Annual Report 2023
FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2022 - JUNE 30, 2023
Artwork by Evann Waterman | on Instagram @evannwaterman
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.
Giving Project Alumni
OUR VALUES
As we do our work, we are guided by the following values:
Neighborhood Funders Group National Convening, May 2023. Plenary panelists from session titled, "Connecting to Local Communities: A Spectrum of Participatory Practices in Grantmaking."
From left to right: Melody Baker (Amplify Fund), Eileen Briggs (Bush Foundation), Kaberi Banerjee Murthy (The Conrad Prebys Foundation), Crystal Middlestadt, (Chinook Fund), and Yichen Feng (Center for Economic Democracy).
36 YEARS OF SOCIAL IMPACT
1,197
GRANTS GIVEN
$4.9M
GIVEN
563
ORGANIZATIONS
funded since 1987
1,197
GRANTS GIVEN
$4.9M
GIVEN
563
ORGANIZATIONS
funded since 1987
LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Chinook Fund Community,
The power of community is what inspired me to put down roots in Colorado nearly 20 years ago. As I began to find my people in Denver, I quickly learned that Chinook Fund was a political home, grassroots grantmaker, and training ground for movement elders and emerging leaders across the state. Chinook Fund became a place of belonging for me and my community. With the launch of the Giving Project model in 2016, our democratic grantmaking model, Chinook Fund’s centering of community was only strengthened. It was this value of community that inspired me to join the organization as the executive director in 2018. Today, I am proud to carry on this legacy of Community grounded in interdependence, liberation, and collective action.
My belief in the power of community and local organizing has only deepened as we experience an escalating backlash to social justice and civil rights gains from the past decades. As it becomes clearer that we are all that we have, I look to our grantees for inspiring community action. From abolitionist organizing to queer and trans liberation, Chinook Fund’s grantees embody our core value of Community.
Denver Alliance for Street Response (DASHR) is one example. DASHR creates community-based alternatives to policing and jails. Founded in 2018, they received their first Chinook Fund grant in 2022. As Colorado communities joined the national uprisings for Black lives in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Elijah McClain in Aurora, DASHR launched the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) Program dispatching clinicians and medics in response to behavioral health and substance use crisis calls. Today, DASHR continues to embody our value of Community as they work to reclaim community leadership for the STAR Program currently housed within government.
Another example comes from our LGBTQ+ led grantees. In the midst of over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed in state legislatures in 2022, Club Q, a popular LGBTQ+ venue in Colorado Springs was targeted in a hate fueled mass shooting. In response, two Chinook grantees, Fortaleza Familiar and VOCES Unidas for Justice, joined forces to host a community gathering for all those impacted by this loss.
As the only social justice fund in the state, Chinook Fund also played a role in advocating for funders to follow the leadership of and resource Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ+ communities. I was honored to support a delegation of leaders, national funders, and survivors working to support community responses and funder organizing.
From kitchen tables in Denver to the mountain parks of the Western Slope, you can count on the Chinook Fund community to lead the way as we live into our value of Community. I invite you to be a part of this legacy, whether through making a meaningful contribution, amplifying our grantees, or joining a future Giving Project.
Thank you for your solidarity and comradeship.
With hope and love,
Crystal Middlestadt
Executive Director
(they/them)
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 8 other community foundations across the country to develop this innovative model for social justice philanthropy.
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 15-20 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 Fall 2022 Giving Project granted
106,000
to 13 Organizations*
The Spring 2023 Giving Project granted
98,000
to 11 Organizations**
*Includes 4 start up and 9 established groups
**Includes 2 start up and 9 established groups
WE BUILD MOVEMENTS
Since 2016, Chinook Fund’s Giving Project has:
Trained
220
Donor Organizers
Engaged Over
3,677
New Donors & Supporters
Raised Over
1,194,000
for Social Change Work in Colorado
Funded
114
Community-led Organizations
FALL 2022 GIVING PROJECT
Cohort Members
Deserea Richards
Elizabeth Friedl
Emma Goldman
hadassah damien
John Tiedemann
Madeline Grigg
Melia Polynice
Monica Alvidrez
Raeneice Ivory
Shannon Fitzpatrick
Sheila Wheeler
Shelby Swan
Stephanie Perez-Carrillo
Vonna Wolf Gallegos
”While I was vaguely aware of how important democratic philanthropy was before this program, I am leaving this six months feeling motivated and ready to continue pushing my skills and knowledge much deeper in the coming years, and prepared to keep moving more people and resources towards local movement work. Learning about local organizations doing incredible liberation and justice work, as well as experiencing the intentional and thoughtful consensus process around grantmaking, has been a huge source of hope and spiritual nourishment for me over the past few months.
