Intermediaries & Philanthropy: Seeding Community Work at the Grassroots

June 27, 3:00 pm ET

Intermediaries play a unique role in driving resources to communities that are often overlooked by funders. Traditional philanthropy’s focus on funding nonprofit organizations leaves an important gap when it comes to funding communities of color, especially smaller populations. Many grassroots organizations serving marginalized populations are small, provide direct services, and don’t always have the capacity or staffing to seek and sustain nonprofit status. For this reason, funding intermediaries is particularly relevant when it comes to discussions about racial equity in education. Effective intermediary organizations are values-aligned, responsive and in close relationship with communities served. This panel brings together leaders of intermediary organizations serving under-resourced communities for a conversation about the challenges they face and the opportunities philanthropic support can facilitate.

This event is intended for members, other education grantmakers and their partners.

There is no cost to attend this Grantmakers for Education program. Registration closes 15 minutes prior to the program time. Thank you for your patience; we review each registration in advance.

About the Speakers

Kiyomi Fujikawa
Co-Director
Third Wave Fund

Kiyomi Fujikawa (she/her) is a Seattle-based, mixed-race queer trans femme who has been involved with movements to end gender- and state-based violence since 2001. Her political home is with queer and trans communities of color and organizing to prevent and respond to intimate partner violence.

Kiyomi is currently on the board of Groundswell Fund and is a Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) Leadership Development Fellow. She was most recently a Senior Program Associate at the Fund for Trans Generations at Borealis Philanthropy, and the Queer Network Program Coordinator at API Chaya.

She is also an avid lover of speculative fiction, noodles, astrology (Sag Sun, Cancer Rising, Libra Moon), feelings, and do-it-yourself scavenger hunts.

Felecia Lucky
President
Black Belt Community Foundation

Felecia Lucky’s favorite African proverb has served her well in her role as the President of the Black Belt Community Foundation.

“To do something for us, instead of with us, does nothing for us at all.”

After a career in finance, Felecia returned to Livingston, Alabama and fell in love with the idea of building a foundation with the people, for the people when she joined the Black Belt Community Foundation. BBCF was established to strengthen Alabama’s 12 poorest counties known collectively as the Black Belt.

In the last 19 years, fueled by the passion to provide opportunities to the region, BBCF has partnered with philanthropic organizations who want to invest in local community led driven transformation. Some noteworthy partnerships include W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, US – DHR – Office of Head Start for early childhood education, Alabama State Council of the Arts, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Auburn University. Most recently, the NOVO Foundation recognized BBCF for its work with a grant to the Consortium of Southern Black Girls and Women.

With her deep roots in the community, dedication to her family and church, Felecia serves on a variety of committees and boards, including the City of Livingston City Council, Council on Foundations Community Foundation Leadership Team, HOPE Enterprise Corporation’s Board, HIVE Fund Advisory Board, Heron Foundation Board, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Leader Cohort 6, Black Belt Commission, and CF Leads Foundation Board and Governance Chair. Further, Felecia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; a graduate of Leadership Alabama and Leadership Sumter County. Felecia is also 2006 Southeastern Council on Foundations Hull Fellow, a 2013 Aspen Ideas Scholar and a 2016 graduate of the Delta Regional Authority’s Delta Leadership Institute.

Felecia earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Tuskegee University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Alabama. Felecia serves as the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church in Livingston, Alabama. She has one daughter, Amber Nicole.

Kham S. Moua
National Deputy Director
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

Kham S. Moua oversees Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)’s communications, field, and policy portfolios through landscape and strategic analysis, community engagement, and legislative and regulatory advocacy. Kham has spent over a decade community building, organizing, and advocating on a wide range of issues, ranging from immigration to military justice. His primary areas of expertise are in immigration and internet/technology policy.

Prior to this role, Kham served as SEARAC’s Director of National Policy. While in that role, he raised the profile of Southeast Asian immigration issues and helped introduce the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act and New Way Forward Act. He also previously served as the Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy at OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates. While there, he directed the organization’s policy, advocacy, and campaign efforts. Together with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, he helped to establish the infrastructure for the AAPI Technology and Telecommunications Table, the only national coalition focused on those issues from an AAPI framework. Before OCA, he worked on state and local advocacy at Hmong National Development and Hmong American Partnership. Kham is also involved with AAPI LGBTQ organizations and issues. He previously served as a board member for the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA); was previously the chair of Shades of Yellow, an organization based in Minnesota focused on Southeast Asian LGBTQ equity; and served as co-chair of the National Council of Asian Pacific American’s Immigration Committee.

Kham hails from Minnesota and holds a political science degree. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and is a 1.5 generation Hmong American. In his freetime, he enjoys reading non-fiction and graphic novels, writing short stories and poetry, and baking.