The Women of Color Fundraising Institute (WOCFI) is a training program designed to help women of color develop the skills, knowledge, and tools necessary to build powerful social change organizations. Its mission is to support women-of-color-led organizations so that they may grow and sustain their organizations to respond to ever changing political, social and economic issues.
WOCFI empowers community activists who have been traditionally marginalized by providing essential tools and skills to build powerful social change organizations. On an individual level, the Institute supports women of color as they discover their own power and strengths. For the organizations that participate, WOCFI aims: (1) to develop their abilities to access the resources they need to be viable voices for social change, and (2) to support women-of color-led organizations so that they may sustain their organizations to respond to the changing political, social, and economic issues.
The Institute began as a response to the technical assistance needs of grassroots groups. WOCFI saw how many obstacles activists faced to successful foundation fundraising. Those obstacles included language and writing skills, prejudice due to gender, race, and class, and the lack of understanding the relationships within the funding community.
While solid local training programs such as the Management and Community Development Institute (Tufts University) and the Support Center have a variety of offerings for the non-profit sector, they are geared toward the general audience of middle-class, college-educated professionals. Other training programs that do have a social change focus are not tailored as much to the particular needs of women of color.
The Institute is a training ground where participants learn concrete skills in areas critical to success in the non-profit sector: computer skills, writing, fundraising, and political analysis. What makes WOCFI unique is the holistic approach, based on an understanding of the needs of women of color activists, and building on their strengths as community leaders. These skills are transmitted by women of color trainers in an anti-racist, supportive context. WOCFI is a vibrant space for cross-cultural understanding and networking. Participants learn about each other’s issues and communities. Because participants work together over the course of 15 months, they struggle around their own prejudices and misconceptions.
The aim of WOCFI is to sustain organizations in which women of color are leaders.