Donate to support our work

Here are a few ways you can donate to sustain our work:

1. Make a one time or recurring payment via Act Blue

2. Donate cash in person at a meeting 

3. Contact us at finance.awarela@gmail.com if you would like to mail a check or donate in some other way

If you would like to think more critically about how much to contribute, please check out our new sliding scale and guide below!

We are building power to challenge dominant institutions, shift racist policies, and create community-based alternatives to harmful systems as part of a global movement of grassroots organizations. Our work also includes systemic leadership development, strategic campaigns, and material support for our solidarity partners including Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles, Schools LA Students Deserve, Initiate Justice and other People of Color-led organizations across Los Angeles. 50% of contributions go directly to our solidarity partners. This work requires a broad base of members who show up with vast and varied skills and talents, and it also requires adequate funding.

We invite you to sustain our work by committing to a recurring monthly contribution. We encourage folks to use the sliding scale below to choose a contribution that feels truly generous without creating personal hardship. This is a guide to help you choose a place on the scale, and we encourage you to read the rest of the information below the scale.

Click here for a text description of the sliding scale that is accessible via screen readers.

Why do we use a sliding scale?
Nothing about money is simple, and neither is a sliding scale. Class and money are topics that lots of folks struggle to talk about because most of us aren’t taught to talk about money, access to resources, and what class actually is, and some of us are explicitly taught not to discuss those things. Class cannot be understood as an isolated experience, but is part of the complex interactions of race, gender, ability, privilege, sexuality, and the many identities we hold. The sliding scale is a great way to consider class because it frames the decision about how much to contribute from the standpoint of access. It isn’t a perfect way to correct for the unfair harmful economic system we live in, but it’s a start.

What do we mean by a contribution that feels truly generous without creating hardship?
A truly generous amount is one that you can afford, but that may require having to cut back on things like dinners out, new clothes, an extra trip or vacation, or other non-essential things. That amount depends on what situation you’re coming from, and ultimately it’s up to you to decide what to contribute. If it won’t affect your day to day reality at all, please consider paying more until it feels truly generous. We do NOT want financially supporting WP4BL to be a personal hardship. That means, if a contribution is so much that you will struggle to pay for rent, food, transportation, and other basic needs, that’s harmful, and we ask you to pay less on the sliding scale.
 
Why does this feel so challenging?
One challenge of a sliding scale is that people with more resource access often pay less than what they could. This doesn’t (always) happen because people are greedy. The challenge is scale, scarcity experience, and comparison. Everyone’s bar is set differently for “enough.”

• Scale: If someone has never had $100 that isn’t already budgeted for basic needs, they will likely treat $20 in their wallet differently than folks who take $200 out of the ATM whenever they need cash to spend on whatever. But if someone usually only has $20 and suddenly has an extra $200, they are also likely to relate to it differently than when it’s a non-event in someone else’s wallet. Scale.

• Scarcity experience: Folks who have experienced actual scarcity generally have a different relationship to what seems like extra money to them than folks who have experienced only the fear of scarcity.

• Comparison: Someone who makes $40k/year might feel well off if they are used to being around folks who subsist on poverty wages and public assistance. However, that same person may see themself as not having much to spare if they’re used to being around lawyers or doctors who make upwards of $100k/year. Comparison.

How do we fund our work? 
A vast majority of our funding comes from individual contributions. Some funding for the recent mobilization for Yes on R was institutional.

Why is it important to fund our own work instead of relying on grants and big donors?
How groups are funded is as important to achieving their goals as how the money is spent. When grassroots organizations are funded by their members and base, movements are more radical, more grassroots-oriented, and more flexible.

Sliding scale & narrative based in part on ones by Equity Solutions, Ride Free Fearless Money, Little Red Bird Botanicals, Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, Catalyst Project, and Worts & Cunning.