Seattle’s Most Influential People 2019: Social Justice Fund Interim Program Director, Karen Toering
Toering's black-led Giving Project has raised more than $370,000 from 240 donors to boost black-led organizations
By Niki Stojnic November 5, 2019
This article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the November 2019 issue, as part of the Most Influential People of the Year feature. Click here to subscribe.
As interim program director of the Social Justice Fund, Karen Toering has directed her many talents—as a grassroots organizer, cultural worker, and nonprofit arts and social justice consultant—into the black-led Giving Project. The project, the first of its kind in Seattle, is intended to boost black-led organizations that are working to build power and quality of life for black communities in the Pacific Northwest, and to redefine philanthropy for those with fewer funds to contribute. Toering’s team attended workshops and training sessions, discussed issues of race, class and philanthropy, and studied the mechanics of fundraising and grantmaking. By March, it had raised more than $370,000 from 240 donors and awarded two-year grants of about $21,000 to 14 black-led organizations.
Follow Us
These Women Helped Shape Seattle
From early civil rights leaders to today’s chefs and writers, a handful of women whose work left a mark on the city.
Playwrights and authors. Mayors and activists. Chefs and restaurateurs. From its earliest days, Seattle has been shaped by the tenacity of powerful, creative, and innovative women. While there are far too many to include here, in honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight just a handful of the women whose work left a…
From the Archives: Most Influential—Before That Was a Thing
Remembering the kind of leadership that built Washington—and still echoes today.
Washington state once had Dan Evans, a leader whose impact still endures, and who governed with a sort of principled presence that helped shape the soul of our region. A three-term governor and later U.S. senator, Evans embodied a kind of civic leadership that feels both mythic and arguably elusive now. He was pragmatic, optimistic,…
The Coach: Sonia Raman
The history-making coach leading the Seattle Storm into the future.
In the early 2000s, Sonia Raman was on the traditional track to a successful career in law, but coaching basketball kept bouncing back to her. A lifelong fan of the sport, Raman—who played at Tufts University and coached throughout her collegiate and post-grad career—eventually heeded the call, making a pivot that would change her life….
The Civic Spacemaker: Tommy Gregory
A next-gen curator improving your airport experience.
“I love the saying, ‘sleep when you are dead.’” Few embody it like Tommy Gregory—tireless artist, curator, and connector who seems to be everywhere at once, installing work, throwing receptions, or plotting the next show. Gregory joined the Port of Seattle as senior project manager in 2019, just as airport art collections were gaining global…