM JUDITH MÁRQUEZ

CHINOOK FUND GRANTS MANAGER

The Another World is Possible Fund is a vehicle to invest in the social justice organizations who are fighting for both a just response to COVID-19 in the short term AND a visionary future for our world in the long term. The fund was launched in May 2020 through an innovative partnership with Transformative Leadership for Change (TLC). TLC is a new initiative that supports the sustainability, healing, solidarity, and radical visions of BIPOC people leading social justice organizations.

In the second year of the fund, we focused on the resiliency of grassroots leaders, organizations, and communities. The fund continues to be a vehicle to provide rapid response dollars for crisis and emergent situations, but our team felt it was critical to expand the vision to include funding for ALL the ways communities build resilience across the social justice ecosystem through rest, joy, celebration, collaboration, solidarity, restorative & transformative justice, community care, storytelling/reclaiming narratives, healing, grieving, visioning – and more.

As an AWIPF grantmaking committee member, the vision of this fund has truly inspired me to dream about what is possible. From recognizing that the pandemic was an opportunity to support the deep radical work needed in our communities, to working in a committee with long-time organizers, movement leaders, and friends. Our AWIPF committee supported each other through the pandemic as organizations adapted to respond and as we personally navigated healing, grief, growth, and change in our own lives.

This fund also lifted Chinook Fund and TLC’s profile in Colorado’s philanthropic sector thanks to our long history of supporting BIPOC leadership and TLC’s centering and expansion of BIPOC leadership. This enabled us to advocate for increased funding for our shared networks.

In 2022, I can’t wait for all the possibilities that this fund will create in our communities, in Colorado, and our world. Because Another World is Possible!

In solidarity,

Judith Márquez (she/her/ella)
Chinook Fund Grants Manager
Another World is Possible Fund Committee Member

Scroll Box to Read More

NATIONAL GIVING PROJECT NETWORK

Chinook Fund is a proud member of the growing National Giving Project Network (GPN). This network has grown and evolved since 2014, as funds across the country have replicated the Giving Project model originally developed by Social Justice Fund Northwest. Through monthly calls and retreats, we innovate, adapt, and collectively strengthen the model.

To learn more about the National Giving Project Network, visit www.givingprojects.org

VISION

To build a base of donor organizers that moves resources to movements that counter the historical and accelerating inequities that exist in the United States.

SINCE 2010, GIVING PROJECTS HAVE MOVED OVER

$14.5M

TO MOVEMENTS

NATIONAL GIVING PROJECT NETWORK

Click to Expand

To learn more about the National Giving Project Network, visit givingprojects.org

  1. Bread & Roses Community Fund
    Philadelphia, PA
  2. Chinook Fund
    Denver, CO
  3. Crossroads Fund
    Chicago, IL
  4. Cypress Fund
    NC and SC
  5. Grassroots International
    Boston, MA
  6. Hawai’i People’s Fund
    Honolulu, HI
  7. Headwaters Foundation for Justice
    Minneapolis, MN
  8. Liberty Hill Foundation
    Los Angeles, CA
  9. North Star Fund
    New York, NY
  10. Social Justice Fund
    NW, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY
  11. Transforming Power Fund
    Detroit, MI

GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT

IDEA Stages

Fall 2020 Grantee

Anti-Oppression; Arts/Culture/Media

IDEA Stages understands that artists and culture-makers have a crucial role in creating the world we are all aching to see. Cultural Organizing connects creative practices and organizing techniques; working to amplify access in all spaces. Their vision is a not-so-distant future where people see important and vital parts of who they are reflected in stories, on stages, behind the scenes, and sitting next to them in the audience. It is their hope that diversity and access become living, breathing experiences, born of how theater- makers work in collaboration to meet more important, human needs that reach beyond entertainment value.

