Spotlight on Our Spool: Aza Nedhari of Mamatoto Village

A conversation with AZA NEDHARI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR at MAMATOTO VILLAGE.

Aza Nedhari, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mamatoto Village

Mamatoto Village was founded to address the critical need for compassionate, community-centered maternal health support for Black families in Washington, D.C. and beyond. Recognizing the systemic barriers that marginalized birthing people face, from limited access to care to high maternal mortality rates, Mamatoto Village has become a beacon of advocacy, education, and hands-on support.

Since its inception, Mamatoto Village has been on a mission to empower and uplift families by providing culturally reflective care, professional development, and pathways to sustainable careers for women in perinatal health. Through an integrated approach that combines advocacy, community support, and capacity-building, Mamatoto Village is pioneering a more equitable model for maternal health

Aza Nedhari is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mamatoto Village

Thread: Mamatoto Village values and centers justice-centered philanthropy. What does that mean in practice in terms of your fundraising strategies? 

Aza: It means prioritizing relationship-based engagement with our donors over transactional interactions. We create opportunities for donors to connect with the organization on a deeper level, aligning with our mission beyond their financial contributions. We hold our funders accountable to their commitment to our mission, asking that they not only advance our work through dollars but also deepen their connections with us and act as a true partner, opening up their networks to build our community and seed power. These are ways we push them to hold true to their commitments to equity and justice. We also practice justice-centered philanthropy in the way we center the resilience and strengths of the families we serve whenever we’re communicating our impact. 

Thread: How does Mamatoto Village ensure that your funding sources align with your commitment to justice-centered values, and how do you address any conflicts when they arise?

Aza: We draw on principles of radical candor to address conflicts by challenging issues directly. Our priority is staying true to Mamatoto Village’s core values, always keeping them at the forefront. When misalignments arise, we create space for open dialogue to try and bring things back into alignment. However, if alignment is not achievable, we are willing to walk away and take a different path. This approach sustains our authenticity and integrity, ensuring that our families remain at the center of our work. It helps us stay firmly focused on who we serve and why, without compromising our mission.

Thread: What role do community voices play in shaping the priorities and strategies at Mamatoto Village, and how do you navigate challenges in authentically including those voices?

Aza: Community voices are central to our storytelling, with families’ experiences reflected in our data and narratives, particularly from a qualitative perspective. We value their experiences and seek to understand what’s working well and what is not. While traditional fundraising often seeks a single, polished story, we intentionally avoid editing or crafting our clients’ stories to serve our purposes. Instead, we support families in sharing their own stories as authentically and honestly as possible, always handling those stories with care and respect—not as a way to monetize trauma. We create opportunities for families to discuss the impact Mamatoto Village has had on their lives, ensuring they feel supported and respected throughout the process.

Thread: In what ways do you see philanthropy being reimagined to shift power dynamics, particularly in terms of decision-making authority, to the communities being served?

Aza: The prioritization of racial justice and equity work has been scaled back significantly. There was a hyper reaction to demands for racial justice in 2020 and that has been walked back to the point that now I sometimes see there is even trepidation to even name who is being served. This new reluctance affects our work in reproductive and birth justice, as we serve strategically  marginalized and undervalued populations—this concerns me especially because we are a Black-led and Black-serving organization. But even as I see the philanthropic community taking some steps back, we know that everything that happened on a societal level post-George Floyd cannot be walked back. We need to draw on the ongoing commitment from our entire Village to continue holding the philanthropic sector accountable. 

For organizations led by strategically marginalized groups, shifting priorities in the philanthropic communities mean reimagining how we communicate our impact, while never wavering from being clear with funders about our true needs. Navigating the “funder dance” is challenging because of the inherent power imbalance. We are resource-dependent, and funders often change priorities without transparency, which can feel like a response to societal pressures or decisions, such as the 2023 Supreme Court ruling. The reality is that even after the increase in funding that came in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, it was still just crumbs. At the end of the day, less than 2% of funding goes to racial justice work, and 12% of charitable giving goes to Black-led organizations. 

But I’m not defeatist about these challenges. For me, the question is how to remain grounded and strategic amidst shifting priorities and continue advocating for justice and liberation in our communities despite these limitations.

Thread: What advice would you give to other nonprofit leaders who want to transition toward a justice-centered approach in their fundraising strategies?

Aza: Be ready. When those windows of opportunity open, where funding aligns with your work, are you ready to step in? The lesson for me has been to always be prepared, always ready to meet the moment. And the equally important lesson has been to stay unwavering in our mission throughout that process of being ready and stepping into the windows. 

Just because social or systemic priorities shift does not mean your community’s priorities have changed. Remain steadfast and undaunted. That’s the most important takeaway: no matter who’s in office or how priorities shift, at the end of the day you need to keep standing firm on your square.

Our communities have collectively weathered many storms and endured countless cycles of change, as my grandmother would say, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” The philanthropic sector must be hyper clear on its identity and priorities and bold in actualizing an anti-racism future—do not cower to political pressures that drive reactive decisions and drastic shifts. If you are committed to equity and justice, stand firm—stop cosplaying allyship. Black-led and serving organizations should not bear the constant burden of pivoting. We should not be the ones constantly adjusting; rather, we should be anchoring the change our missions call for.