Ongoing Growth and Learning
We do not assume to have everything figured out. We anticipate learning along the way that will require adjusting these guidelines.
Fund Beginnings
The Reparations-Inspired Fund is being organized by congregations in the Goshen area who have been engaged in the work of Indigenous and African American justice and repair. For some congregations this work has been primarily via the Repair Network of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. The Repair Network encourages congregations to include restitution in their budget.
For other congregations the desire for reparations has emerged from work with anti-racism and learning about centuries of harm inflicted on African Americans. This fund is being established as an answer to the centuries long call for reparations due to the immeasurable harm that has been done to Indigenous and African American people, both in the past and still today.
This fund is one way to respond to the numerous ways in which wealth has been extracted from people of color. This began with stolen land and enslaved labor and continued with numerous other forms of harm. This wealth has primarily benefited white people. It is our hope that this fund will further the work of healing and wholeness among Indigenous and Black communities as well as help predominantly white Christian congregations grow into their calling to be communities of repentance and repair.
We believe a cooperative fund of this sort – rather than having individual congregations/persons do their own, smaller initiatives – will make this effort more sustainable, more impactful, and more of a witness to the community.
Fund Holdings
For the initial year, we anticipate a local congregation receiving and holding the funds. In the future, we may explore other options. For any fund holder, our goal is to have a place that has easy and accessible options for giving (i.e. online, check, etc.) and for distributing (reduced bureaucracy).
Timeline and distribution
The fund will be open to receiving payments throughout the calendar year. It is open to contributions from congregations, individuals, businesses, and beyond. In January of each year, the full amount collected from the previous year will be split and released, with roughly half of the funds supporting Indigenous reparative work and half supporting Black reparative work. We expect the first distribution will take place in January 2027.
Congregational Reparative Amounts
Congregations are encouraged to set aside at least 1-3% of their annual budget for this Reparative Fund. It may be necessary to work towards a greater percentage over the course of a number of years. In the spirit of reparations, contributions to the fund are generally considered a debt that is owed rather than an act of charity or donation.
Advisory Committee:
Criteria for Fund Recipients:
We do not assume to have everything figured out. We anticipate learning along the way that will require adjusting these guidelines.
Fund Beginnings
The Reparations-Inspired Fund is being organized by congregations in the Goshen area who have been engaged in the work of Indigenous and African American justice and repair. For some congregations this work has been primarily via the Repair Network of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. The Repair Network encourages congregations to include restitution in their budget.
For other congregations the desire for reparations has emerged from work with anti-racism and learning about centuries of harm inflicted on African Americans. This fund is being established as an answer to the centuries long call for reparations due to the immeasurable harm that has been done to Indigenous and African American people, both in the past and still today.
This fund is one way to respond to the numerous ways in which wealth has been extracted from people of color. This began with stolen land and enslaved labor and continued with numerous other forms of harm. This wealth has primarily benefited white people. It is our hope that this fund will further the work of healing and wholeness among Indigenous and Black communities as well as help predominantly white Christian congregations grow into their calling to be communities of repentance and repair.
We believe a cooperative fund of this sort – rather than having individual congregations/persons do their own, smaller initiatives – will make this effort more sustainable, more impactful, and more of a witness to the community.
Fund Holdings
For the initial year, we anticipate a local congregation receiving and holding the funds. In the future, we may explore other options. For any fund holder, our goal is to have a place that has easy and accessible options for giving (i.e. online, check, etc.) and for distributing (reduced bureaucracy).
Timeline and distribution
The fund will be open to receiving payments throughout the calendar year. It is open to contributions from congregations, individuals, businesses, and beyond. In January of each year, the full amount collected from the previous year will be split and released, with roughly half of the funds supporting Indigenous reparative work and half supporting Black reparative work. We expect the first distribution will take place in January 2027.
Congregational Reparative Amounts
Congregations are encouraged to set aside at least 1-3% of their annual budget for this Reparative Fund. It may be necessary to work towards a greater percentage over the course of a number of years. In the spirit of reparations, contributions to the fund are generally considered a debt that is owed rather than an act of charity or donation.
Advisory Committee:
- An Advisory Committee will be made up of one member from each participating congregation. A participating congregation is any congregation engaged in the work of anti-racism/ anti-oppression who sets aside at least 1% (or equivalent) of their annual budget for this fund.
- The Repair Network Consortium of Elkhart County may name an additional two members.
- The Advisory Committee will meet as needed to make decisions about the structure and function of this fund.
- To minimize white control of this fund, the Advisory Committee will work to establish an Elkhart County-based Disbursement Committee made up entirely of BIPOC individuals. This Disbursement Committee would have full autonomy over the funds set aside for Black reparative work.
Criteria for Fund Recipients:
- The funds will be used to redress both past and ongoing harm from centuries of white supremacist policies and practices. The money will be used to support Indigenous and Black people, organizations, and movements in their work of self-determination, ending oppression, and repairing racial harm.
- The fund recipients for the Indigenous reparative work would likely be informed by the relationships that numerous congregations and individuals in this area have established with the Miami and Potawatomi peoples as well as connections through the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery.