2023 Year End Impact Report
Dear Community and Partners,
This year has been one of growth, connection, and grounding for us at the Black Future Co-op Fund. It was our staff’s first year together as a team. As such, we’ve spent time building purposeful relationships with one another, and in community with grantees, partners, and funders. Shifting the paradigm of philanthropy is a relationship-based endeavor. The community we build is critical to our success because it will provide direction, loving accountability, and the resources necessary to see Black wealth, health, and well-being realized statewide.
These first years are foundational and so important to set with intention. It is easy to fall into the patterns we’ve been steeped in — a sense of urgency, scarcity, perfectionism, and producing quantity over quality. In a society and sector that rewards these patterns, we know that in order to shift them, the change we seek must start with our own team. Beyond developing a strategic plan to guide our work, we are asking ourselves and our community what it truly means to act in accordance with our values. We don’t have it all solved, but we’re working to create alignment.
I am proud of our team for navigating uncharted territory as we work to build something new. I’m grateful for our investors and partners who continue to dedicate resources that allow us to do this work. And I am motivated every day by our grantees, who are trusting us to walk beside them as they work everyday to lift up Black communities.
Thank you for all you do in support of our mission, in support of Black Washingtonians.
T’wina Nobles, CEO
We Envision Liberated Futures
As Washington state’s first philanthropy created by and for Black people, the Black Future Co-op Fund is working to ignite Black generational wealth, health, and well-being. At the beginning of 2023, we developed a three-year strategic plan to guide our work. The plan is organized around four primary areas of impact: connected Black communities for collective power, promoted truthful Black narratives, invested in Black generational prosperity, and shifted the philanthropic paradigm.
Connected Black Communities for Collective Power
Through the Fund, we’ve connected across identities, sectors, and geographies to generate sustainable progress that propels Black prosperity, well-being, and liberation.
Manifesting Black Well-being
Our Black Well-being: Moving Toward Solutions Together report was disseminated across the state to support collective organizing, inform policy change, and direct resources into Black-led solutions. Rooted in 1,000 Black voices statewide, the report offers community-identified approaches in civic engagement, education, economic mobility, public safety, and health.
Audiobook Launch
To expand accessibility within our community, we created the Black Well-being audiobook, which is narrated by local artists. “This audiobook is a love letter to Black Washingtonians,” said Sharon Nyree Williams, curator and interim executive director of Spectrum Dance Theater. Listen to it on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and other music streaming platforms.
Community Listening Tour
We’ve been traveling the state to hear directly from Black Washingtonians. So far, we visited with folks in Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula, Eastern Washington, and Northwestern Washington. What we’re learning will shape our approaches and be shared with colleagues to inform the sector.
“We’ve been seen by Black Future Co-op Fund, and now we feel heard by Black Future Co-op Fund.”
Promoted Truthful Black Narratives
By centering Black voices and experiences, we’ve been owning our stories — past, present, and future — and lifting up truthful narratives across Washington.
#KnowBlackStories
Our blogs, emails, and social media elevated truths about Black artists, nonprofit leaders, funders, and others. By uplifting Black voices, we promoted holistic narratives reflective of our diversity, beauty, soulfulness, and strength. Media stories in the Seattle Medium, The Skanner, South Seattle Emerald, Seattle Met, Puget Sound Business Journal, and more raised awareness of the Fund and amplified the work of Black-led organizations.
Celebrating Black Women
Seattle Medium invited the Fund architects to serve as its first guest editors of its first Women’s History Month special, uplifting the voices of Black women who have been pivotal to the collective change we seek. Every article and art piece amplifies the braided wisdom of the mothers, grandmothers, and aunts who’ve forged pathways for our futures.
Washington Black Philanthropy Month
In August, we joined with Black leaders and allies to celebrate the rich legacy of Black giving and inspire increased investment in Black communities. Building on what we started in 2021, we organized a virtual panel and an in-person gathering, as well as shared stories of grantee-funder relationships and content about “Black Love in Action.”
By the Numbers
We’re growing our digital footprint to elevate the work and narratives of Black Washingtonians statewide.
Social Media Audience Growth
Social Media Impressions
Invested in Black Generational Prosperity
Across Washington, we’ve supported the pursuits of Black communities and Black-led organizations that strengthen health, education, social connection, and economic opportunity for Black people. And we’ve been doing this in ways that people feel seen, heard, and valued by the Fund.
Our grant money goes where Black Washingtonians Live
We See You
Black arts and education are essential to steering and supporting liberation work in profound ways. This fall, we granted $2M to 20 Black-led organizations focused on arts and education, recognizing their essential role in advancing self-determination, connecting communities, and promoting civic discourse.
Multiyear Grants
We’re committed to renewing We See You grants every year until each organization has received $100,000 total. To shift the philanthropic paradigm, we’re also breaking down barriers to accessing needed resources, with unrestricted grants and no application or reporting requirements.
Sponsorships
Over the past two years, we’ve provided sponsorship grants totaling $36,500 for Black-centered events, including Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations, a Belonging gathering, and memorialization for civic rights champion Sandy Williams.
“THANK YOU Black Future Co-op Fund for believing in us and investing in our youth and community and removing the barriers that so many organizations who are TRULY reaching our youth face. ”
Shifting the Paradigm of Philanthropy
As a society we’ve been called on to change — to rebalance power and rebuild Black generational wealth, health, and well-being. To do this, requires trust in Black leaders and intentional, significant investment in Black communities.
Centering Blackness
As a new fund, we’ve been exploring what it means and looks like to shift the philanthropic paradigm — assessing our own operational practices to work in ways that align with our values. We’ve also created guidelines for our investment partnerships that center being relationally oriented, mutually beneficial, and rooted in anti-racism.
Moving Resources to Black People
We’re grateful to the myriad partners who have stepped up to resource the Black Future Co-op Fund and help us achieve our initial $25M fundraising goal! Our goal is another $5M by the end of this year and, ultimately, $246M for every year of institutional slavery in the U.S. when we launched.
Partnerships that Amplify
Shout outs to OL Reign who continued to feature the Fund on the front of the team’s jerseys; to Seattle Storm for raising $115,433 for the Fund through its Kicks for Equality campaign; and to the Seattle Seahawks for its celebration of our grantee partners and the Fund during Black Philanthropy Month.
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