SPRING 2023 GIVING PROJECT
Cohort Members
Denise Gomez
Derek George
Erin Hayes
Hallie Nelson
Hazel Shapiro
Jessica Ramos
LeQuisha Washington
Marine Brichard
Max Chen
Michelle Sykes
Pilar Athaide-Victor
Sarah Kaplan Gould
Savanna Hanson
Star Lee
”As a result of the Giving Project, I feel connected to what is happening in Colorado in a new way, now I have a deeper sense of place.
”A heartfelt ‘thank you’ for providing this space to grow, expand comfort zones, and thrive with a multifaceted, diverse collective at a point in my career where it was simply needed the most.
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 for groups that are Black-led, Indigenous-led, based in rural communities, and those using community organizing as a strategy for change. The Giving Project model centers Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty as a part of Chinook Fund’s racial justice commitment and the reality that all wealth in the U.S. is built on stolen land and stolen labor.
National Giving Project Network convening, July 2023.
Hosted by Hawai’i People’s Fund
NATIONAL GIVING PROJECT NETWORK
Chinook Fund is a proud member of the National Giving Project Network (GPN) a collaboration amongst 9 place-based social justice funds across the country actively working to refine and adapt this innovative model for donor organizing and social justice philanthropy.
Since 2010, Giving Projects have moved over
19,800,000
to grassroots community organizing from over 21,800 donors
Giving Projects have also trained over
2,000
individuals as donor organizers
THE 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. Hawai’i People’s Fund, Honolulu, HI
- 5. Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Minneapolis, MN
- 6. Maine Initiatives, Portland, ME
- 7. North Star Fund, New York, NY
- 8. Social Justice Fund NW, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY
- 9. Transforming Power Fund, Detroit, MI
OUR GRANTEES
FALL 2022
ESTABLISHED - $10,000
Grand Valley Resident Team
OUR GRANTEES
SPRING 2023
GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT
Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Program
Denver, CO – Fall 2022 Grantee
The mission of the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (RMEOC) is to build a more just and sustainable economy through employee ownership. We believe that a just economy is one that works for everyone, that is built upon inclusive and sustainable systems, and that provides equitable opportunity to build wealth. Our current economy benefits too few, at the expense of too many. But employee ownership is an effective, time-tested strategy to change that by creating wealth for the working class, helping to close race and gender wealth gaps, and building more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive local economies and communities.
Mountain Pride
Avon, CO – Fall 2022 Grantee
Mountain Pride’s mission is to continuously improve the lived experience of our LGBTQIA+ community. LGBTQIA+ people in small towns and rural communities face unique challenges in coming out and being out. Meanwhile, they frequently live in communities with few or no resources for LGBTQIA+ people, forcing them to travel long distances to access the services and care they need. Mountain Pride is addressing these challenges by increasing year-round programming for the LGBTQIA+ community. Mountain Pride is devoted to strengthening its foundation and expanding its reach as an organization by establishing supportive, safe spaces, enhancing family acceptance and understanding, and offering access to information, resources, and services.
Innervision
Denver, CO – Spring 2023 Grantee
Using the power of music, podcasting, and television, Innervision has fostered acceptance and inspiration for blind and visually impaired artists. With Innervision’s support, trainees achieve their highest level of independence and reach their fullest potential.
ABOUT THE ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FUND
Another World is Possible Fund, a partnership with Transformative Leadership for Change, is a vehicle to invest in the social justice organizations that 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.
In the fall of 2022, we awarded $215,000 to 43 grassroots organizations, successfully redistributing $1.2M in total dollars since the Fund was launched in 2020. In 2023, we made the difficult decision to pause the Fund to evaluate capacity and resources necessary for this collaboration.
