Just Economy Solidarity Fund

Greetings! 

In November 2018, 35 activists, organizers, fundraisers, donors, and other supporters of movements for racial, gender and economic justice gathered at the Watershed Center in Millerton, NY at the 3rd annual Old Money New System community of practice retreat. The retreat focused on building community by co-creating ritual and deepening our spiritual practices; embodying a vision in progress for radical change in decolonizing and decentralizing philanthropic practice; coordinating tactics for disrupting the status quo in our work; and mobilizing towards a radically equitable and liberatory way of resourcing social movements. We grappled with big questions: What would a just transition in our economy look like? How can we move toward an economy that affirms the dignity and assets of all people, one that is free from exploitation and extraction? 

We engaged in an experiment that we are calling a Just Economy Exchange where we exchanged material and non-material resources to share infrastructure, capacity, space and other resources. What emerged (in part) is the Just Economy Solidarity Fund. 

We know that building a new economic system is no small matter. It is everyone’s work, and it will require countless steps, large and small, in the direction of justice. One step is fully and joyfully supporting work, ideas, and solutions that emerge from folks most impacted by the current system. This is a step you can take today by contributing to the Just Economy Solidarity Fund (JESF). This fund is currently supporting nine projects (see below) that are a combination of nonprofit organizations, social impact projects, start-up small businesses, healers and facilitators that are collaborating as a community of practice to shift power to communities most impacted by oppression, as well as to collectively leverage and share resources.

Your contribution to the JESF in 2018 to early 2019 will be shared among all of the projects detailed below. Leaders of these projects were among those gathered at the Watershed Center, where they were able to share their visions and name—with courage and self-determination—the resources needed to carry their work forward.

With one gift to the JESF, you can not only offer financial support to these nine projects, but you can also affirm and help build momentum toward a bold vision for a just economic future. Our movements deserve it. 

JESF Projects: (click here for detailed info about each project) 

• Cllctivly (Baltimore, MD) - Creating an ecosystem to foster collaboration, increase social impact, and amplify the voices of Black-led organizations in Greater Baltimore.

• Schaghticoke First Nations Tribe (Hudson Valley, NY) - We are in the early stages of working together to purchase back a piece of our ancestral land to build a Schaghticoke Conservation and Cultural Center.

• Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) is built on the organizing principle that the people most directly impacted should have the greatest stake in visioning, leading, and guiding social movements.

• ZEAL is a cooperative consulting agency and publishing platform for and by Black creatives throughout the diaspora. We use curated publications to celebrate our culture, assert our voices, archive our legacy, and showcase our creative competencies. 

• Standing in Our Power is an intergenerational network of trans and cisgender women of color, and gender non-conforming people of color who are co-creating a new story of holistic transformation, sustainability, and wellness. 

• Beautiful Ventures is a network-building and resource-raising platform to shift and uplift perceptions of people of African descent through inclusive storytelling in popular culture.

• Relational Uprising is a training and coaching institute for frontline movement organizers that teaches concrete tools and practices for fostering a healthy, relational culture as part of their movement building strategy. 

• Equity Matters (Baltimore, MD): a network & culture of equity practice and equity practitioners currently sponsoring-  Black Box: Creating & Developing An Apparatus for Equitable Deal Pipeline

• Home for Good: We use strategy and community-building to transform trauma system-wide by shifting the system away from punishment with family healing at the center.

Read more here.  Thank you in advance for your generous support.  

In Solidarity,

Old Money New System 2018 Retreat Participants


P.S. If you prefer to give via check, please make your check payable to Equity Matters, indicating support for JESF, and mail to  Equity Matters, Inc., 3613 Sequoia Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215.