Cameron Whitten of the Black Resilience Fund speaks at Portland Zebras Chapter Meeting
from Portland Zebras chapter meeting July 3, 2020
On Friday July 3, 2020, the local Portland chapter of Zebras Unite (ZU) led by Hannah Levinson welcomed a special guest: Cameron Whitten, co-founder of the Black Resilience Fund (BRF), a new program under Brown Hope.
The Black Resilience Fund was co-founded by Cameron Whitten and Salomé Chimuku as a Gofundme on June 1, 2020 and successfully raised $1M for immediate assistance to Portland’s Black neighbors within a month.
(Edit Aug 7: Though funds were originally raised through the Gofundme, the Black Resilience Fund now requests donors to contribute through Brown Hope. Donations through Brown Hope are tax-deductible.)
About Zebras Unite
Zebras Unite, first inspired and now incorporated by cofounders’ Jennifer, Mara, Astrid & Aniyia, explores and promotes alternatives to current inequitable systems of venture capital. In contrast to “Unicorn” companies, Zebra companies and their founders value the inseparable “stripes” of profit AND purpose.
As any founder who relates to the values in the Zebra Manifesto knows, many of the existing structures, models, or “conventional wisdom” around business and startup work tend to be inconsistent with the values that their company, is built on. So, “Zebras” tend to be especially interested in meeting and learning from each others’ attempts and supporting each others’ successes.
… Which is exactly why Portland Zebras invited Cameron Whitten to speak with chapter members about the recent creation and growth of the Black Resilience Fund, a program of Brown Hope that has a powerful message, purpose, and within 1 month of existence, over $1M in funding.
From speed of philanthropic fundraising AND distribution of funds, to speed of raising and organizing a mutual aid network of 300+ volunteers to organization message, mission, and values, there are MANY admirable and noteworthy things about the Black Resilience Fund, and lots to learn from.
The Portland Zebras convened their first chapter meeting in March 2020, just as Oregon began sheltering in place due to COVID-19. So far, all chapter meetings have been conducted online, led by Hannah Levinson with support from Alexander Pemba, Sam Mehoke, and Tracy Mehoke (that’s me).
The monthly July meeting brought about another first: a local “spotlight” on a guest speaker to discuss the values, priorities, accomplishments, and needs of their organization with chapter members. In this case, Cameron from the Black Resilience Fund. Mara Zepeda, one of the original Zebras Unite cofounders, was also in attendance.
About the Black Resilience Fund
After a round of participant introductions, Cameron took the Zoom “mic” to share some background on himself and on the Black Resilience Fund.
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From 0 to $1M and 300 volunteers in June:
The Black Resilience Fund is a new emergency fund dedicated to healing and resilience by providing immediate resources to Black neighbors in Portland and the 4-county area, started by Cameron Whitten and Salomé Chimuku as a Gofundme on June 1 in the wake of protests against the murder of George Floyd. Supporters quickly surpassed the initial fundraising goal, contributing over $1M within a month.
“I think there’s a a lot of surprises — of course raising $1M is a surprise — but the most surprising thing for me,” Cameron noted, “is that for 28 days I did not pick up the phone a single time and ask anybody for money. I did not do a single direct ask. And so, I think this really did disrupt philanthropy as we know it, and has done that in a lot of good and important ways.”
“I was never denied shelter, and I’ve spent the last 10 years giving back to the same community that was there when I needed it the most.”
As background information, Cameron mentioned being a survivor of childhood abuse who also survived youth homelessness when first arriving in Portland 11 years ago. “Thanks to Portland,” Cameron said, “I was never denied shelter, and I’ve spent the last 10 years giving back to the same community that was there when I needed it the most.”
To Cameron, moving the needle on wealth inequality (which remains largely unmoved since the civil rights movement decades ago) means taking a new approach. “We believe strongly in changing the way that we do financial empowerment,” they say, alluding to the principles on which the BRF goals and volunteer structure has been built. “A big part of that is actually trusting Black communities with money to be able to reclaim autonomy over their lives.”
“A big part of that is actually trusting Black communities with money to be able to reclaim autonomy over their lives.”
“He later added, “We want to continue see this kind of model that isn’t infantilizing communities, isn’t creating this expectation that [for example] you have to get a social worker to talk to your landlord to pay your rent. Folks are not actually able to have autonomy in their lives and to live their best lives when we create these kinds of models of social services.”
BRF Volunteers conduct intake interviews, record applicants’ main expected use of funding, and coordinate delivery, but the fund itself does not require or impose unnecessary restrictions on applicants. Within the same month that the Black Resilience Fund had both started and raised $1M in contributions, it had also raised a volunteer network of 300 volunteers across 12 active committees.
