Our Story

“He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’” Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)

“When it comes to racism, the American church does not have a ‘how to’ problem but a ‘want to’ problem.” Dr. Jemar Tisby

Introduction

The Zacchaeus Foundation is a non-profit organization named for Zacchaeus, who returned what he had stolen. In Reparations, Kwon and Thompson write that reparations returns stolen truth, wealth, and power. We are working for racial healing and reparations in Northwest Arkansas. We are returning stolen

  • truth by educating and raising funds from white people and churches,

  • wealth by investing in Black-led non-profits, and

  • power by empowering Black people to decide who receives funds.

Here, we will share how we are organized, how we educate, and how we invest, with case studies that inform our work, and then we will invite white people and churches to work with us.

How We Are Organized

Like other non-profit organizations, we have board members, donors, and clients.

  • Board members are white people, who educate and raise funds from white people and churches, and Black people, who decide who receives funds.

  • Donors are white people and churches, who invest in Black-led non-profits.

  • Clients are Black-led non-profits, who receive funds.

Case Study 1: How White Churches Responded To Racism

In 2020, white churches in Northwest Arkansas responded to racism by joining The Christian Community’s Response to Racism (CCRR), NWA United (NWAU), and Reparations NOW NWA (RNWA).

  • CCRR was a live discussion between white and Black pastors, which required white churches to admit that racism is a problem. Pastors of four white churches joined.

  • NWAU was a statement of unity and commitments agreed to by white and Black churches, which required white churches to commit to do racial justice. Of the four white churches who joined CCRR, two joined NWAU, and two did not.

  • RNWA was an invitation to fund Black Christian non-profit leaders in Northwest Arkansas with The Witness Foundation, which required white churches to submit to accountability for commitments. Of the eight white churches who joined either CCRR or NWAU, two joined RNWA, and six did not.

Many white churches admitted that racism is a problem, fewer committed to do racial justice, and fewer submitted to accountability for commitments. We help white people and churches submit to accountability for commitments by investing in Black-led non-profits.

How We Educate

In The Color of Compromise, Tisby introduces the “ARC” of racial justice: to do racial justice, we need to grow in

  • awareness of racial injustice (A),

  • multi-racial relationships (R), and

  • commitment to racial justice (C).

We help white people and churches grow in awareness of racial injustice and commitment to racial justice, believing that if white people want healthy multi-racial relationships, then we need to grow in awareness and commitment, first. In The End of White Christian America, Jones writes, “Given our still present past, white Christians are more likely to find reconciliation as a result of a journey – rather than a destination that can be reached directly.” We help white people and churches grow in awareness of racial injustice by hosting The R Word podcast (which is available wherever you get podcasts) and events.

Case Study 2: The R Word Podcast And Events

We started The R Word podcast and events to talk to white Christians about reparations and the church. We have hosted three seasons of the podcast, and events with Dr. Jemar Tisby, who spoke about How to Fight Racism in 2022; Dr. Greg Thompson, who spoke about Reparations in 2023; Dr. Christina Edmondson, who spoke about Faithful Antiracism in 2024; and Dr. Robert Jones, who spoke about White Too Long in 2025.

How We Invest

We help white people and churches grow in commitment to racial justice by investing in Black-led non-profits. We opened The Zacchaeus Fund with Arkansas Community Foundation, which we are growing to an endowed fund. We estimate that we will

  • raise about $1,600,000 from white people and churches,

  • earn about $400,000 in interest, and

  • give $500,000 to Black-led non-profits by 2035,

  • at which time we will have an endowment of about $1,400,000, which will enable us to give $50,000 to Black-led non-profits annually, perpetually, without raising more money.

Case Study 3: The Witness Foundation

In 2019, Dr. Jemar Tisby started The Witness Foundation to train and fund Black Christian non-profit leaders. In 2020, we raised $100,000 from white people and churches for The Witness Foundation, who trained and funded two Black Christian non-profit leaders in Northwest Arkansas, Joi McGowan and Monique Jones, who received $50,000 each. In 2022, The Witness Foundation communicated that they cannot train and fund more Black Christian non-profit leaders in Northwest Arkansas, so we started The Zacchaeus Foundation in 2024.

  • Like The Witness Foundation, we fund Black non-profit leaders, who receive $50,000 each.

  • Unlike The Witness Foundation, we neither train Black non-profit leaders, nor limit funding to Black Christian non-profit leaders (we fund both Black Christian and Black other-than-Christian non-profit leaders).

Work With Us

Few white people and churches in Northwest Arkansas will work with The Zacchaeus Foundation, because few white Americans support reparations now. In From Here to Equality, Darity and Mullen write that less than one in ten white Americans supported reparations in 2000, and that about three in ten white Americans support reparations now. This means that about seven in ten white Americans oppose reparations, but that support for reparations among white Americans has increased by about seven times. Now, we need a few white people and churches to be first jumpers. Pretend you are at a lake, and your children fear jumping into the water. If you jump first, then they may jump second, because they have an example to follow. If a few white people and churches will jump into reparations now, then more may jump into reparations later, because they have an example to follow. Some white people are asking whether to practice reparations, and others are asking how. We invite white people who are asking whether, to educate themselves by listening to The R Word podcast and attending events. We invite white people who are asking how, to invest in Black-led non-profits with us. The Black/white wealth gap means that the average Black household has 10% of the wealth of the average white household – a dime to every dollar. Said differently, the average white household has 10 times the wealth of the average Black household – a dollar to every dime. The Black/white wealth gap was opened by theft, and we must start to close it by returning what we have stolen. We invite white people and churches to invest 1% of their annual income – a penny to every dollar – in Black-led non-profits with us. This is the least that we can do.