Emily's Giving Project Fundraiser

🌱 Reimagining Generosity: A Call to Action

Can you imagine a world where everyone has enough? A world where communities who have more joyfully give to communities who have less — not out of charity, but out of a deep understanding that we are one body, one ecosystem, and that the wellbeing of one is the wellbeing of all? A world where resources flow like a river, pooling gently, nourishing us all?

I'm honored to be part of the Spring 2025 Giving Project cohort with the Chinook Fund, a transformative initiative bringing together diverse individuals to collectively raise and distribute funds to grassroots organizations advancing social justice in Colorado.

💡 Rethinking Generosity

Research consistently reveals something profound: 

Lower-income families and communities of color give a higher percentage of their income to charity than wealthier, predominantly white households. 

Families earning under $25,000 annually donate around 4.2% of their income, compared to 2.7% from households earning over $75,000. 

Similarly, Black Americans, despite systemic economic barriers, consistently give between 3% and 4% of their income.

These facts invite us to reconsider what generosity truly means. Are we giving in proportion to our abundance? Are we participating in creating a culture of abundance—or one of scarcity?

✨ My Personal Commitment

I've committed to giving $5,000—the largest single donation I've ever made.

This commitment is a result of a recent realization that money is a current— a currency — that thrives when it moves. Like water, money naturally wants to flow, pooling when necessary, nourishing life around it, then moving onward.

I am choosing to let money move through me, trusting that the flow strengthens everyone it touches including myself.

🌟 Why Support the Chinook Fund?

The Chinook Fund is a powerful catalyst in restoring this natural flow. For over three decades, they've funded grassroots movements tackling deep-rooted injustices across Colorado. Some examples of past grantees include:

• Seed Grassroots Leadership: Empowering communities to lead their own liberation.
• Tackle Systemic Inequity: Supporting movements that dismantle racial, economic, and social injustices.
• Build Collective Power: Pooling resources to create impact far greater than any of us could achieve alone.

Here are some of the incredible organizations Chinook Fund has supported:

• Denver Alliance for Street Health Response (DASHR): Creating community-based alternatives to policing and jails, such as the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) Program. 
• Fortaleza Familiar: Providing healing spaces and support for LGBTQ+ youth and families, especially in the wake of tragedies like the Club Q shooting. 
• Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center (RMEOC): Building a more just and sustainable economy through employee ownership. 
• Kaizen Food Rescue: Fighting food insecurity and waste by providing culturally relevant food and advocating for food sovereignty. 
• Pine River Shares: A rural, multi-racial, multi-generational community organizing project in Southwest Colorado.
• Black Lives Matter 5280: Working to dismantle anti-Black racism and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities.

🤝 An Invitation to Flow

This campaign isn’t just about fundraising — it’s an invitation to reimagine how we relate to money, to each other, and to the future we long to create.

By supporting the Chinook Fund, you're helping nourish movements that empower communities, dismantle inequities, and create collective liberation.

I invite you to join me in challenging the narratives of scarcity, and stepping into a culture of giving that is abundant, alive, and just.

Together, we are the river. Together, we flow.