Are you in need of mutual aid?

While we don’t have a super large budget to give financial contributions directly, reach out to us so we can make a plan together (crowdfunding, housing ideas, direct funding, etc). Read more about our Mutual Aid support agreements below.

Wind River Pride Grounding (Ongoing/To-Be-Updated) Finance Guidelines

Grounding 🌲🌴🌳🌹🌸🌺💐🌷🌻🌼🌿🌱🌵🍂🍁🍄🎍🌾🪷🪴

• These are guidelines, and at the end of the day, we are people who are going to treat others like people. The goal is to fund pride events and help folks who are reaching out for financial help. 

• This is a living document that can change and evolve as we as humans do. We created this to give guidance for managing funds, as we are not a funds focused group and we are not a for profit group. We are also not a non-profit, with paid positions. 

• We do not want our relationship with money to be the center of our organizing, so that our focus can continue to be on Pride and our community. 

• We recognize that many Pride groups throughout the country have been co-opted by capitalism and the police/military.

• The Finance Committee was born out of the need to figure out how to manage mutual aid requests and funding. The larger WRP community can decide together how much money goes towards regular Pride events. 

Who is on the Finance Committee? 🧐🧐🥸🥸

• The Finance Committee should consist of at least 3 people at all times. 

• Folks can join or leave the committee at any time, and the Finance Committee will announce a more formalized invitation to join once a year.  

  • When the Finance Committee presents to the group, they should remind people that all are always welcome to join the committee (less formal invitation).

• Each member co-serves as acting treasurer (capacity to deliver reports, authorize transactions and track holdings). 

• Joint authority to enact changes; must have majority (2 out of 3) consensus to proceed.

Accountability for the Finance Committee👀🧠❤️💙💜💗💛💖💞💚❣️💓🧡💘💝🤍🤎❤️‍🔥

• Check-in with the WRP community when the % of redistribution of money changes. 

  • The community will have time to think about and share thoughts about these changes before they are made. A conversation will be facilitated by the Finance Committee to reach a consensus. 

  • Ex. the % of funds that goes towards mutual aid changes. 

• Treasurer’s report presented at a general WRP meeting: detailing current holdings, recent transactions (since last report), proposed changes and measures, respecting anonymity where applicable.  

• Check-in with the larger community once a year to share a general amount of finance tracking.  

  • How much in donations did we receive this year?

  • How much money went to events?

  • How much money went to mutual aid?

  • How much money is sitting in our bank account?

How does WRP receive and define our funding? 💸💸📜

• We will use funding in two different avenues (Pride events and mutual aid).

  • 5% of all money raised will go towards a mutual aid fund.  

  • Funds designated for mutual aid, can only be used for mutual aid fund purposes. 

• We receive our funding as non-taxable gifts, since we are not incorporated.

  • Legal definition of a gift: The legal definition of a gift is a contribution that is donative in intent, given voluntarily and without expectation of consideration, for which, in general, no contractual or grant requirements are imposed. 

What is our minimum amount of reserve for mutual aid, before we start fundraising for more mutual aid funds? ⏳⚖️

• We do not know. The committee will take things as a case by case basis and bring it to the larger community if we feel unsure. 

Who can request aid and how often and is there a cap? 📞🌬💥✨✨✨✨

• Reminder: All of this is flexible and case by case.

• The way we decide how to help a community member who is in need of mutual aid, is through conversation that considers the amount of money needed by the individual, the amount of money in our mutual aid reserve, the capacity to host an event and the type of need this individual has. 

• The type of mutual aid support WRP can provide is as follows: 

  • Direct Financial Support: Emergency and Non-Emergency

  • Support in Fundraising: Crowdfunding source or hosting a fundraising event

• Direct Funds are reserved for folks who are local and/or active in our community.

• Crowdfunding through the Wind River Pride network (email list and social media) will be utilized for folks who are no longer local or active, but are in need of mutual aid.

• If there is an individual who has a need greater than the mutual fund reserve amount, we will explore hosting a fundraising event and/or bringing the ask for funds to the larger WRP Community.

• We will also explore the idea of a fundraising event if it is requested by the individual in need of mutual aid. 

Parameters around fundraising events for mutual aid 📏📐🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔

• The individual in need of mutual aid, will ideally be part of the planning process of the fundraising in some capacity (unless there is something preventing them from being present). 

• Once a general plan has been made, the Finance Committee will take the fundraising event opportunity to the larger group to get started on finalizing logistics and hosting the event. 

• There may come a time where capacity for a fundraising event is challenging…a further conversation with the individual will be had…likely going in the direction of crowdfunding.

Protections for the Requestee: What do we need to know? 🤗🫂🍦🍦🧚🏽🧚🏿‍♂️🧚🏻‍♀️

• The requestee receives the money as cash or check.

• A very vague description/category of what the aid is for (medical, housing, transportation, ect.)

• Debriefing our decision to the individual before informing the group.

• Allowing for and facilitating anonymity. 

• Allowing the requester to refute if desired.