OUR VISION

Our vision is a world where people from historically excluded communities have the resources to fully realize their dreams and determine their own life paths.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to provide funded opportunities for learning, growing, and exploration. We support current and budding projects, social enterprises, and nonprofit groups led by people from historically excluded communities.

OUR VALUES

Equity

We believe that social change should blossom from the communities that are directly impacted by oppression and injustice. We create space for people and groups that have been historically excluded from decision-making to experiment with new ideas and approaches. We specifically support people of color and Indigenous peoples, especially those who are impacted by intersecting identities such as women, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA2S+ people.

Courage

We believe in creative and bold solutions to old problems. As Audre Lorde famously said, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” We support ideas and plans that haven’t been tried before, and the courageous people behind them.

Community

Our current socioeconomic system prioritizes corporations, but corporations don’t prioritize us. We believe that together, we can build whole community transformations. We envision a people-first world that no longer relies  on exploitative mega-corporations. 

Dreaming

We believe that dreaming is not only freeing, but necessary - and fun! We recognize that dreaming has too often been reserved for people with the time and freedom that many historically excluded communities don’t have access to. That’s why we aim to foster an environment where our grantee partners’ dreams are supported, and nurtured. 

OUR TEAM

  • Program Director (he/him)

    Andrew is a self-proclaimed international Aussie who has lived among cultures and continents including Australia, Germany, China, and the United States. He is a designer and dreamer with a dedication to fostering imagination, believing in peoples’ visions, and bringing them to reality. Andrew attended Swinburne School of Technology and HAWK University where he studied Product Design and Industrial Design. He worked as a Principal Designer for Frog Design in Germany, a leading global creative consultancy, and founded his own design consultancy business in Shanghai, China called Beach Creative. At Beach, Andrew utilized his expertise in design research and design strategy to direct his team of engineers in developing various consumer products, medical devices, and household goods. He is excited to bring his “idea first” approach to The Bambi Fund and apply design thinking toward community development and improving peoples’ lives. Andrew spends his downtime building out the family campervan for nature adventures.

  • Executive Director (she/they)

    Whitney Meilan is a writer, artist, dog mom, and noodle-enthusiast. She is a mixed race, Asian-American woman born in Hong Kong and raised primarily in Shanghai, China. In 2020 Whitney founded Mixed Change, a communications consulting business serving social justice organizations and nonprofits, to amplify the voices of people directly impacted by human rights abuses and to challenge normative narratives that further oppression and injustice. Whitney has worked with individuals and groups fighting for migrant justice, abolition, racial justice, international human rights, Indigenous self-determination, trans rights, and more. She earned her MA Social Justice & Human Rights from Arizona State University, and her BA Sociology & Cultural Studies from University of London. She is determined to help fill the funding gap for people of color and LGBTQ+ people looking to make change in their communities.

  • Hustle House Director (she/her)

    Jovana is an Indigenous Xicana from Phoenix, Arizona. She has been organizing and fighting with her community against the injustices in the immigration and criminal legal system since 2007. Jovana believes true change will come only when impacted communities organize, resist, and speak for themselves.

    Jovana founded The Uno por Uno (One by One) Legal Clinic which reunited more than 476 families facing deportation. She helped two people with life sentences gain release through the Board of Clemency after 25 years of incarceration. Jovana worked to pressure the Board of Prisons to release people from Arizona prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has been part of leadinseveral local and national campaigns and has fought against laws, policies, and other human rights violations including police and ICE collaboration, government corruption, and family separation.