D’Artagnan Caliman and Juma Sei on how 1803 Fund is advancing long-term investments for a rooted, prosperous Black Portland

Join D’Artagnan Caliman, Vice President of Community Partnerships, and Juma Sei, Communications Manager, at 1803 Fund as they introduce the capital investment fund’s approach to advancing long-term prosperity for Portland, Oregon’s Black community. 

Throughout the episode, D’Artagnan and Juma share what Black Portland means to them and the importance of closing the gap between funder partners and community partners. Together they provide a deep dive into the fund’s grantmaking arm, sharing the frameworks and philosophies that they ground their work in. This  includes an emphasis on long-term partnership, a respect-based investment practice, a framework for accountability and a deep belief in collaboration as essential for transformation.

Transcript

Juma: 

I want my life as a black person here in Portland and my children's lives as a black person here in Portland, to be meaningfully different in a better way in 15, 20, 25 years because of investments that 1803 has been able to make now. 

Nancy: 

From The Giving Practice at Philanthropy Northwest, this is, Can we talk about…? A project to normalize the messiness of leading for racial equity in philanthropy and reflect on what it takes to create lasting transformation. In season two, our hosts explore what it looks like for philanthropy to advance racial equity on the ground. Where the work can look quite different depending on the context, whether it's place, issue, area, or community served. And in a world where our contexts are constantly shifting, we're asking guests to practice vulnerability, explore sticky topics, and look for learning. And what we ask of you is to do the same. 

Katie: 

Hi everyone and welcome to, Can we talk about…?, my name is Katie Hong and I'm one of the senior advisors with The Giving practice at Philanthropy Northwest. And I'm so happy to be your host for this episode. For this episode. I'm so excited to be joined by D'Artagnan Caliman and Juma Sei, of the 1803 Fund based in Portland, Oregon. The 1803 Fund is one of the largest black investment funds in the nation supporting the prosperity of the black community through investments and grant making. So welcome. And to start, I would love to ask each of you to give a quick intro. So maybe tell us who you are and what brings you to your work, particularly at the 1803 Fund, and what experiences, either personal or professional that you want to make sure our audience knows about as we begin this conversation. And I'll let one of you. You can choose who wants to go first. 

Juma: 

Thank you for having us on. Katie D'Artagnan, I can start and then hand it off to you. What's up y'all? For all listeners, my name is Juma Sei I am the communications manager, but run all 1803 communications and just moved home to Portland to start this gig back in September. In terms of background, other things that you should know about me, I would say that I'm like a reporter in my heart and in my soul in the period like post-college and pre 1803, I was reporting for NPR and then WDET in Detroit, then WABE in Atlanta, serving as an education reporter. But I just say that to say that I feel like all the positionality that I bring into this work is really informed on how we can distill complex ideas in conversational terms that real people can relate to because that's what I was doing on the radio for so long. Also, incredibly meaningful and it feels spiritually aligned that I am at home again in Portland. Now I'm serving the community that I grew up in. 

Katie: 

Awesome. Okay D'Artagnan. 

D’Artagnan: 

Thank you Juma. Thank you Katie. Good afternoon everyone. I'm D'Artagnan Caliman with the 1803 Fund. I serve as the Vice President of Community Partnership for our team. I've been at 1803 Fund since the beginning. So about two years now since we made the announcement about the work back in April of 2023. Previous to 1803 Fund worked for another larger philanthropic organization here in Portland, Oregon. Focused around black community throughout the state of Oregon, an initiative called Justice Oregon for Black Lives. That initiative came into fruition after the killing of George Floyd, and that's when I moved back home to Portland, Oregon to lead that work. Previous to that, I've been in philanthropy for about 20 plus years now. 

I've worked in larger organizations to improve foster care and ultimately prevent the need for foster care across the nation. With a larger philanthropic organization out of Seattle. Was there for about 15 years, which is actually my start in philanthropy back in the year 2000. I've also spent time in my career focused around foster youth, juvenile justice, as well as homelessness. I've spent time both on the west coast and Seattle, San Diego and Portland as well as on the East Coast and Baltimore and upstate New York. This work is extremely important for me for many reasons, but especially because I grew up here in the traditional neighborhood of Albina, which is in northeast Portland. So pleasure to be here with you all to have this conversation. 

Katie: 

Awesome. Thank you so much for that. And yeah, I'm really looking forward to this conversation and one of the first questions I want to ask is if you could spend some time telling us more about the 1803 Fund. What does the fund invest in, why and what is the ultimate vision for your fund? 

Juma: 

Yeah, OK. So I could take this just because so much of my job after I got here in September was like, "OK, how do we communicate to people like what we actually do and why we do it?" And I'm obviously, I'm sure that I'll offer like a bedrock definition that we will unpack as this conversation goes on. But big picture, the way that I've been recently socializing the work of 1803 is through this description and this picture of a house, right? Think of the roof of our house as investment. So everything that we do falls under that roof. 