“I don’t lead a single team,” Cameron remarked. “These are all led by other volunteers. That’s the great thing about what we’ve created is we’ve really fostered a collaborative environment where folks are bringing their best selves and their best talent to help improve the Black Resilience fund on every single day.”
Encouraged by the outpouring of support from both donors and volunteers, he remarked, “It’s gonna be hard work! But right now it seems that people are not afraid to get the hard work done.”
Priorities in July:
During June, the Black Resilience Fund had also moved under the fiscal sponsorship of, and became a program of Brown Hope, another organization which was also made possible through Cameron’s work. Having seen what was possible in June, the leadership decided in July to take some time off from live updates to work on “what’s next” for fund goals, organization, and governance.
“Our goal with the Black Resilience Fund is to provide real and tangible support to as many Black Portlanders as possible,” Cameron asserted, continuing that the Fund had identified three main priorities:
- Address Immediate Need: Raise funding and resources to fill immediate need and provide support for Black neighbors in the 4-county area. The perceived need is much greater than the available funds. “The issue is not people applying for need,” Cameron explained, regarding the decision to continue accepting applications for aid. “The issue is that the resources are not where they deserve and ought to be. And so that’s what we’re focusing on: continuing to fundraise, so that our community receives the support that they deserve.”
- Ensure Sustainability: Despite the fact that both Cameron and Salomé are currently unemployed, they are trying to make decisions that will support the long-term success of this fund and its mission; supporting the infrastructure that we need to pay staff and actually have a long-term impact. “In order to ensure that this movement can have a lasting impact in this community, we need to position it for a sustainable impact,” Cameron said, emphasizing their work to transform this moment into a movement.
- Elevate Issues through Stories: “There’s still so much need that $1M cannot fill,” Cameron said, explaining the third priority, which is “using the stories that we have to continue to elevate important issues around economic empowerment and around reparations.” Starting from the testimonials that volunteers collect from fund recipients, how can we understand the larger, more systemic picture that each of these stories is a part of, and turn that into an understanding of where change is needed most, why, and what actions or resources could address it? At the time, The Black Resilience Fund was also contributing its voice in advocating for a $62M allocation to the Oregon CARES fund for Black relief and resiliency¹.
The speed and “grassroots” means of fundraising, volunteer organizing, and advocacy aren’t the only “disruptive” things about the Black Resilience Fund. Considering the track record of existing organizations and funds, Stephen Green (self-identified “recovering banker”, founder of Pitch Black, involved in many other important local organizations, and respected leader in Portland’s entrepreneur and business network) commented at the July 3rd meeting that:
“It’s a d* shame that a Gofundme account is the biggest one stepping up for Black Oregonians today.”
In comparison to the $1M+ raised by the BRF and hundreds of thousands of dollars of support and financial relief already distributed since June 1, Stephen Green remarked that the city of Portland had provided less than $250K in grants to Black-owned businesses. The track record of banks partnering with or backing Black-owned businesses also leaves much to be desired.
In closing,
Cameron thanked the Portland Zebras for listening and remarked, “I wanna continue to support the work that you’re doing because great minds think alike, and I’m so glad to meet you all and to continue this work together!”
Cameron also shared a favorite testimonial from a fund recipient who said that: “…holding that check in my hand was when I finally felt I could come up for air.”
“I found that quote to be so fascinating,” said Cameron,
“To be living in the middle of the ‘I can’t Breathe’ era and to hear that coming a Black man — someone who we directly helped — saying that they are coming up for air, …and I find that to be incredibly powerful.”
Cameron continued, “It makes me think about healing. Not just for Portland but for the entire country. We have experienced centuries of pain, of violence, of injustice. It’s not too late for healing.”
“We have created, organically, this movement for healing and resilience that all of us can learn from and that we really can spread and ensure that there IS true healing for our communities.”
No wonder the chosen hashtags of the Black Resilience fund are #BlackLivesMatter and #WeDoHeal.
The Black Resilience Fund is seeking:
- Funding and resources to continue responding to the volume of requests for assistance (which at the beginning of July was at least twice as great as available funding).
- Support in spreading awareness and announcement of fundraising goals. Fundraising goals and updates are posted regularly to the Gofundme.
- Volunteer effort to join and support the existing network, including ideas, partnerships, and other contributions from anyone willing to put in the work to build a good system.
- Connections to national thought leaders or useful references such as research or talking points that could help the platform and connect to people across the country to promote and encourage similar “resiliency” efforts. Reach out to info@blackresiliencefund.com
[Notes and quotes from the Zebras PDX Q&A with Cameron to be published separately]
¹ The $62M allocation to the Oregon CARES fund for Black relief and resiliency was successfully passed on July 14. Funds will be distributed via grants by The Black United Fund and The Contingent.
Aug 7: Mentions of “ZU PDX” were changed to “Portland Zebras”, to fit the popular naming convention for city chapters.
