Holistic community care
We centered our work around holistic community care, so that our communities thrive and are able to fulfill their dreams.
Our community prospers when all of us have the capability and resources to care for our emotional, social, spiritual, physical, and intellectual lives. We at Threshold Philanthropy call this nuanced and multifaceted framework holistic community care. Meaning, to the best of our ability, we meet the various needs of our team, partners, vendors, and community, to live with purpose, joy, and ease.
From 2020 to 2023, our work of holistic community care looked like returning resources to individuals, organizations, and ecosystems — in support of personal healing, collective healing spaces, capacity-building, and agency-building.
The origins of taking care of one another
The concept of community care has been around for ages, and during our first years of operation, we drew inspiration from BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, immigrant, low-income, and other historically overlooked communities that have been doing good and taking care of themselves and one another for millenia.
These communities continue to be models for pushing past barriers of oppression, models of creating their own beautiful ways of thriving, such as through …
pooled funds
mutual aid
church clothing drives
food co-ops
co-living arrangements
picking up each others’ tiny humans
land stewardship
dropping off home cooked meals
Our vision
Like the communities that are an inspiration to us, we at Threshold Philanthropy envisioned ways of returning that were better from what we all have known in traditional philanthropy. Here’s how these values manifested in our work, with ourselves, as a team, with our partners, and with broader communities:
Individual healing
We supported individual healing because we know that true liberation starts within — and without having the time and space to heal, we bring our traumas into our work, intentionally or unintentionally.
Collective healing
Our communities are full of power and brilliance, and haven’t always been given access to traditional pathways to maintaining sovereignty. We supported collective work that builds agency and shifts power within and across our communities.
Capacity-building
Our communities bring wisdom, skills, and experiences that are critical to building toward our collective liberation and have often been overlooked or undervalued. We supported our partners to further develop their genius and build the complementary skills needed to fully realize their vision.