And I think the reason it's important to frame the house metaphor in those terms is just to really recognize that like everything that we do at this organization is some sort of commitment to change that will not just have an impact in 10 or 15 or 20 months, but 10 or 15 or 20 years, right? So we're thinking of a very long-term scope. Yeah, just like from jump, the living room of the house in this two room house is what I consider to be our community partnership practice. In part that's D'Artagnan's work, which we'll talk a little bit more about. It looks like our various grants and sponsorship programs, again, that's money that we are offering to different organizations and leaders of organizations to bring black folks together in this city in one way or another. 

In part it's also our to be determined and still ever evolving practice of engaging the community. When I say that, I'm thinking about something that we can talk about later, but throughout the month of February we had sponsored a month long black history month pop up museum that pulled 11 different black organizations from all across the city to bring this thing to life that was ultimately serving a kind of public good. 

That's the living room. And then the kitchen is what I'd describe as our real asset investment practice or what we collectively describe as our real asset investment practice. Full transparency, before I started working for 1803, as someone who's not in the investment space at all and is not coming from that kind of background, I didn't know what real asset meant, but I've come to understand that essentially what we're talking about is any sort of investment financial that is, that are not the stock market. So if you're an example person, I think the best way to think about it, real estate in some cases natural resource kind of stuff. Yeah, just thinking about real tangible material assets that we can invest in for the sort of betterment of our collective community. And then to that end in terms of like our collective betterment, just to take a step back, that's a purpose for the entire house existing in the first place. 

I think part of the reason I landed in this understanding of this is like living room and kitchen is because our community partnership practice is social in nature, right? It's the place where much like a living room you come, you gather people, you serve the community in that respect. Our real asset investment practice, the kitchen of things that is more financial in nature, right? And that's thinking about how do we nourish not just ourselves and in keeping this fund alive, but also how do we financially nourish the community. 

And all of this, again, falls under this large roof of investment because our ultimate goal is to be able to continue to make these kinds of moves in our community in perpetuity to ultimately build a much larger rooted and prosperous future for black folks here in Portland. We can also get into the long history of black folks in this city and the reasons why I think doing this kind of work in Portland serves as an example of the ways that you can strengthen black community just nationally. But before that, I'll let D'Artagnan talk a little bit more about the living room and what goes on there. 

Katie: 

Yeah, actually before we talk about the living room. I do think that kind of context would be really helpful. And I just want to say I love the idea of this house metaphor because when I think of home, I think about what's my home base, what's my foundational place of safety and security and belonging. And so I love the fact that I think what your fund is doing is really investing in the safety and the security and the prosperity and belonging of black folks in Portland and particularly in the Albina neighborhood. And I really love this image of the multiple ways you're thinking about investment and not just in the short term but in the long term. But before we get into the specific practices and what you do around community engagement, I would love to, I have a couple of follow up questions. One is tell us more about the name 1803 Fund and then I guess within that just tell us about the context of black folks in Portland. 

Juma: 

Yeah, so honestly our name 1803 serves as a tether to just the larger history of black folks here in Portland, but also Oregon more broadly. 1803 is the year that York a man enslaved by William Clark, like Lewis and Clark, William Clark. It's the year that he was assigned to their expedition out to Oregon territory. And on that travel York, or rather in that journey, York was not just a co-expeditioner, he was also a frontiersman, a trader, a linguist who worked alongside Sacagawea on this journey. And I just say that to say that this mission would not have been successful if not for York and if not for Sacagawea. And I think that as we as a fund, were thinking about what York might have experienced or vision as possible in Oregon territory, right? This land full of natural resources, presumably somewhere where he could have been freed from. 

I think it's important for us to honor that imagination, to honor that memory and to honor again that vision of possibility. So that is why we are named after York's year of assignment as opposed to the year that they actually got to Oregon territory, which is about 1805. Now, the history of black folks coming to Portland just in general happened about like 150 years later in the 1940s really there is like some evidence to say that black folks were here obviously in years prior to that. But really when folks came here was through the great migration. 

So a lot of black families leaving the south coming to find jobs in Oregon and in Portland mostly to work on the rail lines and also to work on the shipyards. Now as is the story with any sort of black population across the United States, black folks were brought here en masse for our labor and then redlined into a very specific neighborhood. There's old maps of Portland where you can literally look at just like a big red block. And that block is the neighborhood that we know as Albina, right? This was the historic heart of black life in Portland. And I think the reason I turn now from redlining to this more generative understanding of this space is because black folks persisted in spite of the segregation, right? Albina was its own in some ways like self-sustaining cultural and economic community. 

