This year Crossroads Fund was excited to launch a new initiative, the Giving Project, a model that was developed in 2010 by our sister fund in Seattle, Social Justice Fund Northwest (SJFNW). For six months the Giving Project brought together 14 individuals to participate in a three stage process that encouraged building community across race, class and other identities through fundraising and grantmaking.For the first stage of the project, participants attended a three day training on Racial Justice and Class Analysis where they discussed historical racial and class inequalities, examined their own race and class identity and evaluated how prior experiences impact the way they move in the world and organize.During the second stage of the process, participants made a donation and built their fundraising skills by asking members of their own community to give. At the onset of the project the group made a collective commitment to raise $100,000. Each person made a financial pledge and solicited donations from family, friends, and associates. In the end our first Giving Project cohort exceded their goal and raised $137,905 in six months!In the third stage, participants engaged in a full grantmaking process. Drawing on their rich analysis of organizing across race and class, the group, along with Crossroads Fund Board members, reviewed grant proposals, attended site visits, and submitted recommendations for funding.Due to the overwhelming success, we have committed to use the Giving Project model for our Seed Fund grantmaking again in 2016. In order to learn more about best practices, in November 2015, Crossroads Fund hosted a Giving Project Convening with seven sister fund organizations from across the country. We shared lessons learned, and explored more about how to effectively maximize the potential to implement the model.Thinking about race and class is a central part of our work. It has always been part of our identity to organize people across race and class, to learn about critical social justice issues and to conduct grantmaking together. Executive Director, Jeanne Kracher explains, “At the inception of the organization the founders understood that it was important to have a cross-race, cross-class, cross-community group of people to be the Board of Directors and to make decisions around grantmaking – this is at the heart of our model.” Through initiatives like the Giving Project, Crossroads Fund is learning about how to bring a new generation into our overall work, going back to our roots and carrying forward the founding principles.Interested in participating in a Giving Project? Questions? Please contact Emmanuel Garcia, Communications and Development Associate at emmanuel@crossroadsfund.org or 773.227.7676.
