community builders

Since 2022, our Community Builders participatory racial justice grantmaking has been our signature practice to cede power to and seed power in our communities. By training community members across Minnesota in philanthropy, grantmaking, and racial justice, this approach resources winning ideas and ensures that the diverse lived experiences and dreams of our people are in the fabric of the strategies, programming approaches, evaluation, and narratives we advance. Following the training, they design and decide on impactful grantmaking investments for The Collective.

We are proud to introduce the 17 leaders who are part of the 2024 cohort of Community Builders, our signature practice to cede power to and seed power in our communities. This approach resources winning ideas and ensures that the diverse lived experiences and dreams of our people are in the fabric of the strategies, programming approaches, evaluation, and narratives we advance.

Through an open nomination process, these inspiring individuals answered the call to help drive the Black Collective Foundation MN’s community investments and shape our impact. This year’s cohort includes Builders from the Twin Cities and across the state, including St. Cloud, Fargo/Moorhead, and Rochester. Builders represent different occupations, such as a school board member advocating for Minnesota students' health amid climate change challenges, a youth justice advocate working to abolish youth prisons, a photographer creating impact through art, leaders advocating for human rights, and many others. 

Every Community Builder continues to support and be part of the broader ecosystem of The Collective. Their innovative philanthropy approaches will shape and strengthen our grantmaking to be more responsive to the most urgent needs of the Black community.

Learn more about these leaders below.