Amplifying the Ripple: Spotlight on the Collective Power of CoThinkk

Ever wondered about the deeper significance of Black Philanthropy Month, celebrated every August? Tracey Greene-Washington and Tera Coffey, dynamic voices from the revolutionary organization CoThinkk, join us to shed light on this global celebration and its profound impact on social transformation. These two powerhouse women bring to the forefront the true essence of Black giving - a practice rooted in equity and cultural customs that goes beyond just monetary contributions. Tracey and Tera unravel how CoThinkk is redefining philanthropy by spotlighting the invaluable contributions of its members and communities in influencing local, regional, and national movements.

About Tracey:
Tracey Greene-Washington is the President of Indigo Innovation Group, a consulting firm dedicated to serving as a strategic thought partner, advisor, coach, and consultant to philanthropic, nonprofit, and private/public organizations committed to accelerating change through system-level approaches, equity, and strategic collaboration. In addition to this role, she is the Founder of CoThinkk, a social change philanthropy led by BIPOC communities committed to systems change in Western NC through strategic investments, systems change, centering racial equity, network-building, and civic discourse. Throughout her 20+ year career, she’s led high-level initiatives that address complex issues and gained a reputation as an innovative leader committed to partnering with organizations/communities to be more impactful by targeting systemic change, taking risks, and accelerating change.

About Tera:
Tera Coffey is the Director of Impact with CoThinkk and Founder and CEO of Tera Coffey Consulting, a consultancy offering strategic thought partnership around community engagement, communication and marketing, and fundraising across the political and non-profit sectors. Her expertise includes community engagement, fundraising, strategic planning, and process development with a focus on equitable outcomes and social change. Tera brings her passion for racial equity to the philanthropic sector consulting with Western NC-based funders as a facilitator and thought partner around grantmaking restructuring to build the accountability measures necessary to ensure deep, systemic change. 

This thought-provoking conversation takes us through CoThinkk's relationship-centered approach to collective giving. Tune in for a fresh perspective on the transformative power of leveraging BIPOC time, talent, and treasure that promises to redefine your understanding of philanthropy's role in society and its ability to ignite sustainable, impactful social change. 

We'll see you same time, same place next month. Until then, peace.

Transcript

Intro: We're profoundly, profoundly interconnected. We don't always live that way, we don't always acknowledge it, but if we're going to heal, we have to live it, experience it and create institutions that celebrate it? Can we create a "We" where no one's on the outside of it? 

Welcome: Welcome to the Uplift with Tzedek - Real Talk for Real Change.

Disclaimer: Before we jump in, a quick reminder of why we're here and what we hope to achieve.

We're here to build authentic community relationships and help fuel social transformation in Asheville, North Carolina. We believe collective liberation is not only possible but probable, as we share, listen and learn together. We're here for the process. However, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.

Michael: Hey, hey, it's another good day for great conversation and today will not disappoint. My name is Michael Hoeben and I'm the Director of Communications at Tzedek, and I'm here today with Libby Kyes, our Executive Director. Libby, how you feeling?

Libby: Wonderful. How are you today?

Michael: Doing good. Actually, I'm pretty excited because we are joined by CoThinkk, the one and only is at the table. In celebration of Black Philanthropy Month, we have the dynamic social change philanthropy innovator, international bestselling, multi-award winning author, speaker, consultant, entrepreneur, and CoThinkk founder, Ms Tracey Greene-Washington. Tracey, welcome, you are dripping with accolades. Thank you for being here today.

Tracey: I love the drip and it's such a pleasure to be here. I'm excited about this conversation.

Michael: Sweet, but that's not all. We're also joined by Tera Coffey, the Director of Impact and Network Weaving with CoThinkk, as well as the Founder-CEO of Tera Coffey Consulting. Tera, we appreciate you taking time to be with us today.

Tera: Thank you. Thank you, I'm really excited to be here. Thank you for shouting out my consultancy.

Michael: All right, so let's jump into it. As I mentioned earlier, it is Black Philanthropy Month. Yes, Tracey, Tera, can you give us some context? What is Black Philanthropy Month, and why is it important to CoThinkk?

Tracey: Can I start?

Michael: Please do, yeah.

Tracey: So let me tell you, Black Philanthropy Month happens every August and it is this rich and beautiful celebration. It's a global celebration, a global movement around African descent giving that it has an explicit focus on equity

It first was incubated by Dr. Jackie Copeland in 2001. And then, through this beautiful conversation with women of 30 diverse backgrounds, they came together and watched this global experience, right, to really amplify what giving looks like when it is rooted in cultural practices, that's rooted in the people, that's rooted in collectiveness as we move forward. And I think today they have about 60, like 19 million people who celebrate Black history, black Philanthropy Month every year across. I think it's like 60 countries.

