FUND THE FUTURE

OF SPIRITUAL INNOVATION.

Fund the future of spiritual innovation by partnering with BIPOC leaders and orgs.

68%

of people believe that their spirituality guides how they act in the world.

(What does Spirituality Mean to Us?, 2021, Fetzer Institute)

54%

of BIPOC spiritual innovators named business and financial resources as their top need.

(Spiritual Innovation Gathering Date 2024, Embrace)

85%

of people who believe it is important to contribute to the greater good are moderately- highly spiritual.

(What does Spirituality Mean to Us?, 2021, Fetzer Institute)

“Wayfarer Foundation strives to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) spiritual leaders, innovators, and communities because they are at the forefront of transformative, grassroots change that addresses systemic inequities and nurtures healing in all of our communities.

BIPOC spiritual leaders provide critical guidance and vision that integrates both cultural wisdom and spiritual resilience, offering healing practices that are deeply rooted in our communities’ histories and traditions. Supporting these leaders helps amplify voices that have been historically silenced, overlooked, or ignored and ensures that their innovative contributions to social, cultural, and environmental justice are recognized and sustained.”

~ Celeste Smith, Wayfarer Foundation

“Spiritual innovation is about our shared future, a pathway to a more loving world where all beings flourish.  Spiritual innovators are the leaders we need now to help us get there.

Spiritual innovators are leaders of transformation, offering new forms of spiritual practice, spiritual care, and spiritual community that are helping build a more loving world.

Now is a liminal time in spirituality and religion, as we are in between. Old religious structures are changing, and new ones are coming into being.  People are more lonely and isolated than ever, and many don’t know where to turn for support.  Spiritual innovators are leading the way in creating spaces for the connection and healing we need so desperately.  BIPOC spiritual innovators are key, as we build a new spiritual ecosystem that will serve everyone.”

~ Michelle Sheidt, Program Officer, The Fetzer Institute

Now is the time… 

to lift up these leaders and nourish the movement.

Through The Fetzer Institute’s Sharing Spiritual Heritage (SSH) project, we created a Funder’s Deck to help funders contribute to the emerging BIPOC-centered spiritual innovation ecosystem with awareness and skill.

This document was created in order to share wisdom received from 100+ BIPOC spiritual innovators and ecosystem builders over the course of stewarding the SSH project from 2022 to 2024.

The ideas shared here are just a starting point. The spiritual innovation ecosystem is huge, varied, and vibrant. We hope that these insights and recommendations continue to evolve through co-creation by and for a widening community of BIPOC spiritual innovators.

Six Steps Funders Can Take:

  • 1. UNLEARN ESTABLISHED PATTERNS

    Identify and break down established patterns that reinforce norms like scarcity mindsets, power hoarding, conflict avoidance, and false urgency. Start by growing awareness and openness to naming current patterns and experimenting with establishing new ones.

  • 2. DESIGN LIBERATORY STRATEGIES

    This takes time, letting go, and comfort with ambiguity. Follow the lead of BIPOC spiritual innovators. Don’t go it solo and try to author or orchestrate. Beware of “movement capture”-- consciously or inadvertently co-opting social justice priorities.

  • 3. TAKE A STANCE

    When centering BIPOC spiritual innovators, funders must not stand on the sidelines and remain neutral toward acts of injustice. Funders can use their power of influence by taking a stance — one rooted in authentic relationship with BIPOC leaders and communities.

  • 4. REIMAGINE WHAT'S VALUED

    Value being (as much or more than doing), sacred mystery (alongside quantifiable impact), and emergence (over allegiance to outmoded plans).

  • 5. CULTIVATE TRUSTING RELATIONSHIPS

    Attend to relational trauma that BIPOC spiritual innovators have had with funders and associated power dynamics. Establish containers of relational security.

  • 6. TEND TO INNER WORK

    All of this reimagining requires deep reflection, embodied learning, and mindset shifts – for those mobilizing resources, weaving connections, and offering spiritual gifts individually and collectively.

“More and more people have unaddressed longings of the soul, and this deficit contributes to cultures of interpersonal, structural, and planetary harm. Underpinning the crises of our world is a crisis of spirit. To turn the tide toward flourishing, we need new ways to address spiritual longings. We need spiritual innovation.”


--Illuminating Spiritual Innovation, Sacred Design Lab

“Lineages of Love & Liberation”

Learn more about the BIPOC spiritual innovation ecosystem by watching this short 9 min film amplifying vibrant voices and sacred wisdom across the nation.

Together, these innovators and organizations are building new pathways for spiritual wisdom rooted in our diverse cultural traditions and collective liberation.