From the desk of our incredible Luminary Infrastructure Fund Manager and Builder, Jenifer Daniels, who has been the steward for the Fund since its inception as the flagship pillar of our TTWW Infrastructure Fund:

The Tech We Want Infrastructure Fund @ Open Collective: This fund is intended to build community power and strengthen the movement to build an inclusive and equitable tech future. It aims to cover the emergent needs of changemakers while investing in long-term movement infrastructure and sustainability.

One of our funded subprojects includes a sandbox where we experiment with shared scaffolding and tools we need in a new tech (and funding) ecosystem, with the advisement of TTWW Luminary community.

of note: the above was accomplished with less than $230,000 in grant funding, $44,000 in staff funding.

We’ve learned that building community power requires a different way of working. We leaned into co-creation in our grant-making design and awards, utilized trust-based philanthropy to disseminate funds, and the African philosophy of ukama –  the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, values, and tradition – in our mid-point and end reports.

In our learnings, we discovered that we can strengthen the #techjustice movement by being responsive to the needs of the Luminaries with grants designed for care &dreaming. Plainly put, we have learned that if we can’t dream of possibilities, rest to recover, or protect ourselves as we do this work – our work will cease to exist.

To read more about the Luminaries co-creating a collective vision for ethical technology, systems, and economies that generate value for all stakeholders, visit this Medium post and watch our recap video of our first year working for liberation.