One of my favorite parts about being in Portland has been talking to old heads who like remember what it was like and just seeing the kind of unity or hearing about the kind of unity that they describe. And then in 1959, the building of I-5, again, like the story of all black communities across the states kind of just tore right through neighborhoods where grandma's house used to be kind of situation. So there was I-5 that came into that corridor. There was also Legacy Emanuel Hospital. There's the Memorial Coliseum. And again, if we just look back into the archive, what is a sprawling city grid full of neighborhoods and homes leveled for these public works projects? In some, if I'm not mistaken, the projected loss of wealth in our community was upwards of a billion dollars. 

That's money that just no longer exists in black hands. So as we 1803, think about the work that we're trying to do today. So much of our investment is centered in Albina to start both as just like a scope thing of, "All right, let's like limit ourselves to a specific area. That way we can be able to track our record of impact and execution." But also just more like spiritually and philosophically, this is the heart of black life in this city and in pouring into it, hopefully we will all experience the sort of benefits to come. I hope that offers some context. 

Katie: 

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, thank you so much for that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, D'Artagnan, do you have anything you want to add to that context of why it's really important to understand where this fund is situated or in the context in which this fund is situated? 

D’Artagnan: 

Yeah, thank you Juma. I think Juma covered everything quite well. Thank you. The only thing else I would add is that our vision is a rooted and prosperous Black Portland. And so as Juma has highlighted that history of Portland, I would just say that 1803 Funds work is about, we are anchored in Albina and rebuilding it, but our work is also to serve all of Black Portland, recognizing and realizing that many of the folks who are traditionally were connected to Albina, we call that a psychographic memory and connection to Albina. Many of these folks are displaced on the west side of Portland, on the east side of Portland, whether they may actually be up north as far up as Vancouver, Washington, just over the bridge that these folks still have a cultural connection and history to Albina. And so our work is really to anchor and rebuild Albina with a focus on all of Black Portland. 

Katie: 

Yeah, okay, noted awesome. 

Juma: 

Can I jump in here with something? 

Katie: 

Yeah, off course. 

Juma: 

D'Artagnan, I think it would be lovely, honestly, some context for listeners. And my family's originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Right? And we also grew up moving around place to place. So I love Portland. Portland is very much my hometown. It's where I spent the most of my childhood. But also my relationship is decidedly different to the city than I think most black folks. And part of what I've appreciated so much about coming back since September has been talking to folks who have just a much richer connection to the community and D'Artagnan, I think you've honestly been one of those people. And I feel like the stories of what you thought Portland was when you grew up or something that have really stuck with me. I think at one point I remember you saying that you did not consider or conceive of Portland as a black city, and I just would be interested to hear you say a little bit about that. 

D’Artagnan: 

Yeah, thank you Juma. Not born in Portland, but certainly raised here in Portland from the age of six on, grew up in Albina. Matter of fact, my first house and my family owned three houses right off of North Albina and Alberta, not to be confused with the Albies and grew up in a community, quite frankly, where 80% of Black Portland was really located in two zip codes. So this was a very nuclear small connected neighborhood where we really leaned on each other as black community. And quite frankly, until I went off to a private high school, I actually really never spent a lot of my time outside of my neighborhood. And if you had told me that Portland was 80% black, I may have believed you as a child until you step outside of that and you realize I was really isolated. 

But again, within that isolation, we had families that took care of each other. We had grocery stores, barber shops, hair salons. Everywhere you went you could see our people and we were really connected. And so that history of Black Portland is something that I'm very connected to. And also realizing that with gentrification that really started in the early two thousands here, that we are fractured, that we are disconnected from each other based upon displacement. But really the reality is we are still here and we've always been here and we will remain here. So thank you Juma for that opportunity. 

Katie: 

Yeah, no, that's great. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for helping us understand the real personal side and the context of that. So let's go into the living room. So you have this fund, a pretty significant fund. I described it, introduced it as one of the largest black funds in the country, if I remember accurately. I think it was started as a $400 million fund. And you have aspirations to grow it and I know you have lots of aspirations and interest areas in terms of how you're investing that fund. So if you could maybe give us an overview of what some of those areas are and then in particular what your work is to really knit together that community, that would be really helpful. 

D’Artagnan: 

Thank you, Katie. So yeah, I'll talk about the living room. Thank you Juma for that example. It helps me as well. As I mentioned earlier, I have spent about 20 years of my career in philanthropy. And I would say 1803 Fund again is an investment fund. And I have the pleasure of holding and leading the philanthropic arm of the organization as we're investing into black community. And so our work is, as I think about what's different about us through the philanthropic arm of the organization, we are providing long-term funding, multi-year funding for organizations. And so we have five-year strategic partnership grants that we refer to them as with 11 organizations. We just made our first round of funding back in December of 2024 to 11 organizations. We have three priorities of the organization in place, which is really about the physical places of Black Portland here in Albina. 

Secondly, culture, culture, really thinking about the glue as we think through and consider art and culture and what that means for us as black community and that being the glue of who we are and really creating that sense of togetherness. And then thirdly, education. So as we think about education for black children, really thinking about what are they learning, how are they learning, really holding ourselves in community as well as our systems accountable for how black children are learning. So those are our three priority areas. And so as we got out our first round of funding, it actually went to culture grantees as well as place grantees. We are still working on our outcomes around education. So hopefully by this summer we'll have those outcomes in education figured out and to start working towards selecting grantees there. 

But in our first round of grantees, it was in place and Culture 11 grantees to the tune of $8.2 million with five year commitments. Also, I would add that as we provided those funds to 11 black serving grantees, we also said that we are going to work together as grantees and community. And so our work is modeled in a cohort model where grantees will come together on a quarterly basis to focus on three things, increasing collaboration amongst the organizations and strengthening partnership to cohesion. 

So how are we moving and walking together and increasing that and hopefully increasing to more partnerships across these organizations. And then thirdly, tech capacity building. So two things we want to definitely focus on or we are focused on in our cohorts, and that is to increase the skills for as leaders. And so we want to increase the leadership of these organizations as far as their capacity and their skill building. And then secondly, to strengthen the organizations themselves. And so that's what we're focused on throughout our cohorts. 

And the last thing I'll say on our cohorts, and I'll pause here, is that we are focused on accountability and what that means. And so we see our work, we call our work as respect-based philanthropy. Which really means that we are leaning into how do we respect each other? How do we respect the organizations that we're here to serve and partner with? And ultimately how do our organizations and us respect our community? And so there are three levels of accountability that we focus on, which are how are we accountable to the organizations and grantees that we're partnering with. Two is how are these organizations accountable to each other? And then thirdly, how are these organizations and us accountable to community? And so we understand that as an 1803 staff and board as well as with our partner organizations that we're accountable to large scale community-wide outcomes that we're striving for ultimately. And that's our accountability framework. 

And then the last thing I would say is those are our five-year grants that I would say that we're making large commitments to. And then the other grant arm of the organization we call for the culture, which we provide grants for events and sponsorships, which are really about creating a sense of togetherness. So any events that really highlight black excellence, the way that we can strengthen our sense of togetherness, we are really focused on. And those grants are anywhere from a minimum of $2,500 to a maximum of 20,000. 

Katie: 

That's a great overview. Thank you. And I love, yeah, just I know having worked in the philanthropic side, five year investments is a really big deal, so that's great. I'm curious, I realize you're pretty early on in terms of your work. I mean, you mentioned that your first round of grants were only announced last year, but what are you learning? Like just initial thoughts on or maybe some stories you could share about just lessons learned about what maybe that confirmed some early hypothesis you may have had or what's been surprising about your work? And really that's a question for both of you. I'm just curious, what are you learning so far? 

Juma: 

Yeah, something I'm learning is, how would I put this again, I just got back to Portland in September, so I feel like I'm a newcomer to the city. Again, also just a newcomer to the investment space, the philanthropic space, just like all of it. D'Artagnan, I think something that he communicated was that this idea of togetherness and that this idea of collaboration is essential to how 1803 functions, which I think is very true. And I think one of the things that I was very surprised to hear just as a departure from traditional philanthropic models was that to suggest that we want our partners to work together to suggest that we want to alongside our partners, to suggest that we don't want there to be too much distance between us as an investment fund and as a funding entity and the community that we serve. 

That's shaking things up in terms of the industry norm. And I think not only did I learn that just about the space that 1803 operates in, but I also feel like I've learned about the importance of collaboration and that again, that spirit of togetherness in terms of our actual function, right? I think that black history pop-up museum that I had suggested was a really great example of this where essentially we sponsored the event, which it took place in this three floor building that was owned by these two black dudes who had essentially wanted to turn the space into a black and brown sort of creators and makerspace in part prompted by their own desire to seek studio spaces artists. 

So like we partnered with 11 different community organizations to like just pump that building full of life for throughout the entire month in Portland. And I think one of the most surprising parts of that project was we're working with all these different organizations. Word is Bond, which is a black men's incubator here in Portland, like a leadership incubator here in Portland. I'll buy it a music trust, this community music archive, Oregon Black Pioneers. This is more historic organization here in Portland. But I say all this to say that at 1803, we have a bird's eye view into all these different organizations and the ways that they're serving our community. 

And yet when we were working in that pop-up museum and like physically in the space putting the museum together, it felt like I was facilitating a lot of introductions between different folks, which I think is emblematic of something I think that feels like a Portland challenge, but I'm sure is also just like a national challenge of this kind of work, right? There is a lot of really great people with really important missions doing great work in the city. And I think nationally, I don't think though that it is a kind of collective norm for those organizations to like pick their head up and like work together in the kinds of ways that think 1803 is trying to model. It was really just astounding to me to be like, I just got here and I know that you're doing this cool stuff that relates to like place in Portland and you're doing this cool stuff that relates to culture in Portland. Like how is it that y'all have not connected heads until now? So I think that is something that I am learning. 

Also, I think something that I'm learning is I think so much of the early stage of at least my work was really philosophical, but I feel like I'm really seeing the ways that that larger philosophy is really grounded rather neatly. I think in the day-to-day work. As D'Artagnan mentioned, like all of our investments flow into either place culture or education as our three program areas. And those philosophical reason that we picked those program areas is because those are foundational to how we understand wealth. Right? That on one hand wealth is financial, but also the black community in Portland has been wealthy for a very long time and it hasn't always looked material. It's presented itself as the vibrance of our culture about the wellbeing of our youth, about the permanence of our physical space in some instances, things that we've been able to exercise and experience in our own. Right? 

And in some places where maybe there's been more of a challenge, but we've persisted in spite of. And I think one thing that's been a really beautiful lesson about the work of 1803 thus far is that those more social, more immaterial understandings of wealth are not only just as important as financial wealth, but they also can in some ways very directly translate into financial wealth. And here is where I returned to the pop-up museum. We had this activation that was very much just embracing Black Portland culture and Black Portland history on like a social level, but also the activations that we brought to the building and the people, the foot traffic that we brought to the space also helped the two dudes, Cyrus Coleman and Wale Agula secure more financial backing for their building to help them on their ultimate dream for like building the creator space that they wanted it to be. 

So that it feels like something that 1803 is real committed to, as you said, is this idea of not just like financial support and financial programming, but also pairing that with social programming. And I think the understanding and the realization and the lesson that I'm learning is that there are social and financial returns that we'll see from that work as well. 

Katie: 

Yeah, great example. D'Artagnan, I'm wondering if you have any other kind of key lessons learned, anything that has surprised you or maybe affirmed for you? 

D’Artagnan: 

Yes, thank you, Katie. Thank you Juma. I would say being someone who was raised here in this community, as I had the opportunity to look at over a hundred plus black serving organizations that really serve Black Portland, we also had the opportunity to visit a number of different organizations in our world of philanthropy. We call that obviously site visits, which can come off as "Are you really doing what you say you're doing? Can we hold you accountable? Can we trust you?" Really, from our standpoint, we had an opportunity to go in and just learn about these organizations. One of the aha moments I would say for us, and I wouldn't say this is a huge surprise, it's something that we probably know at our gut, but it really stood out during our site visits. 

Many black serving organizations really are working from a deficit model. They are keeping the lights on, they're making payroll, they're trying to keep programs in place for serving the communities that their mission, the vision and mission of the organizations are about, but they're really just making do with what they have as far as the supports. You know, there's national data come out over the last couple of years that only about 2% of the available funds go to black community. And so I think we learned that that's a reality for many of organizations that we're currently partnering with, but also many of the grantee or black serving organizations that we've come across. And so as we've entered into these early conversations and discussions, we've talked about abundance and what does abundance mean? And I would say quite frankly, there are ways from realizing that, but that's ultimately the goal that we have, that we want organizations to really revel in abundance as well as our black community collectively that we're here to serve. 

Katie: 

Yeah, no, thank you both for saying that. It's actually a good segue to ask my follow-up question, which is in our earlier conversation prepping for this session, we talked about how this podcast, our hope is that our audience are other philanthropists or people who work in different philanthropic organizations who are really committed to advancing equity, which simply means how do we think about directing investments and resources to communities that haven't historically received these resources or who have been left behind. And so I think my follow-up question is for those who are listening who are really committed to supporting black communities or other communities who typically have not received a lot of the philanthropic resources or other types of investments, what practices or what are things that you're learning that really minimize. Juma I loved what you said earlier about minimizing the distance between community and funder. 

Both of you have already given so many amazing examples, but if I were to ask you like what... I don't know, your top two or three practices or things that you would really encourage other funders who have similar aspirations and visions as you, what would you advise that they do in order to best serve community? I'm curious what comes to mind for both of you? 

Juma: 

I got a couple ideas, and again, because I'm not coming from the philanthropy space, so I feel like there's things that I'm pulling from my public radio experience that feel natural to just how I function that I think have served 1803. Well, in terms of how we're different, one in terms of the structure of grant making and of the philanthropic arm of organizations, I think again, the commitment to long-term support is essential. Right? I think part of not just what makes us feel good about the kind of support that we're offering to the community, but also I think having talked to a number of our different partners, this is a really functional benefit. Is this idea that those for the future strategic partnerships are a five-year commitment, right? 1803 is about to announce an education commitment that's over the span of a decade. Right? 

So this idea that it ain't just funding for one event one time or even just one event over the course of a year, but the idea that we're going to work with you over a longer-term horizon. Also, I think something that 1803 does well in those partnerships is our support is more than just financial. Right? 

We're also offering in that quarterly cohort model, like technical assistance, strategic assistance, things that will help us collectively scale our institutional capacity to do the work that we're doing. Because I think it's important to remember that at least at 1803, if our North Star is to positively impact and transform this community in a way that is more than just social, but is material that's much more than we as one organization can do by ourselves, it's something that's going to take working together. And I think the cohort model is a good example of the ways that not only can you support your partners by offering non or in addition to financial, other kinds of non-financial supports, but also you can sort of model ways of being that will be ultimately helpful for insert your organization's missions North Star. 

So I think that is something that I think of also, something that D'Artagnan mentioned, and I think something I've alluded to, but just to say it explicitly is this respect-based practice that we hold dear to us at 1803. And that just to embroider on the definition that D'Artagnan offered a little, it's just grounded in the fact that in supporting Black Portland, we're supporting our community. And this is very important to me because I left Atlanta before that, Detroit before that Washington DC, these cities that are such black cultural meccas to move to Portland, not just to work for this organization, but also to build the community that I want to experience and I want to live in. So that means that there's a much deeper, a much richer personal connection to the work that I think means that, again, we as an organization, or at least I personally am committed in showing up in ways that I don't think traditional philanthropic entities show up in the communities that they serve. 

One of the organizations we support that I called out earlier, Albina Music Trust, this community music archive, like I want to support and be present in Albina Music Trust's life, not just because I think it's important for us as a funder, da-da-da-da, but it's like, no, I, as someone who is black and from Portland and who loves music to my core, I want to be able to engage in their archive and engage in their programming as just things that will populate my life. 

So I feel like that kind of respect-based model, that commitment, all the things that go beyond just the money is what I would suggest that folks committed to this kind of work should try to champion in terms of the support that their organizations offer. Because I think it's what makes 1803 special, and then as someone who has spent a lot of time on the ground with our partners, it's also the stuff that they communicate feeling appreciative of and grateful for in their relationship with 1803 in a way that's decidedly different than another funder. 

Katie: 

Yeah, now, those are such good examples. Yeah. D'Artagnan, what would you add? 

D’Artagnan: 

Yeah, thank you, Juma. Thank you, Katie. Let's see, what did Juma leave me? What I would say is 1803 Fund, we're very thankful to have an initial C-funding investment from Phil and Penny Knight. We also understand that we're very lucky, blessed, however you want to see that, to have those type of partners and individuals in our community who have a high net worth. And that based upon a couple of the founders of the organization and Tony Hobbs and Ron Herndon who've had these 40 year relationships with Phil Knight himself in supporting their organizations in Albina Head Start and self enhancement Incorporated. 

That when you think about the work that we're about, how do you build a 40 year relationship. Right? But what I would say is wherever you are in your communities, wherever you are across the United States, globally, wherever you are, to really think about how do you align into mission-driven work and those are the type of individuals that you want to try to attract. What I would say also for 1803 Fund. We've been pretty blessed to be able to situate ourselves in the place where we're very clear about what our vision and our mission is. We are a capital investment fund, and anything that we're trying to do in black community doesn't happen without having real assets to do that with. And that's what I think is really important about our story and the pieces about our story that we're trying to share not only here locally and regionally, but also from a national and global standpoint. 

Katie: 

Yeah, that's such a good, yeah, no, thank you for that. And I could keep asking you follow-up questions and highlight some of the practices that I've heard, things like, I love that term respect-based philanthropy. I love the many ways of accountability you're thinking about. I think those are all really effective. But I actually, I want to pause and just remind the audience that we're recording this in March of 2025 in an environment that has significantly from my perspective, shifted since January of this year and in an environment where a lot of race-explicit, race-based work is under attack. And there's a lot of... From my perspective, a lot of myth and misperceptions that are abound about this type of work. So I guess the question I would love for both of you to reflect on is how is this moment impacting you and the work that you're doing? And then maybe the, again, the broader question is what advice do you have for other funders given this new current climate that we're living in? 

Juma: 

Yeah, yeah. So I think I appreciate the call-out to this moment because I think that the entire 1803 story is not blind to the tides of politics and just culture around us. One part of the story that I didn't get to talk about as much is just genesis of the idea of the 1803 Fund itself. I mean, it came out of the 2020 moment, right? Where amid lockdown, the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, particularly the killing of Mr. Floyd prompted a lot of social upheaval here in Portland in a way that I think obviously different communities across the nation felt. But I know that here in Portland, we very much felt, and that's what prompted our CEO, Rukaiyah Adams, to sit down and write the initial business plan for 1803 Fund. 