Libby: Yeah.

Tracey: And this year, the theme is love and action. Right. Last year was about talking the efficiency of equity and moving from dreaming to action, right. And so I'm excited for us to talk about what that is and how we are part of that in Western North Carolina. We're part of this national and global movement that's happening.

Michael: So why is Black Philanthropy Month important to CoThinkk in the work that you're doing?

Tracey: So what I would say is that we are that. We are part of the movement right, right, and when we think about the work that we're doing, when we think about this connection to place and cultural roots of giving, we are part of the ecosystem, we're part of their partners that are actively doing that in a way that's community-centered and community-led.

And when we think about the fact that oftentimes people don't have the opportunity to understand what Black giving is, we have the opportunity, through our work being a BIPOC-led organization, to be able to amplify what that looks like. What that feels like from various hues and shades of folks that are part of our work in a way I think is very intentional.

Tera: And you know, CoThinkk is BIPOC-led, right? We're talking about Black Philanthropy. When we think of philanthropy, right, CoThinkk in its core, right, it's challenging this narrative of what it looks like to be a philanthropist and indeed what philanthropy really is right. And so we center our folks of color, all of our members, as the philanthropists who give not only in the financial ways, right?

Not only their treasure, their time, and talent. And so, by centering on our members as these incredible philanthropists with many gifts that they have always given right, who pool on their collective giving, we are hugely a part of the Black Philanthropy movement, right, and a part of challenging what it means to be a philanthropist and what a philanthropist looks like.

Libby: So I'm going to add I'm not just the ED of Tzedek, but I'm also a CoThinkk member. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what feels really impactful around Black philanthropy and CoThinkk is that we get to hype and highlight our people, that we get to let them know that when no one else sees, hears, or feels them, we see them, we hear them, we feel them and that we are a part of them.

Tracey: Yeah, can I add to that? Yeah, Libby, it is all about amplifying voice, hello. It is all about amplifying visibility. It is about amplifying the magic of what it means to be, a collective of people, a color and, being explicit, when we talk about people of color, we're talking about Black folks, we're talking about Indigenous folks, we're talking about Latine folks, we're talking about Asian folks, we're talking about people of color who make up this tapestry.

And one of the things I want to amplify, with Libby's said, is that we're explicit in our work, that we name ourselves as a social change for Lantern and that is really explicit language. That means that we are valuing and centering equity, particularly racial equity. We're saying explicitly those that are most proximal to the challenges and the issues are those that are most proximal to the solution. We talk about that. This work is strategic. It is about innovation, it's about joy, it's about celebration All of those things. And for people to show up in all of their layers in this work to give to each other, to love on each other, to be intentional about what the strategic work looks like that we're going to do as a collective to kind of lean into it.

And I'll be remiss if I just only go back to the name of CoThinkk. CoThinkk is based upon this premise that if we bring the best of who we are into spaces and we're co-thinking.

Together we can come up with the best solutions ever that not one of us has the power, the knowing, the experience, the talents, to come up with, and to come up with solutions that can solve these really complex, meaty layers of complex issues that are happening in our community. But together that's something different. That's the magic, that's the secret sauce, that's the rude part of the gumbo that you want right now.

Libby: And in true, Tracey fashion. When we do this collectively, we can do what we want to do.

Tracey: We can do what we want to do.

Tera: Yeah, our opening reminder from Tracey Greene-Washington, we can do what we want to.

Tracey: And I don’t even think it’s from me. I think that it bubbled up naturally from all of us doing the work and realizing that we could do what we want to do right and being able to demonstrate that, and us saying, hey, that's going to be our tagline, because if we believe it, then you believe it. Because what we know about this work is that one of the most powerful things that you can do around systems changes change the way people think, those mental models, those biases, the stories that people tell about us or that we tell about ourselves.

And if you can help people understand and invite them into the space where they have the ability to do what they want to do, that we can make strategic decisions around investments in our community, where we know the solutions are. How powerful is that? How liberating is that? Because this space is about liberation, we are, we are explicit about it. It is about this awareness, this analysis, this action, accountability. And what does it mean for us to be free together doing this work, making the world that we want, making the community that we want.

Michael: And the ways that you're doing that are different. Right, the traditional philanthropy, so her collective giving circle, which I want to know like what is that? But I also hear time, talent, and treasure. So I think traditional philanthropy, I think maybe just treasure. So how does time and talent pieces work into this?

