East Fork engages in year-round wealth reclamation efforts in which we ask our customers to learn about then donate to our Community Partners, organization or individual who is engaged in social justice work that aims to build equity in communities that have been harmed by systems like capitalism, patriarchy, racism and heteronormativity.
We incentivize giving by granting access to our Seconds page to anyone who can prove they made a donation in any amount to the Community Partner. We also hold raffles, auctions and hold special events as ways to further support fundraising efforts.
Here, a look at what you, our customers, helped accomplish in 2021.
As of mid-December, $57,824.35 came from a 10% upcharge on pots glazed in Pinto, our collaboration with Samin Nosrat. All of this went to Acta Non Verba: Urban Youth Farm Project, the East Oakland organization chosen by Samin for their food justice and youth empowerment work.
Just over $27,160 was raised by our customers who participated in a raffle for custom-glazed pottery, benefitting PODER Emma, a grassroots organization based in Asheville that creates and sustains networks of cooperative ownership and action in Emma, a semi-rural, working class neighborhood that has a significant immigrant population.
Our customers bought $25,355 in tickets for two raffles we held, all of which went to Asheville’s YMI Cultural Center, one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the United States, which offers educational, cultural, civic and social activities as well as leadership and economic development programs.
Our customers bought $24,100 in tickets for a raffle we held for Asheville’s CoThinkk, a giving circle that works to create new systems, processes and relationships that have the potential to yield equitable outcomes and support a leadership pipeline of BIPOC, African-American and Latinx community members here in our region.
We held an auction of several rare pieces from the East Fork archive that generated $12,572 for Asheville’s Just Economics to help create a Benefits Cliff Calculator, a tool designed to help employees and business owners access information about stipulations for federal and state benefits that are often tied to wages.
To help support the dream of Delores Pottery, a potter in Durham, North Carolina, who wants to open a pottery studio and learning center for people of color, East Fork customers purchased $19,890 in raffle tickets. And during our in-person Seconds sale on December 26th, customers donated an additional $114.
East Fork provided pottery for each guest at a ticketed dinner event with chefs Luis Martinez and Andrew McLeod that raised $1000 for Asheville Latin Americans Achieving Success (ALAS), a Latinx-led nonprofit organization that develops Latinx leadership in Buncombe County and improves access to education through mentoring, training and scholarship. Because these donations were not collected by East Fork prior to distribution to ALAS, this amount is not reflected in the cumulative amount of giving shown above.
Looking Ahead
We are eager for another year of working with new Community Partners, helping to raise awareness and funds for their efforts. You can make a donation to our current Community Partner and in return gain access to our Seconds page. And keep an eye out for more raffles of rare East Fork pottery and other fundraising opportunities throughout the year.