Our Approach to Collective Giving

The Bayou Collective Giving Circle is rooted in a long tradition of Black collective giving, shared responsibility, and community-led decision-making.

Long before formal philanthropy recognized Black communities, we pooled resources to care for one another, build institutions, and respond to what our people needed most. Collective giving was not an abstract value—it was a practical response to exclusion and a strategy for survival and continuity.

Juneteenth as Collective Strategy, Not Just Celebration

Juneteenth in Houston was not only a ritual of remembrance—it was an early and powerful act of collective decision-making.

Led by Reverend Jack Yates, Richard Allen, Richard Brock, and Reverend Elias Dibble, formerly enslaved community members from Houston’s Third and Fourth Wards united to raise $800 to purchase ten acres of land. Their goal was clear: to create a permanent place to commemorate emancipation on their own terms.

That land became Emancipation Park.

This purchase symbolized more than a gathering space. It represented Black people exercising the newly won right of property ownership, pooling limited resources, and making long-term decisions for future generations. It was collective giving with purpose—money raised together, land held for the community, and use determined by the people it was meant to serve.

What This Legacy Means for Our Giving

We center this history because it reflects how we understand philanthropy.

Collective giving is not new to us. Black communities have always shared resources to create safety, joy, and possibility where none was guaranteed. The decision to collective give toward purchasing the land for Juneteenth celebrations was strategic, forward-looking, and rooted in trust among community members.

The Bayou Collective Giving Circle follows that same tradition. We pool resources. We make decisions together. We fund Black-led organizations in ways that support sustainability, not just survival.

From Land Ownership to Resource Stewardship

Emancipation Park stands as a reminder that freedom requires infrastructure—places, institutions, and organizations that can last.

Our grantmaking is one way we participate in that lineage today. By supporting Black-led organizations with flexible funding and shared accountability, we honor the same values that made Emancipation Park possible over a century ago.