Tracey: So traditional philanthropy often does use your fleet with their financial capital.

There's been this beautiful movement that was led by Ambassador James Joseph, who recently passed away, who has influenced the field of philanthropy, and he talked about and challenged philanthropy to use it.

SMIRF is social, moral, intellectual, relational, financial capital, and service to social change, but a lot of philanthropies are trying to figure out how you do that.

So, when we're talking about CoThinkk, we do our giving through our time, through our talent, through our treasure, and even through our voice, and that allows everyone to bring in all their collective gifts into the space in whatever way they give.

But in addition to that, we also do our work through four strategic pathways, because one of the things that we've learned is that you cannot give together, be together, unless you see each other; and so we have to do healing work as foundational to our work, right. In addition to healing, we talk about the work that we do to build capacity of each other, and then we have what a lot of people know us for in terms of access to resources, in terms of our video applications and our grants. And, lastly, we do a lot of work in terms of doing systems change work, working directly with institutions and partners in our community to support them. When healing needs to happen, when people need to see each other and meet each other in the work, we are the ones that are able to be called in, to be able to support those processes as we move forward.

Tera: As far as doing this, this piece around time, the talent, the treasure, this avenues, right, that looks like our members, right, coming collectively to give their time, to give their talent, to give their treasure so that we are able to build a foundation, right, of collective power based on our members, right. We are beholden to no funder, right. We are beholden to no individual donor. We are accountable to our own members, and our members are accountable to each other, right, and they make those decisions collectively about the strategies that we use as we look to affect systems change throughout our region, right, and they determine the direction that we take.

So, even down to those granular, small kind of - y'all, we have this option how do we wanna go about it? Y'all, we can give our grants to folks multi-year what does that look like for us? And then we decide collectively through a consent structure when those decisions arise, right, and by leveraging our members as a talent base, right, by leveraging the time that they're able to put in and collectively think and we like to say CoThinkk, right, around these challenges, these different issues, as they arise in our community. We're able to be really strong in both the expertise, the brilliance that they're able to provide us to problem solve and also the strategies that we take. And we're never short, right, of that brilliance, because that's the thing we center on, right, is our members.

Tracey: Beautifully said. And then healing work is those hard conversations that often people are afraid to have with one another. We're able to hold each other and create an intentional space around agreement of how we will be together, how we will treat each other, how we will see each other. And we have the hard conversations. And what does it mean for us to fumble towards repair? What does it mean for us to do this work together in an authentic way? What does it mean for folks to enter the space and not even know what it means to do our work together and to take the time and pause to sit with each other, to love on each other. Sometimes it's tears, sometimes we keep a lot of cookies and we ask people don't leave the room, just have a cookie. We can hold you in this space. We can have these hard conversations because the reality is, oftentimes there's so much distance between us. It's like a story. We don't have a complete story of each other. So we make up these narratives that keep us siloed in opposition to each other.

Libby: And. That space is also about joy, right? So we can have the difficult conversations - I know I'm supposed to be Tzedek right now, but it's kind of hard, sorry - but you can have the difficult conversations, you can eat your cookie, you can do all the things. But I think what is most impactful about the CoThinkk space is that when you walk into the space, there's a trigger and it's instant, like home. And there's a joy that can sometimes be - what's the word I'm looking for? Well, it's needed. It's a joy that's needed because we don't often show up in spaces where it's primarily people who look like us, wanting to work and do the things that are gonna support our communities, and so when you get into this space where you would like-minded individuals, there's a sense of security, there's a sense of joy, there's excitement and we celebrate with one another. So it's not just, oh, we come to tackle the hard stuff, but we also come to uplift and celebrate each other in all the things that we do.

Tracey: Some of the language we've been using lately is how we continuously in radical celebration of each other. And how do we hold that with each other? What does it look like? What does it feel like? And it's beautiful. It's beautiful to know that you can come into a space and not have to use the labor to pretend that you can come into a space with all your layers, both good and bad, and people are gonna love you and welcome you into this space and everyone there is doing their work to meet each other in the work, to meet each other in the moment and to hold space for us to do something that we know is powerful beyond measures.

Michael: It's a beautiful invitation to be part of community.

Tera: Yeah, to seek liberation, I think is a really big thing that you guys are talking about too when you're coming into the space and things that a lot of our members have talked about and we joke around about, actually, because it becomes something that is very hard to be in other spaces after sharing space over time and CoThinkk is because you're in a space where everyone there, right - and this is a multiracial space - is seeking liberation and they're seeking it together, and that looks like being in joy, as Libby's describing.

