DOCN Annual Member Strategy Session
Create the blueprint
An in-person, members-only space for donors to roll up their sleeves and align their knowledge, networks, and resources.
If you have ever asked yourself “What can we do as donors?,” Create the blueprint is the space to answer that question.
Create the Blueprint is DOCN’s annual strategy-to-action session for members only. Below, we share the notes and key takeaways from the first Create the Blueprint in February 2025. We captured notes from the gathering with both graphics and words, illustrating the foundation we laid for member-led new initiatives in 2025.
2025 Create the Blueprint sessions
Rooting in Lineage: Collective Care Practices
In our opening on Thursday, we explored how our communities have centered rest and care through past generations. Like all movements, social justice moves at the speed of trust. To build trust, to build community, we wanted to take some time to get to know each other through storytelling rooted in lineage and legacy.
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We talked about:
Our names
Where our names come from
Stories related to our names that stick with us
The first instance we remember from childhood of an elder caring for someone
What did their care look like?
What do you remember from this instance?
The first time we remember the world breaking our hearts (not an interpersonal heartbreak, but something from the news or politics)
What moved you?
How do you remember healing in that moment?
A moment where we provided care to a community member and felt proud for rising to the occasion
What brought you that sense of pride and accomplishment?
We then shared stories of both joy and heartache: parents full of hope for a different future as they chose children’s names; strangers reaching out to provide support; and friends and mentors causing harm through their words and actions in ways that stay with us to this day.
Some common themes that came up included the fact that community - having a group of people who see you through good and bad - can have a lasting impact; that those who reach out to help in situations don’t do so because they have more resources than others, but because they see an opportunity to help and they take that opportunity; and that care is cyclical - sometimes we give care, sometimes we accept care, sometimes we just pay it forward with trust and solidarity.
DOCN Story and Strategic Plan
DOCN shared where we are in our journey, what’s next, and how organizing to build power is core to our success. This was an honest, off-the-record discussion of where DOCN is and what is next for us.
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As we kicked off the formal program, Isabelle shared details from strategic planning, including reviewing DOCN’s mission, strategic objective, values, and 6 priority areas:
Our Mission: We are building the collective power of donors of color to advance racial justice through cross-racial solidarity and multiracial giving.
Our Strategic Objective: By 2029, Donors of Color Network and Donors of Color Action will establish ourselves as a learning, strategy, and powerbuilding center for donors of color committed to racial justice, cross-racial solidarity, and multiracial giving.
Our Values:
Joy is a vibrant demonstration of our resistance to the world’s racial inequities. We center joy in every experience we create and conversation we hold.
Community is the heart of what we do. We’re building a thriving community for donors of color united by a shared mission of using their influence to advance racial justice.
Solidarity is the only way to accomplish our goals. We have the honor of bringing together donors of color, foundations, and movement leaders to work in solidarity and catalyze systemic change.
Transformative power lies in our experiences, connections, resources, and wealth. By channeling the collective power of our network into values-aligned movements, we can shift the center of gravity in philanthropy toward racial justice.
Our Priorities:
Priority 1: Business Continuity
Raise and maintain an annual budget of $5 million (operations) to support the alignment and implementation of the membership model as well as the internal capacity investments needed to absorb and influence funding dedicated to multiracial power building
Priority 2: Member Recruitment, Development, and Retention
Donors and staff will develop, test, and invest in donor leadership, including an annual recruitment target of at least 40 people (50% attrition) in strategic centers of power (geography and industries), as well as capacity-building and rollout of cross-sector messaging and awareness-raising campaigns focused on cross-racial solidarity and multiracial power building.
Priority 3: Member Engagement and Education
Establish a culture among staff and donors that reflects cross-racial, cross-class solidarity. These tenets of organizational culture will be grounded in norms and practices that align with our inclusion principles and best practices from our donor community organizing and political education that affirm the learnings from BIPOC-led cross-racial solidarity.
Priority 4: Catalytic Giving
Catalyze the field of cross-racial solidarity funding through giving experiments – advocacy campaigns or catalytic giving – that prove the commitment to funding emerging organizations/projects focused on racial justice and closing the wealth gap across all issue sectors.
Priority 5: Leadership and Philanthropic Advocacy
Use power-mapping and partner engagement to advance network members’ ability to use the lessons learned from DOCN experiments and strategies to build power across mainstream philanthropy.
