As we look back on the past year we're reflecting on the incredible generosity of our supporters who fueled the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund, the single largest community-funded effort in our history. In the Spring of 2020 we deployed $3.3M in just 16 weeks through the Fund, with Phase 2 currently underway.

We're proud to share the stories of our supporters who helped make this critical work possible. We spoke with social change strategist Dave Algoso about what inspired him and his wife, Annie Coombs, to give to the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund, and why they decided to become monthly donors to the Fund. 

Image courtesy of Dave Algoso.

What drew you to support the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund?

Supporting the Response Fund is a way to help our neighbors whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated by COVID-19 and its health and economic impacts. For folks like myself, with the class privilege and professional flexibility to work from home, the pandemic has been a scary time but it’s marked largely by inconvenience. In all likelihood, my family and I will be fine. The same isn’t true for others across the borough.

So I contribute through the Brooklyn Community Foundation, in addition to directly supporting groups I know, because the foundation is connected to organizations grounded in the communities hardest hit by COVID-19.

Why did you decide to give regularly to the Fund?

I’m giving a monthly contribution because I know that the pandemic’s impacts weren’t limited to the peak we saw in March and April: the city will need years to recover and rebuild, hopefully better than before, and it will need strong communities and organizations throughout the borough to make that happen.

Become a Monthly Donor

Together, we can fuel even more community-led change! Join us as a monthly donor to sustain the incredible work of Brooklyn nonprofits through our Community Fund. Monthly donations provide a steady source of support for our investment in organizations fighting for social and racial justice.

Be part of this movement of grassroots investors in social change: