Chinook Fund seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado.
We support organizations working to challenge the root causes of oppression - organizations that more mainstream funders may find too risky, radical, or new to give initial funding. Many of the anchor social change organizations in Colorado today received their first funding from Chinook Fund.
Our funding criteria require that groups are constituent-led, community-wide, with the work reflecting all members of the constituency, especially those who experience multiple forms of oppression and work towards lasting impact by effecting change not just for one individual, but for the community as a whole, and for future generations.
Artwork by @evannwaterman highlighting some of Chinook Fund's past grantees. For a list of grantees, visit chinookfund.org/grantees.
Our 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.
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.
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 mobilizer of financial resources, and are accountable to our community.
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. We intentionally center BIPOC leadership and prioritize funding BIPOC-led groups.
Chinook Fund seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado.
In 1987, a group of young, progressive philanthropists came together to create a foundation to support grassroots organizations working for peace, human rights, and economic justice. Inspired by the founding of the Funding Exchange in New York, they launched a community-led grantmaking committee, tasked with all funding decisions, to ensure Chinook Fund would be accountable to the communities it served.
Chinook Fund continues to be a vital engine of grassroots change in Colorado. Through the Giving Project model, community members and donors collaborate to fuel community organizations fighting for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice across the state.
A public foundation, Chinook Fund has distributed over $5.1 million to more than 570 grassroots organizations and community groups organizing for social change. We award small grants to new and emerging groups, providing critical support from the beginning. We are often the first foundation grant that our grantees have applied for or received.
Organization name
Chinook Fund
1987
Tax id (EIN)
84-1076325
Category
Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking Foundations
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
1031 33rd Street Suite 237CO, US
Denver, CO, US
Fort Collins, CO, US
Colorado Springs, CO, US
Durango, CO, US