Kaizen Food Rescue

Fall 2020 Grantee

Food Justice

Kaizen Food Rescue, founded by Thai Nguyen, a Fall 2019 Giving Project alumni, is an example of the impact constituent-led work can have in a community. As a Vietnamese refugee, Thai experienced food insecurity first-hand and wanted to change the way we think about food justice and ending food waste. Leaders at Kaizen Food Rescue are actively rewriting the narrative for their communities while fighting for Food Sovereignty, wherein people have access to healthy and culturally relevant food as well as labor rights for agricultural workers. Kaizen’s viewpoint is not disseminated through a lens of whiteness, as traditional food pantries are, because cultural food history is important to and provides dignity for those who pick up free fresh groceries. Kaizen has a power- sharing collaboration with community members affected by food insecurity where impacted voices are uplifted in a safe space and we co-create programs “for the people by the people.”

Pike’s Peak Womxn’s Alliance

A project of Voces Unidas for Justice – Spring 2021 Grantee

Indigenous/Native American Organizing; Rural Organizing; Women’s Rights

Pike’s Peak Womxn’s Alliance is a group for Indigenous womxn in the Pikes Peak/Front Range region to share events, get-togethers, resources, social events, gatherings, hiking, harvesting, gardening, cooking, beading, protests, rallies, sewing, art, poetry, and much more. The Alliance aims to be one spot to share and to stay connected. They actively organize around issues impacting the Indigenous community, host cross-tribal teachings, share lessons learned, and care for each other, children, and elders, keeping their community visible, relevant, and united.

GRANTMAKING IMPACT

Click to Expand

INVESTING IN BLACK, INDIGENOUS & PEOPLE OF COLOR-LED MOVEMENTS

Chinook Fund believes communities are best equipped to solve the challenges they face. By trusting grassroots leadership and providing funding to groups led by and for communities impacted by injustice, we support Colorado’s movements for social justice.

CORE FUNDING CRITERIA

  • Constituent-Led The work is led by the people most impacted by injustice.
  • Community-Wide The work reflects all members of the constituency, especially those who experience multiple forms of oppression.
  • Lasting Effect The work makes change not just for one individual today, but for the community as a whole, and for future generations.

Chinook Fund prioritizes funding BIPOC groups as part of our commitment to racial justice; such groups are chronically underfunded and under-resourced. In the Giving Project model, our racial justice framework centers Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty given the realities that all wealth in the U.S. is built on stolen land and stolen labor. We are proud to support so many emerging and established BIPOC-led groups organizing for justice.

OUR GRANTEES

FALL 2020

START-UP
IDEA Stages
$4,000.00
SCD Enrichment Program
$4,000.00
ESTABLISHED
Another Life Foundation
$10,000.00
Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization
$10,000.00
Black Business Initiative, PBC
$10,000.00
Pine River Shares
$10,000.00
The Road Called STRATE
$10,000.00
Una Mano Una Esperanza
$10,000.00
MULTI-YEAR
IDEA Stages
$10,000.00
SCD Enrichment Program
$10,000.00
Atlantis ADAPT
$10,000.00
Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center
$10,000.00
Conejos Clean Water
$10,000.00
Creative Strategies for Change
$10,000.00
Denver Homeless Out Loud
$10,000.00
Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center
$10,000.00
Herbal Gardens Wellness
$10,000.00
Lamar Unidos
$10,000.00
Land Rights Council
$10,000.00
Move Mountains Project
$10,000.00

OUR GRANTEES

SPRING 2021

ESTABLISHED
Authentic Creations Publishing Apothecary
$10,000.00
Breaking Our Chains
$10,000.00
Sacred Voices
$10,000.00
The Word
$10,000.00
MULTI-YEAR
Colorado Jobs with Justice
$10,000.00
Fuerza Latina
$10,000.00
Neighborhood Navigators of Eagle County
$10,000.00
START-UP
Compound Of Compassion
$4,000.00
County Collectives, Inc.
$4,000.00
El Alba Cooperative
$4,000.00
Fortaleza Familiar | Liberate Our Selves
$4,000.00
Grinding Stone Collective Inc.
$4,000.00
Higher Learning U, Inc.
$4,000.00
Kaizen Food Rescue
$4,000.00
Pike’s Peak Womxn’s Alliance
$4,000.00

