Themis

Too many people doing important work in their communities — organizing tenants unions, providing local, grassroots news coverage, coordinating mutual aid networks, etc. — are limited by the need to work one, or two, or three full-time jobs just to make ends meet. Themis aims to alleviate the financial strain on these community workers by connecting them to people with high-income jobs (particularly in the tech industry) who want to make a difference, but don't have the skills, community connections, or time to do as much as they'd like.

Themis is made up of these high-income donors — who contribute part of their paychecks to a collective fund — and grantees; community organizers and workers who can withdraw from the fund to cover essential expenses like rent or groceries.

All major decisions — e.g. bringing a new grantee or donor onboard, grant amounts and durations — are made collectively by all the existing grantees and donors. This reduces the power imbalance between donors and grantees that often exists in nonprofit spaces.