Introducing our 2026-2029 Strategic Plan
Beloved community,
Many of us are tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix.
We feel it in our minds, which are bracing for the next headline. We feel it in our hearts, as we watch hard-won progress questioned, defunded, or erased. And we feel it in our bodies: the tight shoulders, the shallow breath, the vigilance our people have carried for generations.
Even as midterm election results signal renewed hope across the country, we move with the understanding that winning back what was lost will take steadfast pressure, and time. We must build from this momentum together to regain and strengthen the policies, rights, and funding that our elders and communities fought for.
I want to name the weight of that weariness honestly, because it is real. But I also want to say what I know just as deeply. We have been here before. Our ancestors built futures in seasons far drier than this one. And the world we are building, one where Black people are free — not only in possibility but in power and in practice, is not a dream we are waiting on. It is work already underway, in our hands.
That is why, after a year of listening, reflecting, and planning together, the Black Future Co-op Fund is proud to share our 2026–2029 Strategic Plan. It is our answer to this moment: a commitment to act, to stay rooted, and to grow.
Rooting Deep During the Dry Seasons
We are living through a coordinated retreat from equity. Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have been under open attack. Black history is being challenged in classrooms and public institutions. Funders who made bold promises after 2020 quietly pulled back, shifting priorities, or reneging altogether. Across the sector, uncertainty has become the norm.
Smaller Black-led nonprofits across the nation have generally seen little to no funding based on eight years of historical grants data from as early as 2016, as reported by ABFE and Candid. Research revealed post-2020 private foundation grantmaking mostly flowed to a small group of large Black-led nonprofits between 2020-2022, but declined in 2023.
For Black communities in Washington state, this is not abstract. When public dollars shrink, and philanthropic commitments soften, it is Black-led organizations that are asked to do more with less, and often the first to be cut. The gaps in wealth, health, housing, and education that we have spent years working to close are not holding steady. They are widening.
Yet, we see this moment as a critical opportunity. When others retreat, the institutions that stay, that are accountable to community rather than to political winds, become more essential, not less. This is our time to strengthen our influence and to advance long-term investment in Black communities.
That requires three things of us:
- Clarity about who we are and whom we serve
- Alignment across our members, board, staff, and partners
- Resilience in our leadership, our relationships, and our resources
We have come to call this season: Rooting Deep During the Dry Seasons. A tree survives drought not by growing taller, but by sending its roots further down, toward water others cannot reach. For the Fund, that means investing in our own internal alignment, leadership, and resilience, so that retracted funding, broken promises, and attacks on our history cannot move us from our ground.
Our story in This Moment: the Year of Widening Impact
Let me be plain: we are standing ten toes down. The Black Future Co-op Fund was created as Washington’s first cooperative philanthropy, built for and by the communities it serves. Our commitment to philanthropic justice has not wavered, and it will not. We exist to help build a world where Black people are free, not just in possibility, but in power and in practice.
How we do this matters as much as what we do. We refuse to lead from scarcity or fear. We will lead through joy, beauty, and abundance, because those are not luxuries for after the struggle. They are how our people have always survived it, and how we will win.
Our 2026–2029 Strategic Roadmap focuses on:
- Building the internal strength needed to shift from reactive execution to intentional and sustainable delivery of our work
- Building long-term permanence by securing and stewarding resources that sustain the organization’s mission across generations
- Intentionally shaping how the Fund’s work, knowledge, and opportunities are held, shared, and made visible.
With this plan, we are stepping intentionally into the Year of Widening Impact: a period of growth, expanded reach, and wider access. The roots we have deepened are what make this growth possible. We are ready to resource more organizations, reach more corners of our state, and open more doors for Black communities to shape philanthropy rather than simply receive it.
What You Can Expect From Us
The Fund is a cooperative, and we will lead like one: from community, with community, and accountable to community. In the years ahead, our work will be guided by five ancestral practices. They come from across the African continent, a reminder that the wisdom we need has always been ours.
- Healing — Iwosan (Yoruba): We will tend to the whole person and the whole organization. Rest, restoration, and repair are part of our strategy, not a break from it.
- Connecting — Ubuntu (Bantu): I am because we are. We will weave stronger ties among Black-led organizations, donors, and members, so no one carries this moment alone.
- Resourcing — Ustawi (Kiswahili): Ustawi speaks to flourishing and well-being. We will move money with trust, fewer barriers, and an eye toward long-term thriving rather than short-term survival.
- Amplifying — Chimurenga (Shona): Born of liberation struggle, Chimurenga calls us to raise our collective voice. We will tell our own stories and advocate boldly for Black communities in public and in philanthropy.
- Accelerating — Kaayyoo (Oromo): We move with intention and long-term destiny. We will build momentum, backing leaders and ideas ready to grow and helping turn promise into lasting power.
Join us
This plan belongs to all of us. A cooperative is only as strong as the people who choose to build it, and we are calling you in.
- Give. Every gift, at every size, deepens our roots and widens our reach. [link]
- Read the plan. Explore the full 2026–2029 Strategic Plan and share it with your networks. [link]
- Bring us your story. Tell us what your community needs and what is working. We are listening.
- Show up. Join us at [upcoming gathering].
The seasons will change. They always do. What we plant and protect now is what our children and grandchildren will harvest. Let’s root deep together, and let’s grow.
In joy and in community,
Andrea Caupain Sanderson, Interim Managing Director, Black Future Co-op Fund.