Dear Donor to Bellair Farm CSA community share,
Thank you SO much for your support of this project. In less than 4 weeks, we (61 donors!) were able to raise close to $7000 for 22 weeks of produce for 20 families. (If you anticipate a tax receipt, look for the bold below.) This project created hope and structure for me during these weeks of incredible change. I’m moved by the generosity and trust of our community. This project encapsulated so many of principles by which I organize.
- Supporting and Building Community– This came from a conversation from Michele at Bellair, just checking in how she was doing and what needs she and the farm had during this challenging year. I’ve known Michelle for a while at a distance– now she joins the growing list of people with whom I work with. Each of you have built community with me by trusting that I will be a responsible steward of your financial gift. I am excited by the further building of community that will happen as I and others coordinate and distribute the weekly share. Working outside of a nonprofit structure (mostly– see more below)– we can work without titles or tax status. We can see a need, and work toward a solution. Nonprofit structures require boards for governance and accountability. I rely on you and our community to hold me honest and accountable. Anti-Racist Principles of Reparations and Redistribution of Wealth– While not all of our donors are white, the majority of resources (land, formalized power, housing, money, food access, transportation access) in Central Virginia remain held and controlled by white people. The families that receive the weekly shares will be Black and Brown people for the purpose of sharing the wealth that many of us enjoy in local, organic food from CSAs. This work was not insignificant, but we have much, much further to go in assessing and redistributing the wealth we have access to in equitable ways. I hope that this will be but one step for each of us in investigating the resources that we have access to, and how we might do more to share them recognizing our privileges. Minimizing fees and overhead– By using Venmo and PayPal, we collectively avoided the fees that GoFundMe and other platforms use. Individuals can give up to $10,000 as a gift to another individual annually without the recipient having to pay taxes on the gift. So thank you for contributing to the community gift of produce to families. Mindful use of resources– I believe in seeing and appreciating all resources that our community has. Mindful, generous, and equitable application and management of financial resources is a critical (albeit, but one) part of resource redistribution. If you are able to file taxes in such a way to itemize charitable deductions, and would therefore like a tax receipt letter of your financial donation, please let me know by responding to this email. I am fortunate to have an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which allows me to accept charitable donations. This terms of this MOU include a 5% administrative fee. Additional funds were raised to cover this anticipated fee, so PLEASE do ask to give through this model if you will likely itemize deductions, but if you won’t itemize deductibles, you don’t need this letter. If you are not sure, wait– we have until the end of the calendar year.