The Money Pot in 2023: Keeping the resources and connections flowing
Published on April 25, 2023 by Mintz
Dear Money Pot contributors,
Thank you for your continued support of DMV organizers working towards our collective liberation! We are proud that our community has, over the years, redistributed roughly $400,000 to Black and Brown organizers working with BIPOC-led, abolitionist groups in our community.
During our winter “contributor community dialogues,” we heard a lot of great ideas for how the Money Pot can strengthen our connections. We received feedback that more communication would be helpful - about the origins of this fund and how it currently works, as well as the radical organizing it supports. This feedback is motivating us to communicate with you more frequently. We want to share information in a way that helps you all feel connected and informed, while holding our politic that no one who participates in this project is “owed receipts” :).
We can kick off more communication this year with a recap of what the Money Pot supported in 2022:
- We received more than $100,000 from 184 regular contributors.
- We fulfilled cash requests of up to $4,000 to 51 organizers.
- The activists we supported work with organizations that include: Black Lives Matter DMV, DC Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, DC Street Medics Collective, East of the River Mutual Aid, Formerly BYP 100, Good Trouble Coop, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Justice for Muslims Collective, Metro DC USA, Peace House DC, Sanctuary DMV, Serve Your City DC, Ward 1 Mutual Aid, Ward 5 Mutual Aid, and others.
We appreciate everyone who has been a part of this resource redistribution, and the collective impact we are having by pooling our resources. Your ongoing contribution is making a difference, and we hope you continue to sustain the Money Pot.
We can also let you know that we receive monthly requests of around $20,000 from individuals who meet these eligibility criteria. That is about 50% more than the funds we bring in, or a gap of around $8,000/month. If you are able to “share more of what you got,” we invite you to increase your contribution by signing in to your Open Collective account, clicking on your profile to “manage contributions,” and selecting “edit” to update your monthly donation. Because the pot now lives inside of Open Collective, all contributions remain tax-deductible, which is nice.
Our practice of resource-sharing is building the self-determination of our radical community - outside of state and nonprofit structures. We want to be in ongoing community around truly building and transforming together, not replicating hierarchical charity work. In that vein, our intention is to keep the lines of communication open between our organizing family, so keep an eye out for more regular updates, as well as opportunities to engage, sustain, heal and grow our community in the coming year!
In Solidarity and Love,
The Money Pot Team
Ajoke, Jazz, lasitha, Marybeth, Mintz, and Naiya