It looks like celebrating one another, and it also looks like creating space to heal through the grappling that is necessary to get to the root cause of the challenges that our communities face, right. And that's social change philanthropy, right. The focus is addressing the root cause within systems that lead to inequity, that lead to economic and ecological destruction of our planet. Like those things are all linked.

Social change philanthropy attempts to do that and CoThinkk's way of doing that looks like being in radical celebration with one another, seeking liberation with one another, and being very, very clear about the reason that we are in that space.

Michael: And through that process, you're healing, right, some of the impacts of systemic oppression that have been inherited and placed upon BIPOC communities, because it's solidarity is not always something you can take for granted, but I love that CoThink is nurturing that space for that to be authentically created.

Tracey: And I will say, just to add on to what Tera said, is sometimes when people come into this space, they never seen anything like it! And, to Tera's point, you can't unsee it. And so we see people out from coming into the space, back into these norm-, I guess normal places, these more traditional places, and then they begin to ask different questions. They pose different questions of people in those more traditional spaces. They ask different questions of themselves than they have ever asked before. And it requires them then to ask different questions about, Where do I need to do this work? How do I need to do it as I move forward? What is the work that I need to do that's significant as I move forward? What do I want to be a part of? What does it look like and feel like? And how can I craft my own journey going forward - and a journey not walking by yourself, but as a part of a collective, because there's power in a collective.

But that I can show up in all of who I am (yes) in such a beautiful way and figure out what that means in this community, around this social change ecosystem. Right? We're all playing a specific role. We just have to choose and be explicit about what that role is and play it well.

Michael: Right, this is the key - play it well. All right, so solidarity and collective power are big themes for CoThinkk. What do these ideas mean to CoThinkk and how are they put into practice? And I've also heard we got this local level, but you're not just local, right? We’re talking global.

(yeah, yeah) So feel free to hit upon that if you can.

Tera: You know I'll talk about a little bit about locally and then we'll head to the bigger picture. But with the solidarity, with the collective power we've been talking about drawing on our collective power right as our base. When you are able to center your collective power, it's not just that you're able to accomplish more effective change at the ground level. You create a, you displace danger, right? You displace the things that would seek to upend the work that we're doing. Right, seeking liberation, working towards equity, and the many ways that we're able to do that through capacity building and funding. Right. 

The solidarity comes in using that collective power, building relationships throughout Western North Carolina, in greater communities, to find out and build collectively what it looks like to be in relationship and community with the other groups, with the other individuals who are seeking to affect change in the same way right, maybe they're affecting it in a different sector. We use philanthropy as our vehicle to affect change, but it doesn't necessarily have to be within philanthropy that we're able to cross-cut, right, and build power in solidarity with one another. We also have to allow others to center their leadership and their, as Tracey likes to say, ways of knowing. Right, everybody has different ways of knowing. Your traditions, your culture affect those things. Your experiences affect those things. And if we want to allow people who have the most direct experiences, lived experiences with the challenges that affect our communities, we must center their leadership.

And so that looks like building solidarity by saying how are we in relationship with you, how do we support you and your work? How are we led? How can we be best led by you, and vice versa? What does that look like on our side?

Tracey: Yeah, that's beautiful in terms of talking about this real partnership and also talking about co-conspiratorship, right, how we joining each other in the work, not just as allies, like saying I am in agreement with what you're doing, but really that action, part of it, really understanding how you do it in a respectful way that honors the partnership, and have consent around what the partnership looks like, right, that's so important, right.

And so I tell you one of the things that's really beautiful because you may think about CoThinkk as very local, but the work that we are collectively building together is a part in influencing regional movements around philanthropy and collective giving, national and international movements around collective giving. We have been able to impact the work of Community Investment Network, which is a regional network of giving circles of people of color in the South and even work nationally in their work. And we're also part of Philanthropy Together, as well, which is a national global movement that's been put together to focus just on growing giving circles across the world, across the global context of doing this work. And one of the things that's front and center in all of its recordings is information and its work is CoThinkk’s work.

We were part of the original pieces, of really helping to put together the infrastructure, the content. What does it mean to center racial equity in its work? What does it mean to work alongside individuals as partners in this work? What does it look like when everyone at the table is not only a philanthropist but also a receiver as well? What does it mean to do that in a way that's honoring people? That's what respect and love and gratitude, deep gratitude of who they are.

Libby: Well, you know again, I think the beauty of CoThinkk is that you're not just a giver, but you can also be a receiver, and there's like this internal uplift, right? Because oftentimes, particularly in local communities, people of color don't see themselves as givers and society doesn't portray them as givers. They're always receivers. We are always taking from. But the work that is done with CoThinkk is groundbreaking in that it gives opportunity for people of color in local communities like ours to be able to identify themselves as a philanthropist, and so they understand that they aren't just receiving, but they are giving their time, they're giving their talents, they're giving their treasure to help support and build this movement a collective giving.

