An Important Update & Sustaining Donations

 

When I first became involved in the efforts to help find support for families in Gaza as they tried to survive the genocide, I was not sure what would happen, what I would be able to do, or how long this would be needed. I am grateful for the support I have been able to find from my local and area communties, for the new friendships and relationships that have since formed, whether they are here locally, with friends in Gaza, or with others also involved in these efforts from a number of different locations throughout the world. 

While I have been heartened by the support we have found, it is still not enough, and unfortunately, it will be needed for much longer, as conditions have not improved and in many ways are worsening. Because my commitment will last the rest of my life, I will continue to seek out new opportunities, and to expand our network of support in whatever ways I can. 

In order to do this, there are some things that have changed that I want to tell you about today. Washington State requires that fundraising activities that generate funds above a certain amount be registered as falling under an official nonprofit structure. While I have always been more comfortable in mutual aid spaces that are external to these official mainstream structures, I also don't want anything to prevent me from continuing these efforts. 

Therefore, I have had to file paperwork to establish a nonprofit registration, which I have completed. This means the fundraising activities I am doing for a number of families in Gaza who I am personally connected to will now be formally organized under the non-profit name "Eight Families in Gaza." Because of the amount of financial support that is still required, I had to make these structural changes in order to continue these efforts without any barriers.

The impact of your donations remains the same, however, and 100 percent of all funds raised for campaigns I host or for families I support through funds raised in my community for specific families in Gaza will still go directly to these families in Gaza. 

Additionally, I am hoping that what began as individual mutual aid campaigns might have the potential to build in more stability through regular, ongoing, recurring donations, and I hope you will join me in this effort. You can sign up to become recurring donors on their individual campaign pages, or you can sign up to make monthly recurring donations to a central pool of funds that I can pull from to help cover emergencies, rent, and other essential needs. 

There is a platform called Zeffy, which is free to non-profits, and offers a mechanism for collecting contributions online that will be designated as a central fund for use for all of these families, to be dispersed and allocated as needed.

I will also be transitioning any of the campaigns I host the financial services for to new campaigns organized under the "Eight Families in Gaza" (EFIG) name, and I will be asking recurring donors to cancel their old recurring donations and establish new ones on the new campaign pages.

Thank you for reading this update, and for all of the support you have given to me and to these families these past two and a half years, and for thank you also for everything you continue to do now and into the future. It means more than you could ever know.  If you have any questions or need more information, you can contact me at my former personal email address, or at the new one, eightfamiliesingaza@gmail.com.

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[And for those of you who have come to know and care about these families in Gaza through the "Eight Families in Gaza: Amplifying Their Voices" programs, featuring presentations that these families helped create, the next presentation will be on May 14, 2026, at 7pm at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center in Bellingham.]