And the idea was that in the midst of all of this, I don't need to get into it, but in the midst of all of this, what black folks need is a sustained capital pool to be able to execute and make real transformational ideas for our collective and community betterment. And that is very much like what 1803 exists to do today. I think the reason that context is helpful is just to acknowledge that... I think I, again, I appreciate the call out to everything that has happened here since January here being in the United States. I also appreciate the part of the reason it feels necessary to articulate the bigger term history of 1803 is because black folks have been struggling in America in some capacity or another for decades. 

The things that 1803 is trying to address didn't start in January. And I think that's important for us to remember. And I think part of the reason and the existence of our fund is so that we can be a pool of capital that's a little separate and apart from and not as influenced by shifting tides of national politics. Right? We don't get any government money. We are a fund of our own. So like this is at its core, very much like for us by us kind of institution. And the goal is we're at $400 million now, but we're trying to grow to over a billion dollars so that we can continue to not just have a level of autonomy in the way that we function, but to have or to permit a level of autonomy in the way that our community partners function. Because I think that's also one of the things that is just very transparently kind of a question mark for us at 1803. Right? 

That we know that we have a level of privilege in the way that we can move in this time because we're not relying on money to come down from the federal government or from local government or anything like that. That's not entirely the case for our partner organizations, and that also means a question mark for them and what the next four years and obviously beyond will mean. So yeah, that's how we're thinking about this moment is appreciative, the independence that we have and recommitted to being able to grow this fund and evidence execution so we can continue to grow this fund to be able to spread that privilege as much as we can. 

Katie: 

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for that. D'Artagnan, do you have anything you want to add with respect to that question? 

D’Artagnan: 

I think Juma covered mostly everything. I guess the only thing else I would add is to say that we understand why we need to exist, especially during this time, and that we are very intentional in the ways that we are about serving Black Portland. And so the work continues. 

Katie: 

Yeah, I love that. I was actually just really appreciating that this is an example of, I love your emphasis like this is a capital investment fund, this is a capital investment fund. There's like the philanthropic arm, but there's all sorts of other ways that we're investing in a place-based and population-based in a community in Portland, and what an example of just like a bright shining star, especially given everything that's happening here. So I guess on that note, again, as part of our planning call, I had asked, are there other funds like this in other parts of the country? So will you also just say that, are there examples of these type of place-based funds that are serving black communities throughout the United States? And if funders want to know more because they want to invest in this way, how can they follow up? How can they follow up? 

Juma: 

Okay, so in terms of like contemporary organizations, yes and no. I think there are other organizations out there that might have one part of the 1803 portfolio like in theirs. But I have at least in my due diligence, have yet to really land on a single organization that brings in all the different components that we're talking about. So that brings in real asset investment along with grant making into community-based organizations along with some sort of in-person communication opportunities and programming along with being place-based in this historic heart for black folks along with, I could go on and on one organization though that I think models where we see ourselves ultimately is Blue Meridian. 

They are like a funder of funders, is my understanding that kind of power is what 1803 is trying to wield. Because again, I think to go back to our most recent kind of conversation of the need for enduring sustained capital funding for our community, it's organizations of Blue Meridian scale that don't just shift social outcomes, but again, shift material outcomes. And I think that, again, speaking to the accountability framework, that's something that D'Artagnan or that we as an organization are committed to. D'Artagnan this is something I think you talked about. I personally, just speaking for myself here, part of the reason I want to keep growing this fund is because I want my life as a black person here in Portland and my children's lives as a black person here in Portland to be meaningfully different in a better way in 15, 20, 25 years because of investments that 1803 has been able to make now. 

And again, I think that when we look at organizations that are able to like shift that kind of money and have that kind of impact, it's something like a blue meridian that we're thinking of, but again, there's not quite a contemporary that we have that gets all the different pieces in order. And that's also part of my challenge as a communications person is know, I keep getting the question of like, "All right, what does 1803 do." Well I say. "We do this and this and this." And I know a friend once described it as we're like a massive plane and massive plane took some of the long... Or take some of the longest times to take off. And I feel like that's the position that we're in right now. It's like making sure that everyone's strapped in, so we're ready to fly. 

D’Artagnan: 

Thank you, Juma. And I would further just clarify, Blue Meridian partners are a conglomerate of some of the largest funders that we have here in the United States, and we look to them as partners who are really invested in this place-based work throughout the country. So look forward to continuing to improve our partnership with them. One of the other funds, I had an opportunity, I just can't remember all their names, last October, what I would say is it was in a room with probably about 20 different black funds and funders, specifically from across the nation. They came together from North Carolina, Denver, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota, specifically up in the Bay Area of California. So there's a gentleman named Mark Philpart. Who's running the California Black Freedom Fund. 