Tera: Yeah, and even as receivers. It takes that stigma away, because the folks who receive grants from us, right, it's not a thing of, oh, we're giving you these dollars, right, it is truly. Thank you so much, right, for giving us the opportunity to invest in your brilliance, to invest in this strategy that you have developed and are implementing in your community. Thank you for inviting us into your community, right, as a partner. Not, you need so much. You don't know what you're doing. Let us tell you how to do it best.

Tracey: Yeah, it's just one tool. And one of the things I'd be remiss is not to say that these are dollars from communities of color, BIPOC communities to BIPOC communities. Like, these are your dollars; like no one's giving you anything. This is yours, this is your resources, it's your community, these are your resources to do the things that we know have to be done, are being done in our community, and elevate them in a significant way. So it has to reach the impact, to be able to reach into other communities, other bodies of work as we move forward. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say also that the model of CoThinkk is also impacting traditional philanthropy, right. These things should work in conjunction with one another.

Community-centered and community-driven philanthropy should work in partnership with traditional philanthropy. It should not be at odds. And do not extract from us, do not extract from us. Do not - let me say it one more time - do not extract from us. Be a partner with us. We're celebrating our 10-year anniversary next year and I can't believe that, out of our idea of us just dreaming together that we're 10 years in and some beautiful ripples have happened across our community. To date, we've given away over $650,000 from community to community. That's bigger than some community foundations have given over the course of their lifetime. In addition to that, we've been able to support over 250-plus community leaders that are highlighted as leaders, as next-generation leaders, as we move forward. We've been able to support individuals to have self-care stipends where they can take care of themselves, like, just let them breathe. They're doing the work.

Libby: All right now. So before we really wrap this up, there is one more question. So how can folks who are moved by the work that's happening with CoThinkk become a part of the action and what's it coming up for, CoThinkk? 

Tera: Yeah, I mean, OK. So look, we move in co-conspiratorship, right? We're a multicultural space. That means everyone is welcome to join CoThinkk and become a member. But that also means you have to be willing to seek liberation and do that work, and there's a lot of self-work that comes with that. So there's two ways I say you can get involved. You can become a member, please do right.

Join. It's on our website, check it out. Becoming a member involves giving time, giving talent, and giving treasure, right, and signing a covenant that you agree to both do those things, right. And also that you will uphold our group agreements that we have created together every time that we are in space together. Right, that you will root for CoThinkk, you will ride for CoThinkk and you will act and co-conspiratorship. Look, if that's too much, we will always take your bag. Like so, if you, if that's like whoa, I don't know if I'm ready sign up for our newsletter. Give us your cash money. Yes, we will find a home for it, and join us when you become a little bit more ready to give in those ways.

Tracey: And when Tera says the bag, she means money, bitcoins, retirement accounts, stock. We'll make it work.

Libby: Land.

Tracey: Thank you. Land, all of those things, and when I think about what's on the horizon for CoThinkk this year we have our upcoming annual celebration. It happens every year. It's going to be in November, but we're going to celebrate individuals that receive our grants, as well as individuals that are highlighted as leaders. We like to dance, we like to celebrate, as Libby talked about, and just be with each other in such an intentional way.

Michael: Something else exciting that's happened this month right?

Tracey: We've already kicked off our season of giving, but we kick off the annual grants process where everyone who identifies as BIPOC has the ability to apply for one of our CoThinkk grants. And our CoThinkk grants are in the amount of $4,000. $3,500 goes towards the work that you're doing around systems change work. And when we talk about systems change work, we're talking about shifting those mental models, those power dynamics, those relationships, those policies and practices and resources as we move forward, right. We're just excited about the privilege to be with you, excited about amplifying what you know. What community knows is the medicine we need to be able to make our community what we want it to be, because we want to know you, yes, we want you to know. We see you, we appreciate you, we honor you. It's important, you are important.

Michael: Let’s end there because that feels pretty good to me. You are important. Tracey and Tera, we deeply appreciate you sharing your time, talents, and treasure with us here on the uplift and celebration of Black Philanthropy Month. Don't sleep on this one. Visit CoThinkk.org - that's C-O-T-H-I-N-K-K .org to learn more. Beautiful humans. Thank you for listening and leaning in. This is The UPLift with Tzedek - Real Talk for Real Change. We'll see you same time, same place next month. Until then, peace, Peace.