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

FUND GRANTEES

9 TO 5 COLORADO
Denver
$6,000.00
AL FRENTE DE LUCHA
Greeley
$6,000.00
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
Denver
$6,000.00
AUTHENTIC CREATIONS PUBLISHING APOTHECARY
Durango
$10,000.00
BLACK BUSINESS INITIATIVE, PBC
Denver
$4,000.00
BLACK LIVES MATTER 5280
Denver
$4,000.00
CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH
Denver
$6,000.00
COLORADO BLACK WOMEN FOR POLITICAL ACTION
Denver
$4,000.00
COLORADO CIRCLES FOR CHANGE
Denver
$4,000.00
COLORADO COUNCIL FOR URBAN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Denver
$6,000.00
COLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION
Denver
$4,000.00
COLORADO PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE (COPA) (Formerly Rights For All People and Colorado Progressive Coalition)
Aurora
$10,000.00
COMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND
Washington
$4,000.00
COMPOUND OF COMPASSION
Aurora
$4,000.00
CREATIVE STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE
Denver
$4,000.00
CULTIVANDO
Commerce City
$4,000.00
EAST DENVER FOOD HUB
Denver
$4,000.00
EL CENTRO HUMANITARIO PARA LOS TRABAJADORES
Denver
$6,000.00
FOOD TO POWER (Formerly the Colorado Springs Food Rescue)
Colorado Springs
$4,000.00
FORTALEZA FAMILIAR | LIBERATE OUR SELVES
Commerce City
$6,000.00
FOUNDATION FOR BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Sistahbiz)
Denver
$6,000.00
FOUR CORNERS RAINBOW YOUTH CENTER
Denver
$6,000.00
GRASP
Denver
$6,000.00
HERBAL GARDENS WELLNESS
Westcliffe
$4,000.00
HISPANIC AFFAIRS PROJECT
Montrose
$6,000.00
LAMAR UNIDOS
Lamar
$4,000.00
MANCOS VALLEY RESOURCES
Mancos
$4,000.00
NAACP - AURORA BRANCH
Aurora
$4,000.00
NEW DANCE THEATRE d.b.a. Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
Denver
$4,000.00
ONE COLORADO EDUCATION FUND
Denver
$4,000.00
PADRES & JOVENES UNIDOS
Denver
$6,000.00
RESILIENT COMMUNITIES RESILIENT FUTURES, INC.
Denver
$4,000.00
RISE COLORADO
Aurora
$10,000.00
SACRED VOICES
Denver
$10,000.00
SATYA YOGA IMMERSION FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
Littleton
$6,000.00
SCD ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
Denver
$6,000.00
SLAM NUBA
Denver
$6,000.00
SPIRIT OF THE SUN
Denver
$4,000.00
THE WORD
Denver
$10,000.00
TRANSFORM EDUCATION NOW
Denver
$4,000.00
TRANSFORMATIVE FREEDOM FUND
Denver
$6,000.00
UNITED FOR A NEW ECONOMY
Commerce City
$6,000.00
VOCES UNIDAS FOR JUSTICE
Colorado Springs
$6,000.00
WOMEN’S VOICES FOR THE EARTH
Missoula, MT
$4,000.00
WOODBINE EDUCATION CENTER
Sedalia
$6,000.00
Scroll Box to Read More

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

INCOME

Support & Revenue

Contributions

$599,367

Foundation Grants

$320,300

Another World Contributions & Grants

$590,766

Net Investment Income

$483,260

Other, Fiscal Sponsorship & PPP Loan

$61,969

Total Support & Revenue

$2,055,662

EXPENSES

Program Services

• Support for Social Justice

$527,437

• Another World is Possible

$487,506

• Fiscal Sponsorship

$14,500

Total Program Services

$1,029,443

Supporting Services

• General Administration

$170,451

• Fundraising

$84,312

Total Supporting Services

$254,763

Total Expenses

$1,284,206

Changes in Net Assets
$771,456
Net Assets: Beginning of Year
$2,333,410

Net Assets: End of Year

$3,104,866

FEEL INSPIRED BY THIS YEAR’S WORK?

LEARN Visit Chinookfund.org to learn about the most innovative and effective grassroots organizations and activism in Colorado.

CONNECT Join our Giving Project. Meet progressive people committed to equality, economic justice, and peace.

ACT Give generously. Make a meaningful gift to ensure all communities have a voice and the power to create a better life.

SHARE Like us on Twitter and Facebook!

Sign up for our monthly newsletter Seed Notes!