Member Profile: Michael Baker

Michael BakerA lot has changed in the political climate of this country since Michael Baker first began participating in social change activism by protesting the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. Unlike many others, Michael continued working for social justice as the decades rolled on. As the 1980s began, he participated in anti-nuclear organizing and eventually found his way to what was then called A Territory Resource (ATR), now Social Justice Fund.

Michael got his first introduction to Social Justice Fund through his wife, Judy Tobin. He started going to meetings with her in 1985 or 1986, but did not become a member because of the high contribution requirement at the time. He joined when the member-level gift was reduced in 1997, and hasn’t looked back since.

Michael has been involved in SJF in a number of different capacities. According to director Bookda Gheisar, “Michael has been tireless in his unwavering commitment to Social Justice Fund over the last six years.” First he joined the three-year grants committee, of which he later became chair. Next, he joined the grants oversight committee. His dedication led to an invitation to join the board of directors, where he served as treasurer. Bookda describes Michael as “one the biggest supporters of our cross-class and cross-race work, and the strongest voice for including working- and middle-class members.”

Of all these years of involvement, what stands out the most to Michael are his experiences during site visits. Each grant cycle, members of grantmaking committees visit prospective grantees in order to get a first hand look at the work that the organization is doing. Michael says that “there are amazing tales at almost every one of these site visits.”

He thinks Social Justice Fund’s successes are apparent from reading our annual reports. Michael points out Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste’s great successes in organizing farmworkers in Oregon. It has grown from 80 people to over 5,000 registered members since 1985.

Outside of his Social Justice Fund work, Michael runs a small company that helps businesses become more energy efficient. He also fits in time to volunteer doing computer work with LELO (A Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing) – also a Social Justice Fund grantee.

Michael believes that the world has become a much more complicated place in the four decades he has been an activist, and that finding solutions to problems has gotten much more difficult. He sees Social Justice Fund as one effective way to create change, as “it lets the grassroots define the problems and believes that the people who are most affected by a problem should lead the effort to solve the problem.”

Whatever the challenges are to creating a more just world, Michael reminds us with his words and with his actions to “never give up.”