Rootstock Acquires US Rights to Collecting Courage

Rootstock Publishing Releases
Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love—Anti-Black Racism in the Charitable Sector 

“This book is a must read...honest chronicling of how racism, white supremacy and patriarchy permeate the world of charitable giving…” —Krishan Mehta, PhD, The Charity Report 

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Rootstock Publishing, a Montpelier, Vermont-based publisher and imprint of Multicultural Media, Inc., announces the US edition release of Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love—Anti-Black Racism in the Charitable Sector, edited by Nneka Allen, Camila Vital Nunes Pereira, and Nicole Salmon, and written by a group of North America’s top Black fundraisers and nonprofit leaders. 

An anthology about racism in the philanthropic sector in North America, Collecting Courage highlights experiences of systemic racism to outright hostility in toxic workplaces. The contributors’ testimonies chip away at the idea of inherent goodness in the charitable sector, yet also manage to inspire joy and hope.

“Collecting Courage is claiming our lived experiences as Black women and men working in the nonprofit and charitable space,” says editor Salmon. “Many of the stories are unbridled, disconcerting, pain-filled and uncomfortable, and yet they also reveal and celebrate the diversity and fullness of our lives,” she says. 

“The more we tell our stories the more indisputable it is. In Collecting Courage, we are active narrators writing our history by gathering and sharing our own stories, giving voice to our joys, pains, freedom, and love as Black fundraisers in the nonprofit and charitable spaces,” says editor Pereira.

“For Black people in North America, historic erasure is a reality,” adds editor Allen. “Collecting Courage is a gathering of our memories, in our voice and in our truth. It is my privilege to share the experiences of my sisters and brothers in the charitable sector as light and restoration,” she says.

“For those committed to being allies and accomplices in dismantling barriers and championing a sector culture of belonging and reciprocity, we hope the book illuminates a path to action,” say the editors.

In addition to the editors, contributors to Collecting Courage include Birgit Smith Burton, Christal M. Cherry, Kishshana Palmer, Heba Mahmoud, Mide Akerewusi, Naimah Bilal, Niambi Martin-John, Fatou Jammeh, Muthoni Kariuki, Sherrie James, Marva Wisdom, and Nicole E. Cozier. 

The original edition was published in Canada for worldwide distribution by Gail K. Picco at Civil Sector Press in 2020. Rootstock Publishing has licensed the book for this US-only edition, which is available September 7th everywhere books are sold, or for pre-order now at Rootstock Publishing’s website.

Critics’ Reviews of Collecting Courage:

“Each carefully woven piece carries a segment of a soul, lifts up the brilliance of a brain and gifts to you—the fortunate reader—an unforgettable collection of courage.”

—Tycely Williams, CFRE, in Association of Fundraising Professionals

“Despite the challenges chronicled in the pages of Collecting Courage, the authors are one triumphant success story after another. They share intimate details about their own struggles to become leaders in the sector—directors, professors, executive directors, CEOs, CFREs, PhDs, MBAs and fundraising executives who have raised millions of dollars for some of North America’s most prestigious schools and charitable organizations.”

—Ginelle Skerritt in Charity Village

“Collecting Courage is the first and only book that is brave enough to expose the poison that pervades our institutions, corrupts the corridors of power, fuels hate amongst its people, and allows injustice to flourish. But that’s not its endgame. Each writer, by laying bare their pain, also expresses a special resilience through which they find love for oneself and community, create a space for healing, and invite everyone to rebuild a sector that sees its own truth and potential.”

—Dr. Krishan Mehta in The Charity Report

  Release Date: September 7, 2021 |200 pages | 5 x 8 | ISBN: 978-1-57869-064-0 | $18.95 paperback, $27.95 hardcover | Racism/Nonprofit | Distributed Worldwide by Ingram