Priority 6: Blueprint for Donors of Color Insights
Launch a national multiracial funding network and publication that amplifies the strategic insights from DOCN members, inspires the broad support of BIPOC-led organizations, and increases strategic collaboration and funding from values-aligned donors of color and philanthropic partners.
In sharing these, Isabelle reconfirmed the commitment to what the DOCN name says: being a home for donors of color regardless of how the political winds around us change. She also shared the latest details from the Target Smart research that identified how many high-net individuals who are Black, Indigenous, or from other communities of color there are in the U.S. She then explained why so many people in our communities are so invisible, whether it’s because names aren’t correctly coded to the communities they belong to, or because our means of giving and being generous aren’t recorded as philanthropic in the way that Target Smart collects and analyzes the data. And that’s why so much of the work in the coming years is going to center on recruitment and finding our people as we build community.
Overall, DOCN has gone from a membership base of less than 20 in 2020 to over 50 in 2024, and is well on its way to the 200-member goal set in the strategic plan.
Building Our Community Through Donor Organizing
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On Friday morning, we started with a discussion about donor organizing. Donor organizing is one way in which DOCN advances our mission.
Organizing is one approach that we can use, alongside other modalities such mutual aid, learning and political education, and advocacy campaigns.
The big takeaway from our donor organizing conversation revolved around fishes.
Our current conditions are like a large fish trying to eat a bunch of small fishes. Although there are more small fishes than the singular large fish, the large fish is able to dominate. This becomes an analogy for power.
Saviorism is a common modality we fall into which asks one lone fish to stand up bravely to the large fish, while the other fish friends watch from a position of relative (but not absolute) safety.
Mobilizing is akin to the small fishes swarming the large fish - it’s annoying and it can be distracting, but it does not necessarily change the power dynamic at play.
Organizing gets the small fish into formation to counter the power of the larger fish. In this, it’s important for each fish to know where in the formation they should be. There is room for everyone - some of the fish need to be in the back, some need to be in the front; some will serve as the fins for forward movement; some as the tail for control - but each fish plays a role that is respected by everyone else. And they work together.
Part of our work moving forward is to get in formation. We are getting into formation to build power. We build power to achieve a goal. To determine what that goal is, we have to start by analyzing and assessing our current conditions and determining what we need to change.
DOCN will be exploring organizing, coming into formation, the principles behind united front organizing, and other key concepts through the Power and Movement Cohort launching in February.
To help us ground in the moment, we then read a prophecy that Hopi elders issued in 2000. You can read the prophecy in full and the context around it here.
The key piece in it for us to consider is this: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Influence Mapping Exercise
We co-created a visual map to show where our collective networks are. This will be used to align our actions.
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The overall question of where DOCN's networks are is a chicken and the egg type of exercise - our relevant networks depend on what work we’re doing together. The work we chose to do together depends on what networks we have.
So, over the course of this year, we are going to continue to build DOCN’s influence and power maps together.
The key thing to keep in mind: the difference between your rolodex, your influence map, and a power map is if and how you’re willing to use a contact to further an organizing goal. I may know someone and am okay giving them a call to have coffee or dinner - that’s a contact. I may know someone and know that they listen to what I have to say - identifying that is influence mapping.
Power mapping is when we’re pulling together not just the lists of contacts we have, but the ones we’re willing to pick up the phone and organize with for a goal. The ones where we are willing to use our influence to accomplish something together.
11 out of 54 members have completed the mapping survey to date. To continue to build this vision out, our next step will be to expand the survey to more members using a secure platform.
The overall map of where DOCN has connections is pretty broad - from seats on foundation, corporate, and non-profit boards, to Philanthropy networks (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Hispanics in Philanthropy), to networks like Way to Win, Solidaire, Women Moving Millions.
At this last Create the Blueprint session in Santa Barbara, we also mapped out the sectors we have connections in, including:
- Tech
- Media organizations
- PACs
- Finance
- Arts & culture
- Disaster relief
- Social venture partners
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Legal (alongside the judicial community)
- Healthcare
- Faith-based organizations
- LGBTQ+
- NA State Connections
- Education
- Climate
From here, we had a broader conversation about the interplay between mapping our networks and deciding on action.
As we explored why we are having this conversation, we noted that DOCN is filled with successful people of color who have navigated broken systems so effectively that they often end up upholding those very systems. This raises the question: Should we look beyond our existing connections to drive the work that needs to be done, or are we too focused on internal resources versus external opportunities? To develop an effective strategy, we must first understand who and what we have in the room. Additionally, we need to document our tactics and build a knowledge base that can adapt as organizational names and structures change over time.
