Join us for a conversation with four social justice experts from across Colorado and the nation on Intersectionality + Philanthropy.  As human beings, we each hold multiple identities that blend together to create who we are and the experiences that we live. We experience complex systems that are designed to either serve or oppress us, depending on the identities that we hold. Where oppressed identities intersect, we are confronted with even more complex inequities and injustices. To what extent do well-meaning philanthropic organizations deepen these inequities by focusing on one identity or another? In what ways do our organizations need to bring intersectional practices within their own walls? How do we move the sector toward a more human-centered, intersectional practice that combats the systemic forces that shape inequality?

Together, we will unpack:

• Why an intersectional lens to philanthropy is imperative for advancing social justice
• The current landscape of intersectional philanthropy
• What we can do to shift our grantmaking and philanthropic practices to ensure no one is left behind

EPIP-CO is honored to share space with our guest speakers:

• Crystal Middlestadt (they/them) is the executive director of Chinook Fund, a community foundation that seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado. They are honored to continue Chinook Fund’s 36 year legacy of democratic grantmaking through the innovative Giving Project, a multiracial and cross-class donor organizing model. They previously worked for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training and Survivors Organizing for Liberation. Crystal previously served as co-chair of the Resource Generation board and the National Giving Project Network steering committee. They were raised in a working class town in Oregon by a family of paper mill workers and were the first in their family to graduate from college. Crystal received a B.S. in Sociology and Gender Studies from the University of Oregon.
• Benjamin Perkins is a public health adovcate, social justice practitioner, ordained minister, and Founder & CEO of Upstream Impact Solutions Consulting.  With 20+ years of experience, he has focused on various public health issues including HIV prevention, health disparities, food-and-nutrition security, and racial equity.  Benjamin served in key roles, including at the American Heart Association and as CEO of Wholesome Wave. Additionally, as a certified program leader with the Groundwater Institute, he facilitates transformative racial equity workshops.  His holistic approach, coupled with his leadership and consultancy work, drives positive change for historically underserved communities.
• Rachel Thomas is the director of research initiatives at Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN). She was the lead author of HRFN's Funding for Intersectional Organizing and manages HRFN’s Advancing Human Rights initiative to map the landscape of funding for human rights and track changes in its scale and priorities. Prior to joining HRFN, Rachel worked as a consultant providing technical assistance to foundations, supporting non-profits to plan and evaluate their work, and conducting research to inform and advance advocacy. She spent nine years with the Open Society Foundations’ Public Health Program managing a portfolio of grantmaking focused on sexual health and rights. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan and holds a master’s degree in international development. She hates mushrooms. 
• June Wilson is the CEO of the Compton Foundation. She is a dedicated cultural and community organizer first, and then a celebrated leader in philanthropic practices that emphasize racial justice and offer alternative approaches to legacy and perpetuity. She has engaged performing arts and neighborhood-based organizations as well as executive leaders and family foundations in cultivating racially just spaces, free from all forms of supremacy. As executive director, June guides the foundation using strategies grounded in relational repair, return of assets and reparative actions; expanding a foundation’s typical redistribution of resources to include grantmaking practices, the “spend up” process and an emerging Reparative Action Institute. June previously stewarded the Seattle-based Quixote Foundation through its spend up process, closing in 2017. She brings the same affirmative approach to the Compton Foundation: that its mission and purpose will be fulfilled by spending everything.