Founded in 1995, Not In Our Town (NIOT) began in Billings, Montana, when a community of working people stood up to a series of hate crimes by white supremacists. After attacks on a Native American woman’s house, an African-American church, and a Jewish family’s home, the entire town refused to be silent and fearful. They stood up to hate with petitions, marches, community outreach, but most importantly — with peace and unity. It worked.

Today, 20 years later, NIOT is going strong, with 70 chapters across the country focused on helping citizens to stop hate, address bullying, and build safe, inclusive communities. They do so by creating films, resources, and tools for action to help local leaders educate and influence their neighborhoods. The organization also leads an anti-bullying campaign for youth called “Not In Our Schools,” and has designed resources for teachers, parents and students to fight bullying in our classrooms.

With the recent spike in hate crimes this past November, the work of Not in Our Town is immensely important.

How did Vocal Minority choose NIOT? After honing in on hate crimes as our December focus, we asked ourselves these questions:

1. Is the organization fighting to protect equity and justice in America?
2. Will a collective donation make an impact on the organization’s work?
3. Is the organization in good financial standing?

The answer to all these questions was a resounding yes:

1. NIOT’s 70 chapters are fighting across the country to end racism, bullying and discrimination.
2. NIOT’s modest revenue of $1M means that our grant will make a difference
3. NIOT receives funding from a range of sources. The organization has a small but diverse Board of Directors.

These questions will form the criteria by which we will research and vet all nonprofits in the coming months.

What happens now? For the remainder of December, we will be collecting donations for NIOT, and turning to January for our next focus area (If you have suggestions, we’re all ears at hello@vocalminority.us or our Slack community).

It’s hard to believe that Vocal Minority launched only 15 days ago. With over $4K in committed recurring donations, the support for our mission has been phenomenal. We are humbled and honored to be taking this journey with you, and can’t wait to make this first grant.

Join us!

Announcing our First Nonprofit! was originally published in Vocal Minority Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.