Coming up with strategic ways to move forward also involves developing the discipline to say “no” when necessary and staying grounded in what our unique role is within a broader ecosystem. It requires understanding the importance of precise language, and ensuring we have a shared and level-set analysis. Adopting a "yes, and" mentality can help us build on ideas collaboratively rather than shutting them down. At the same time, we must confront the reality that the opposition often dehumanizes us. How do we respond to this dynamic while staying focused on our goals?
As we do analysis together, we can also focus on our shared future—what we are building together and the vision we are working toward. To support this, we need a complete map of our power analysis, including a list of who people know and their connections. However, many individuals are hesitant to leverage their networks, even when they could have significant impact. We must also clarify whether we are conducting a risk analysis or an impact potential analysis, and how to navigate conversations with people who may not recognize their own influence.
Understanding where members sit within their respective groups—whether grassroots, movement-based, or political—is crucial for gathering the analysis we need. To achieve tangible outcomes, we must ask: What do we know, what can we do about it, and what kind of impact can we make?
There are key individuals and groups across the country assessing where power needs to be built or supported. Creating a list of these organizations could help us identify opportunities for collaboration. Beyond financial support, we should explore other ways to contribute to their work, such as sharing resources, expertise, or networks. Finally, we should consider how to use the Membership portal to identify organizations that members have connections to, creating a shared resource that benefits the entire network.
Our Time With CAUSE
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) is a base-building organization committed to social, economic, and environmental justice for working-class and immigrant communities in California’s Central Coast. CAUSE builds grassroots power through community organizing, leadership development, coalition building, civic engagement, policy research, and advocacy.
Here is a follow-up message from CAUSE:
Dear Donors of Color Network Members ~
Thank you!
Thank you so much again for the invite to include CAUSE's work into your important discussion Friday —
I’m confident that a chorus of voices in our social change ecosystem would echo us in thanking you for your work building the collective power of donors of color – and pushing philanthropy to do better.
Our Reports
This past year, our supporters’ contributions allowed us to organize tenants, farmworkers, and youth to build grassroots people power and take on big corporations polluting our air, paying poverty wages, and kicking families out of our homes —
All of the reports included in your packets are available here, including Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers.
On Monthly Expenses
As follow up to the thoughtful question about monthly cost to the work we highlighted:
In short — between CAUSE’s farmworker living wage campaign and the 805Undocufund’s Rapid Response Network — monthly expenses are roughly $28,000-$32,000 (rough breakdown here). If you're interested in supporting our work, donations to CAUSE (c3) or CAUSE Action Fund (c4) are best. We always prefer that donors support CAUSE Action Fund work, since raising funds for a 501(c)4 brings inherent challenges.
Please Stay in Touch!
If you would like to chat more about our work or have any questions, please email, call, or text Hazel (hazel@causenow.org / 805-720-1263) or me (stanley@causenow.org / 530-219-1348).
I hope you’ll consider connecting with CAUSE, our electoral power building organization CAUSE Action, and the 805UndocuFund online. For regular calls to action and updates:
Facebook @CAUSE805
Instagram @CAUSE805
Twitter @CAUSE805
Facebook @CAF805
Instagram @CAF805
Twitter @CAF805
Email Updates
Facebook @805UndocuFund
Instagram @the805undocufund
Action Plans and Leadership Tracks
We discussed preliminary leadership tracks and narrowed the list to 4-5 tracks based on what individuals want to strategize together now and over the next 6 months.
We broke into small groups on the following topics:
Exploring individual and collective impact.
Building and delivering a 50/50 strategy.
Organizing an anti-racist economy praxis.
Tackling the wealth gap using divest/engage/invest tactics.
Protecting and deepening wins in climate justice.
Taking back the fight for racial justice.
Combating exhaustion, re-centering rest and collective care.
And in each small group, we explored:
Why this leadership track? What about DOCN’s membership and strengths makes this leadership track important for you to work on with other DOCN members?
What’s the story? What will you tell friends and colleagues for them to join you in this work?
At the end of the year, what is the headline you want DOCN’s annual report to say about the work you do together in this leadership track?
Agreements: When would you like to meet next? How and how often do you want to check-in together? What is the ask for each other in the network?
Requests: DOCN staff is here to help! What asks do you have of them (scheduling, research, reminders, etc.)?
To start moving forward, we reviewed the 7 options for collaborative work that we’ve shared before. These are drawn from member discussions, surveys, and discussions from movement groups on where the need is for a group like DOCN.
The options were:
Exploring individual and collective impact. As a group, we will engage in collective study and develop an action plan on how to measure DOCN’s collective impact and on how to support all DOCN members in understanding and defining the impact they want to have.
Building and delivering a 50/50 strategy. As a group, we will build an evidence base for why and how we should invest in a 50 state strategy as we work to build, block, and defend an inclusive democracy that leaves no community of color behind. Then, we’ll work with DOCN’s Solidarity is Power team to build out, fundraise for, and manage a collective impact fund.
Organizing an anti-racist economy praxis. As a group, we will study anti-racist economic justice principles, understand race-class organizing, and develop an organizing plan to engage with more DOCN members.
Tackling the wealth gap using divest/engage/invest tactics. As a group we will engage in joint study on how traditional philanthropy deepens the racial wealth gap and furthers injustice. We’ll also develop tangible tools on how to make our wealth work for us, including working with values aligned wealth teams, divesting portfolios that aren’t aligned with the impact we are seeking to create, and using engagement tools like shareholder advocacy and investment. In short, we’ll work on making our money work for, rather than against, our communities.
Protecting and deepening wins in climate justice. This group will explore how to take the work started under DOCN’s Climate Justice Funder’s Pledge to the next level, developing recommendations for rolling out the pledge to individual donors and additional philanthropy foundations and exploring other tactics that DOCN members can leverage.
Taking back the fight for racial justice. As a group, we will engage in joint study about the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We will co-develop a narrative strategy to counter these attacks and build back support for racial justice efforts.
Combating exhaustion, re-centering rest and collective care. This group will engage in joint study on lineage-based and other collective care models, and organize and hold space for DOCN members to engage in a more proactive practice of rest and care.
After that, we voted on where we want to provide leadership and additional topics we would be interested in exploring at a later date.
The 4 topics with the most votes for discussion at Creating the Blueprint were:
Exploring individual and collective impact.
Organizing an anti-racist economy praxis.
Tackling the wealth gap using divest/engage/invest tactics.
Taking back the fight for racial justice.
Lessons from Coulter Foundation
We then heard from Sue and Susie Van who shared some lessons learned that came from their work through the Coulter Foundation - including the importance of knowing what movements groups are doing, funding them, and getting out of the way.
The Action Teams
The 4 emerging Action Teams discussed the following items:
Exploring the Wealth Gap
(not through the divestment, investment, engagement lens)
Group Members
Kobie, Michelle, Alex, Jovita, Katheleen and Eric
Action Team Name
Exploring Intentional Economic Case Studies Action Team
TOPIC
Deliberately designed economic models aimed at recirculating wealth, supporting local assets, and self-sufficiency.
Discussion
- How to focus on economic disparity
- Center abundance mindset vs. scarcity mindset
- Find innovative ways to address economic disparity with a path to self-sufficiency - new models for us to look at
- Goal: DOCN is a clearing house for information on what innovative work is happening - create a playbook, curate examples, be a place where people come to find where to invest
Next Steps
- Have a few topics that we’ve explored by the Houston retreat in order to share what we have and recruit more members at the retreat
- Options we’re looking at - housing options including rent to own models; universal basic incomes; resourcing or supporting upskilling of communities; cooperatives/collectives
Exploring individual and collective impact
Group Members
Paula, Richard, Ivan, Briana, Teo
Action Team Name
Impact Action Team
TOPIC
Exploring individual and collective impact, starting with a project focused on providing peer-based philanthropy consultancy sessions. We will work to build community, grow together, and give in ways that are increasingly more effective in advancing racial justice.
Discussion
- There is power in it and it is consistent with the work DOCN does
- Embodies model of the fish
- Leaving the “I” and joining the “we” - looking at impact can help us understand that there are limitations to working solo
- Showing the impacts of philanthropy can help encourage more people to join
- Can help with navigating the stigma over discussing money, ground in the power of our BIPOC experiences
- Can help explore sociocultural norms
- Helps DOCN stop tip-toeing around and instead focus on talking about the money
- Helps members engage with each other, including balancing out conversations between members and acknowledging the differences in members’ giving experiences
- Questions of how we do it - including questionnaires, building out from the portrait report, developing set of principles
- Should this group also support members when they are thinking about impact (almost like internal consulting/advising)
- Using existing models on how to quantify impact
- Study groups and learning communities, practice communities
- Sharing stories
- Using DOCN’s geographic priority areas (Seattle, Bay Area, LA, Texas, Chicago, Boston, NY)
Next Steps
- Ad hoc committee to provide a community of practice space for members based on values
- Being a space to collect and share stories
- Peer consultations
- Recruit more members in Houston
The Fight for Racial Justice
Not taking back, but owning
Group Members
Eddy, Darren, Courtney, Kuuleinani
Action Team Name
Fight for Racial Justice Action Team
Tagline
Cool - Calm - Collected
TOPIC
Exploring strategies and projects that build coalitions of trust, shift narratives, and keep advancing racial justice for our collective liberation.
