Stardust Who Are We/About Page

Molly Gochman

Founder & President

Lawanna Kimbro

Managing Director of Stardust Fund

WHO ARE WE?

I believe we live in a world where full participation is required for our best future and is the greatest good we can offer. Stardust is our active, ever-changing, and humble participation to illuminate the value within us all.

We Start as stardust &Endas stardust.

We must take this moment, and make the most of it.

-Molly Gochman

Why we do it

STARDUST

Fund

believes in the inherent power of women to create change in the world and the need to center leaders who have been historically left of out philanthropic giving.

We show up in service of those efforts in the ways our community partners need to be supported.

Our work is rooted in listening to the challenges our partners face and creating innovative ways to meet their direct needs in both the short and long term.

This approach is built on a foundational commitment to effective, impactful support that comes without constraints and silos, but instead meets the naming of needs with action.

Core Principles

Intersectional Racial & Gender Equity Lens

We commit to ensuring the needs of those most affected by the societal issues are the largest voices in our giving and support focus. This means an understanding that Black leaders, especially those serving low-income, LGBTQIA+, and children are deserving of specific attention and resources.

Respect For The Work Of Community Partners

Leading With Love

We have a deep abiding love for those doing the work. We display that love by reclaiming the original meaning of the word of philanthropy: “the love of humanity” in both word & action. That love of humanity is built into everything wedo, most importantly, through supporting our Community Partners and the people they serve by meeting their needs with innovative solutions rather than attempting to make them fit into boxes of someone else’s creation.

Urgency In Action

Taking action NOW is a crucial commitment we make to meet the needs of our Community Partners and in the development of the Earthseed Fund which does DIRECT GIVING, providing emergency funds to individuals quickly in times of crisis and beyond.
Part of this urgency requires us to remove the cumbersome bureaucratic processes generally present in philanthropic giving to ensure our Community Partners are able to focus on their work rather than proving themselves to us.