DISTRIBUTED
1,150,000
In grants to 95 grassroots organizations since launching in May 2020
Original art by Chetna of Mosaiceye
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FUND GRANTEES
JULY 2022 – DECEMBER 2022
$5,000/Grant
9 to 5 Colorado
Denver
American Friends Service Committee
Denver
Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization
Denver
BIPOC Alliance
Fort Collins
Black Business Initiative
Denver
Black Lives Matter 5280
Denver
Center for Community Wealth Building
Denver
Center for Working Families - Colorado
Denver
Colorado Changemakers Collective
Denver
Colorado Circles for Change
Denver
Colorado Jobs with Justice
Denver
Compound of Compassion
Aurora
Convivir Colorado
Denver
Cultivando
Commerce City
Denver Community Fridges Project
Denver
Denver Justice Project
Denver
East Denver Food Hub
Denver
Food to Power (formerly the Colorado Springs Food Rescue)
Colorado Springs
Fortaleza Familiar | Liberate Our Selves
Commerce City
Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center
Durango
FrontLine Farming
Denver
Housekeys Action Network Denver
Denver
Lamar Unidos
Lamar
Looms of Liberation
Denver
Mi Familia Vota
Denver
Mo' Betta Green
Denver
Montessori On Wheels
Denver
Move Mountains Project
San Luis
Movimiento Poder (formerly Padres & Jovenes Unidos)
Denver
One Colorado Education Fund
Denver
People of the Sacred Land
Broomfield
Pine River Shares
Bayfield
Resident Leadership Council
Aurora
Right2Learn Dignity Lab
Denver
RISE Colorado
Aurora
RTL Foundation
Denver
Sacred Voices
Denver
Satya Yoga Cooperative
Littleton
Seasoned with Grace Unboxed
Denver
Shorter Community AME Church
Denver
Spirit of the Sun
Denver
Una Mano Una Esperanza
Denver
United for A New Economy
Commerce City
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
INCOME
Support & Revenue
Contributions
$719,417
Foundation Grants
$210,800
Another World Contributions & Grants
$28,000
Net Investment Income
$171,903
Other, Fiscal Sponsorship
$24,520
Total Support & Revenue
$1,154,640
EXPENSES
Program Services
Support for Social Justice
$695,293
Another World Grants
$252,387
Fiscal Sponsorship
$21,051
Total Program Services
$968,731
Supporting Services
General Administration
$158,800
Fundraising
$157,647
Total Supporting Services
$316,447
Total Expenses
$1,285,178
Changes in Net Assets
-$130,538
Net Assets: Beginning of Year
$2,825,415
Net Assets: End of Year
$2,694,877
Chinook Fund Serves as the fiscal sponsor for Colorado Funders for Inclusiveness and Equity (COFIE). COFIE was founded in 2008 and exists to support, educate and embolden Colorado funders to lead the movement toward inclusivity and equity in philanthropy. What started as a small group of about ten people has grown into a vibrant group of more than 300 grantmakers committed to personal and professional development to advance and promote inclusiveness and equity. The group serves as a resource to local funders as they challenge their thinking and consider implementing changes within their own organizations regarding inclusiveness and equity. The group also serves as a support network for members as they educate themselves about inclusiveness, equity, diversity, and anti-oppression practices. Membership is open to all Colorado funders.
COFIE SPONSORS
Bonfils Stanton Foundation
Chambers Initiative
Denver Arts & Venues
Kaiser Permanente
Next 50 Initiative
Philanthropy Colorado
Rocky Mountain Health Foundation
The Colorado Health Foundation
The Denver Foundation
The Equity Project
CONSTELLATIONS OF CHANGE
Launched in 2021, Constellations of Change is an emerging events-based program and multiracial, cross class community of donor activists committed to wealth redistribution, strategic giving, and community building. The idea was originally sparked by dynamic conversations with donors, exploring wealth redistribution, the state of philanthropy, and desire to deepen relationships amongst Chinook Fund’s supporters. In its third year, the Constellations community has grown to include both multiyear and monthly donors who collectively contribute $220,000 a year in critical unrestricted support. To join or for more information, contact Shelby Bates at sbates@chinookfund.org.
OUR TEAM
CHINOOK FUND STAFF
CHINOOK FUND STAFF
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FINANCE & INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
Erik Ortiz
Lucy Loomis
Mac Liman
Matt Karkut
Nancy Hernandez
Pamela Reséndiz Trujano
Selamawit Gebre
V.J. Brown
RESOURCE MOBILIZER COMMITTEE
Anna Eunjoo Ghublikian
Dee Arias
Marie Medina
Rachel Garcia
GIVING PROJECT CAUCUS FACILITATORS
Mac Liman
Zawdie Ekundayo
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE FUND GRANTMAKING COMMITTEE
Candace Johnson –Board Member, Chinook Fund & Transformative Leadership for Change (TLC)
Courtney Banayad – Former Chinook Fund Board Co-Chair, Neighborhood Funders Group
Crystal Middlestadt – Executive Director, Chinook Fund, TLC Alumni Member
Judith Marquez – Grants Manager, Chinook Fund, TLC Alumni Member
Neha Mahajan – Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director, TLC
Tania Soto Valenzuela – Program Manager, TLC
Vic Gomez Betancourt – Resource Strategist, TLC
FEEL INSPIRED BY THIS YEAR’S WORK?
LEARN Visit chinookfund.org/grantees to learn about the most innovative and effective grassroots organizations and activism in Colorado.
CONNECT Join our Giving Project. Chinook Fund’s democratized grantmaking brings together a diverse cohort of people from all income levels who are passionate about social change and interested in developing skills in fundraising, grantmaking, and community building.
ACT Give generously. Make a meaningful gift to ensure all communities have a voice and the power to create a better life.
SUBSCRIBE Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, Seed Notes.