I think they have been able to accumulate about, I think the last I heard about 94 million. They were striving for that a hundred million mark coming up soon. And so there are organizations and other black funds that are certainly in existence now since the killing of George Floyd in 2020 that have really come about. And I think the question and the issue for us is how do we sustain these efforts, not only here like we're trying to do in Portland, Oregon, but across the nation. 

 
Katie: 

Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. It's so great to hear that and thank you so much for sharing your story and all of the great work that you're doing. I guess just before we go, because we have you and I feel so inspired by this conversation, maybe just one thing that you would share that's either happened or that is giving you joy about some of the work that you're doing in community. Just what is one thing that you want to share with the audience before you go? 

D’Artagnan: 

One thing I mentioned, having the opportunity to do this work here is extremely personal for me. And being a young man and a child that grew up here in a time where in the late 80s, early 90s, most people don't believe where gangs and crack cocaine were impacting my community, and I saw and witnessed the destruction of our communities firsthand as someone who spent some time in foster care with my sister as well. 

So from that standpoint, I would say fast-forward to 2025, as I think about the work that I have the opportunity to wake up and do every day, I never lose sight of the fact that Black Portland, we make up 6% of our population here as across the state, black folks make up a population of 2%. And I think it's easy to assume that we have too small of a black community to really make an impact. And I think the opposite is actually true. We are small and if we work together, collaborate together, strategize together, get information together, I will use the words of our CEO Rukaiyah Adams and Beyonce too. 

That we can be successful, that we move together, that we're strategic, that we're thinking long range out there in the future, 2025, 50 years from now about what we're able to accomplish. So as we think about initiatives that are talking about the expansion of our I-5 freeway like we saw as Juma mentioned in the early 1960s that now we're talking about, actually how do we ensure that we have freeway covers to continue to keep the community connected because we've learned from our past. What brings me joy every day is to actually see how we're planting seeds for this work because quite frankly, a little or a lot older than Juma, to say that this work is not about what I will see in my time of continuing to do this work, but it is the Juma's and Juma's children that we're preparing this place for. 

Katie: 

That's lovely. Yeah. Thank you. Juma, what would you add? 

Juma: 

Yeah, yeah, D'Artagnan appreciate that. And I think similarly, I'm excited to just continue to see the ways that an organization like 1803 is shaping black life in Portland. I feel like the pop-up museum situation that I referenced, I think it's a very small aspect of our larger portfolio, but I think it did served as a microcosm of what's possible. And I think that like that museum and all the kind of benefits that kind of came from it, I think really just served me and my personal life in ways that I really appreciated. 

And I think that when we talk about wanting our community to get stronger, I think about just like how many more black folks I know in the city and I'm connected to now for having gone through that experience. If we're talking about again, this idea of like communal, that social investments will beget financial investability. The idea that this museum experience means that two black folks in Portland are that much closer to being able to have a three-story building dedicated to black creativity and black creative production is exciting for me just as a personal creative. So that's one thing that I feel like gives me joy. 

The other thing I think has been a little bit of a challenge, but I'm excited to keep noodling on and keep thinking. I think that like working for 1803, especially as someone running communications, there's been a big impulse to think about what does black life look like in 10 and 15 and 20 and 50 and a hundred years. And it wasn't really until I came here and was like forced to frame those kinds of conversations that I really realized that there is not often times in which black folks are asked to think about futurity in that kind of way. 

What does black life look like in the year 2300? I don't know. And I think that like its things like that I'm interested in continuing to unpack and continue to just push myself like philosophically to imagine just because it wasn't until I got here and started like trafficking in the language of this work that I realized where my imagination was falling short. So I guess you could say that big picture. I'm excited to continue to like imagine and then also to pair that and ground that imagination and like execution that gets us like one step closer. 

Katie: 

Yeah. Yeah. I love that So much food for thought. I love the long range. I can't even conceptualize 2300. But yeah, like that, it takes real imagination. That's where it all starts. So thank you both for spending time with me for explaining the fund for your time. And yeah, no, I think that's a wrap. 

Juma: 

Thank you for the conversation. 

Katie: 

Yeah. 

D’Artagnan: 

Thank you, Katie. 

Katie: 

Yeah, no, this is awesome. 

D’Artagnan: 

Thank you, Philanthropy Northwest. 

Nancy: 

Can we talk about…?, is a podcast by Philanthropy Northwest, written and produced by Aya Sarda and Emily Damon with production support by Podfly and Graphic Design by Asha Hossain. Our episodes this season are hosted by TGP Senior Advisors, Katie Hong, Robin Martin, and Abby Sarmac. You can find more information on this episode, including guest bios and show note at, TheGivingPractice.org. And if you have a topic that you think Philanthropy should be talking about more, let us know by emailing hello at, TheGivingPractice.org. A special thanks to our Philanthropy Northwest and giving practice teams for their thought partnership and the Ford Foundation for making this project possible. I'm Nancy Sanabria, and we'll see you next time.