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Announcing the 2021 Giving Project Grant Recipients and Giving Project Program Cohort Participants

The ongoing pandemic might have limited the 2021 Giving Project Program cohort from meeting in person, but it did not prevent them from setting fundraising and grantmaking records at Headwaters. The group of 16 volunteers made it possible for us to invest in 20 BIPOC-led organizations leading Minnesota to collective liberation. Each organization received a $15,000 general operating grant to support their work to build power and fight for justice. 

The Giving Project asked participants to center race and class as they learned about HFJ’s fundraising and grantmaking model. By paying close attention to the ways their individual experiences and identities influence their relationship to money and giving, the cohort developed a shared understanding of race, class, and power—an understanding that ultimately supported their collective decision making in the Giving Project. 

“This group raised over $250,000 from their families, friends, and other community folks,” said President Maria De La Cruz. “We’ve been running Giving Project Programs for six years. This is the most a cohort has ever brought in—and they did it all online.”  

The 20 Giving Project Grant recipients are: 

Please spend time getting to know each of the grantees! We encourage you to click through to their websites and learn about their work building power for change.

Participants of the 2021 Giving Project Program cohort are: 

  • Kaitlyn Custer
  • Lauren Daumueller
  • Amanda Dionne
  • Gabriela Farias
  • Ilse Griffin
  • Hilary Johnson
  • Elena Leomi
  • Chue Lor
  • Julie Vo McConnell
  • Molly O’Connor
  • Ryan Olson
  • Cirien Saadeh
  • Julia Sisson
  • Pamela Standing
  • Aimee Vue
  • Brad Walter

HFJ congratulates and thanks these 16 dedicated community members for their work over the past six months! Their bold donor organizing and grantmaking is moving money to where it’s needed the most.

Organizations looking for HFJ support will want to apply for a Community Innovation Grant in July. Details are forthcoming. Meanwhile, we will share details about how to apply for a spot in the 2022 Giving Project Program cohort and for a 2022 Giving Project grant later this year. Please visit the program pages on our website for updates starting in late 2021 for both opportunities.