Discussion
- 5 ways to start a revolution and stand together.
- Thinking broader about what is possible beyond the options we have on the table right now.
- We are winning - that is why there is blow back
- We are currently living the dream/vision/work of those that came before us (20-25 years ago)
- Storytelling is everything.
- What is the new inclusion narrative that will guide us?
- We have to keep grounded in joy and what keeps us and our stories afloat, knowing that we are part of a path that will live beyond us.
- Move away from tactics that divide us.
- We have to educate first, then collaborate.
- We have to learn about each other's “Qi” before we start fighting together - trust has to be built.
- As we have meetings, consider what we want to come out of those meetings. What messages do we want to build? What messages do we want to disrupt?
- How do we support each other to know and understand what our communities have gone through?
- Using webinars to also raise the membership bar, using DOCN to model success internally and then replicating externally, recognizing that when people feel excluded, they behave badly - so we want to have narratives of inclusion.
- What will it look like after a year of knowing each other’s stories?
Next Steps
- Recruit
- Latinx, Native, Pacific Island communities
- Entertainment industry to support narrative ownership strategy
- Check-in at the Houston retreat and every 2 months after
- Asks for DOCN staff: schedule meetings, help us think through people to add, develop mechanisms for accountability so the team meets, creating space for the team in Houston.
Organizing an anti-racist economy praxis or Addressing Systemic Racism in the Economy and Building Cross-Racial Solidarity
…but not using the word praxis
Group Members
David, Kuulei, Jeannie, Sparks, Sharon, Greg
Action Team Name
The Anti-Racist Economy Action Team
TOPIC
Exploring strategies and projects that address economic justice, cross-racial solidarity, the disruption of systemic disparities, and building wealth for our shared future.
Discussion
- People of wealth must recognize their complicity in how the economy works and take action to address systemic inequities.
- Economic transitions, particularly in energy and climate, will continue to benefit the same white institutions unless there is intentional intervention.
- BIPOC communities are often left behind in economic shifts, reinforcing disparities in wealth and opportunity.
- This work aligns with DOCN’s mission by challenging systemic barriers and supporting members in navigating wealth discussions.
- Historical patterns show that Black communities have built wealth multiple times, only to have it systematically destroyed.
- Members of DOCN have the knowledge and influence to help reimagine and restructure economic systems.
- Understanding language and influence is key—connecting with funders and justice networks will be essential.
- Economic disparities underpin broader social justice issues, including environmental and climate justice.
- Wealth disparities create narratives that pit marginalized communities against each other; we must learn how these tactics work and counter them
Challenges & Obstacles:
- Gentrification and land use policies continue to displace communities of color.
- Public advocacy carries risks, including targeted attacks and misinformation campaigns.
- The economy is structured to benefit white wealth accumulation, making systemic change difficult.
- Security concerns: protecting members, funders, and sensitive data from potential threats.
- Anti-immigrant and racialized narratives fuel economic disparities and divide communities
Next Steps
- Ad hoc committee to create a community of practice space for members based on shared values.
- Monthly learning program to deepen understanding of economic justice strategies.
- Recruit more members in Houston, leveraging local expertise and initiatives.
- Engage with justice funders and networks such as NAP/AAPIP, Justice Funders Network, and UpTogether.
- Private member profile audits to assess vulnerabilities and strengthen security.
- Generational wealth research focusing on the role of white women in wealth accumulation.
- Draft a six-month plan to develop a public statement on wealth inequality.
- Strategy session in Houston to solidify objectives and plan next steps.
- Develop a compelling narrative on wealth-building, protection, and solidarity.
- Counter divisive narratives that seek to pit marginalized communities against each other.
Each group then shared highlights from their discussion with each other, and we explored what it means to remain energized in this work even after leaving Santa Barbara.
Connect + Reflect
A Close-out and discussion on this work will be shared and expanded on at our annual retreat, Connect + Reflect.
Mark your calendars for Create the Blueprint II happening in Fall of 2026!