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Collaborative Funding Action Team

Purpose 

Create equitable funding practices, amplifying community voice and strengthening relationships.

About the Strategy Area

Collaborative funding focuses on identifying ways to support communities to have access to funding. It also focuses on strategies for moving funds towards accessibility and responsiveness to collective effort that is valued by the community.

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Since 2020, the Collaborative Funding Action Team has been focusing on building networks and holding conversations to identify opportunities to adapt funding processes to ultimately make financial resources more available to the community. While some barriers pose challenges in communities taking the lead in implementing solutions, this Action Team recognizes the many assets of the community. These assets include existing networks, community leaders and the skills/knowledge of the people and neighborhoods who belong to Jefferson County’s communities. To learn more about how the team works together, please visit our Action Team page.

Writing a Sticky Note
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

African Proverb

Our Journey
Towards 
Supporting Accessible and Responsive Funding for Community Initiatives

Funding Collaborative-Led Community Initiatives

Check out this team's concept paper on funding collaborative-led community initiatives.

What We're Learning 

Connections and relationships are important in understanding funding processes and encouraging further conversations on this topic. The following are conditions we are finding necessary to support accessible and responsive funding for community initiatives that center community in the process.  

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  • Consider equity in each step of the funding process. To have the impact expected by communities, we need to strive for systems that distribute and sustain funding within communities, cross sectors and involve all impacted parties throughout the whole process.

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  • Relationships, relationships, relationships. Create partnerships between funding organizations and the community, clarify roles and limitations early in relationships and listen actively to assure funding is broadly distributed to address local challenges.

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  • Approach systems with creativity and a healthy amount of skepticism. It is important to collaborate, question and challenge systems we are a part of to encourage responsiveness to community needs and expertise. 

Learn With Us

Interested in getting involved with the Collaborative Funding Action Team? This team meets online once a month, depending on project workload. We welcome you to follow along with the work being done in the Action Team or participate in monthly meetings and projects. Let's connect!

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Volunteers

Collaborative Funding in Action

Edgewater Collective: Partnerships for a Thriving Community

Edgewater Collective works towards decreasing education and economic gaps in our communities and strives to reimagine and redesign community systems so that everyone can thrive. The Collective includes a variety of programs and cooperatives that aim to explore systemic innovations to improve education and economic outcomes. One of the cooperatives, Incubadora Collectiva, aims to build community wealth by supporting worker cooperatives. Incubadora Colectiva supports these cooperatives in the areas of funding, web development, bookkeeping, advertising, ongoing training, and other office services.

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The AJL Foundation

The AJL Foundation’s mission is to invest in people, programs and movements that benefit Colorado's youth and families. They believe people and communities know what they need and aim to support funding through grantmaking, direct investing and impact investing for community organizations that are doing important work in our communities. In their work, the Foundation recognizes that they are neither the experts nor the authority on the issues they work on, and they enter every partnership and conversation with compassion, humility and in the spirit of learning.

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How do you support collaborative funding in your own work? 

Are you involved in projects that aim to increase accessibility of funding for collaborative initiatives? We would love to hear about and share the important work you do throughout our community. Use the form below to share your work! 

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