A First Hello

A First Hello

Hello, friends~

Welcome to In Circulation: The Resource Commons, the first newsletter from Veridian Collective. I’m Cris Baik, a consultant, writer, and letterpress printer based in the Bay Area. I lead Veridian Collective, a consulting practice that works alongside organizations to secure resources and build the support their work requires. My client partners work across food sovereignty, immigrant rights, community ownership, and the arts.

On any given week, that might mean developing a fundraising plan, preparing a proposal, or helping a team explain a complicated body of work in language people can understand. It also means sorting through priorities with leaders, clarifying responsibilities, and putting manageable systems in place so teams can carry their plans forward.

These pieces are closely connected. A fundraising goal needs to reflect the actual cost of doing the work. A campaign needs people with time to carry it out. A funding relationship needs attention long before a proposal is due. Much of my work happens in those connections, as organizations figure out what they need to move an idea forward and sustain it.

These questions feel especially pressing in conversations with client partners as we plan for the coming year. There is urgent work to do, alongside real questions about funding and how much teams can take on. I want Veridian to help create room for honest decisions about what is possible and what support has to be in place.

I’m starting this newsletter to share some of what we’re learning along the way. My hope is that useful knowledge can travel between organizations, and that we can think together about how to support the work we care about.

Here’s what you’ll find in each issue:

  • Stories in the Field: Conversations with people working toward social change; what they’re learning, what support makes a difference, and what we might carry into our own practice.
  • Practice Notes: Practical tools, questions, and approaches you can adapt for fundraising, building relationships, and planning your organization’s work.
  • Bulletin Board: Funding opportunities, upcoming deadlines, and developments in philanthropy and public policy, with attention to California (where all of my client partners currently are, but happy to expand this upon request!) and federal updates that affect our work.

I’m so glad you’re here, and I’d love to hear what questions you’re carrying into your own work. Feel free to reach out with any questions, thoughts, comments.

In Community,
Cris