The final days of 2025 brought a profound sense of loss to our local community. The news that Louisville nonprofits Tip It Forward and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence would be closing their doors hit many of us with a shock that hasn’t quite settled. These were anchors in Louisville—organizations we looked to for wellness, for guidance, and for the professional support that sustains our sector.
As a donor to one and an organizational member of the other, I felt blindsided. There is a deep sadness in seeing such vital work reach an end, and it has prompted a period of heavy reflection for us at Bringing Justice Home.
In the nonprofit world, we are trained to show up in our "Sunday best." We project an image of constant growth to prove we are a safe investment. But the loss of our peers has made me realize that the "Sunday best" can mask a struggle that is very real.
For our fifth year, we are choosing the Fire over the Fortress.
We are not building a Fortress—a rigid institution designed to protect its own walls. We are starting a Fire—a movement that is organic and community-powered.
Success for us is not how large our building stands; it is how far the work travels. We are not interested in the "realism" that sustains a problem for fifty years. Our goal is to work ourselves out of business by empowering the community to hold and share its own resources.
Contagion over Succession: Traditional organizations worry about "Succession"—who will lead when the founder is gone? We are looking for "Contagion." We want the practice of mutual care to be embedded so deeply in our neighbors that a central office becomes unnecessary. This is labor liberated from the bureaucracy of the nonprofit industrial complex.
A Movement of Neighbors: We choose to remain 100% volunteer-powered. This isn't because we don't value professional labor; it’s because we believe that kinship is a more resilient and honest currency than a corporate payroll.
Our neighbors often express their gratitude with a fullness that breaks my heart. Dignity and the ability to meet one's basic needs should never be a "gift." It should be a right.
In 2026, we invite you to move past the "Sunday best" and join us in the messy, beautiful work of practicing kinship.
Let’s keep the fire burning.
If this vision resonates with you, there are three ways you can help us tend our fire:
Before we do the work, we must find each other. Join Just Hearts Louisville, our new free digital home away from the noise of social media. It’s a space to move from isolation and division to belonging and kinship, share stories, and find your kin.
2. Do Justice (Join our Leadership Team) We are looking for neighbors who want to move beyond business as usual and help lead this movement. Whether you have a knack for logistics, storytelling, business, health and wellness, community building, or something else, we need your voice.
3. Fund Justice (Support our 2026 Annual Fund) If you value a model where your gift makes a direct and tangible impact, help us raise the remainder of our 2026 individual fundrasing goal--we are 41% there, with only $57,258 left to raise. We avoid the high overhead costs of traditional human service models, opting instead for a lean structure that in the previous fiscal year put 88% of every dollar raised directly toward meeting the needs of our neighbors. Give today and ensure your generosity doesn't get lost in the administrative weeds.
2. Do Justice (Join our Leadership Team) We are looking for neighbors who want to move beyond business as usual and help lead this movement. Whether you have a knack for logistics, storytelling, business, health and wellness, community building, or something else, we need your voice.
3. Fund Justice (Support our 2026 Annual Fund) If you value a model where your gift makes a direct and tangible impact, help us raise the remainder of our 2026 individual fundrasing goal--we are 41% there, with only $57,258 left to raise. We avoid the high overhead costs of traditional human service models, opting instead for a lean structure that in the previous fiscal year put 88% of every dollar raised directly toward meeting the needs of our neighbors. Give today and ensure your generosity doesn't get lost in the administrative weeds.
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