Twin Cities Mutual Aid Project does not solicit or accept donations for its operations – we are a volunteer collective and no one internally is compensated for their work with TCMAP. Should TCMAP solicit donations at any point, it would be limited to a discrete dollar amount needed for the explicit ask as well as a plan for any excess donated before the solicitation is resolved. Any ask would come from TCMAP websites (tcmap.org or twin-cities-mutual-aid.org) and/or our associated social media accounts (Instagram: @tcmap_ig, Twitter: TCMAP_tweets, Facebook: Twin Cities Mutual Aid Project). Upon raising the funds, the dollar amount would be publicly disclosed on our website/social media accounts as soon as possible. TCMAP has done this once before with Emergency Response Translation + Interpretation Services for MN (ERTIS For MN) when coordinating to compensate their translators for work done in translating the map.
At this time, TCMAP has engaged in partner calls with Reclaim the Block (RTB) and Black Visions Collective (BVC). TCMAP also contributed and signed on to the People’s Budget, which was developed in collaboration with RTB/BVC as well as other local groups. TCMAP is in ongoing discussions with MN Freedom Fund on how individuals they work with can best find and use the resources we compile. TCMAP has not partnered with any other groups.
Recently, TCMAP became aware that a site called Community Cauldron extensively linked to the TCMAP website and claimed to be in partnership with our collective. It also claimed to be raising funds for mutual aid services and requested donations through a linked PayPal account. We are not affiliated with this PayPal account at all. The person involved with Community Cauldron briefly volunteered with TCMAP in June 2020, based on our records. Throughout their brief time with us, we did not enter into any partnership and they did not receive explicit permission to raise funds for or through us. TCMAP has requested that Community Cauldron remove any and all mention of TCMAP on their website given that we have, as a collective, at no point agreed to partner or associate in any way. We apologize for any confusion that this may have caused.
White people claiming to collect donations to support the BIPOC community without any accountability for the use of those funds does direct harm to the community. White folks capitalizing off of BIPOC struggles is White supremacy in action. Contrary to the claims about TCMAP on the Community Cauldron website, TCMAP is a fairly small collective, composed of a few dozen primarily White volunteers. It is important to hold White people accountable to the harm they may be causing; holding people in power accountable for the ways they perpetuate White supremacy culture is a part of who we should be as a collective. This is who we strive to be and if we are failing at this, it is our job to recognize that failure, and do everything in our power to rectify the harm we may have caused. As an organization that is predominately White, we are not without fault and are actively working to engage our volunteers in holding ourselves and each other accountable. We try to provide an accessible, living resource for the community, but we aren’t perfect – we regularly make mistakes and do our best to remedy them. We are absolutely open to any and all feedback from community members and are dedicated to working in service of mutual aid in the Twin Cities.
TCMAP encourages resourced folks to direct financial support to mutual aid sites working in our community. Many groups on our map provide direct links to donate to their work. All of the information we list is public and we encourage people to list TCMAP as a resource the community can use. However, if you see a group claiming to work with or raise funds directly for TCMAP, please let us know! While we keep an eye on social media, we are a small group and may not always know how we are listed. We want to make sure we are not being misrepresented in what our resource is and who we are.
As this situation develops, we will be sure to provide any further pertinent information as we’re made aware of it. If you have additional questions or concerns, please email us or reach out on social media.
Twin Cities Mutual Aid Project 