Autastic was birthed in 2018 from need and a Facebook page.
What started on a shoestring still runs lean today sustained by our members, outside donors, and grantmakers who believe in this work.
GRANTS AWARDED
These organizations have provided critical support through grant funding to help expand programming, expand capacity, and keep resources accessible.
NEXT FOR AUTISM
- In partnership with Jimmy Kimmel and Mark Rober’s Color The Spectrum fundraising event, Next For Autism’s grant funding allowed Autastic to compensate our #AutisticWhileBlack: Exploring Identity programming facilitator, co-facilitator, and publicist. Funding also made it possible for participants to join free of charge.
- Provided seed funding for the development of #AutisticWhileBlack, a feature-length documentary featuring the originator of the hashtag Kerima Çevik, activist Anita Cameron, lawyer and bestselling author Adrienne Lawrence, tv personality RJ Peete, designer Jen White Johnson, activist Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, actor Nik Sanchez, and a cast of extraordinary everyday autistic African American individuals.
THE FORD SCHOOL CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Funding provided to Autastic Founder Diane J. Wright who, in 2023, was named the first Ford School Hawkins Family Disability Policy Fellow at the Center for Racial Justice, University of Michigan in support of her manuscript, Surprise! You’re Autistic! Now What?: Building Joy and Belonging.
Individual Supporters
A heartfelt thank you to every individual who has supported Autastic through donations, memberships, or peer support. Your backing—quiet or loud—keeps this work going.
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AUTASTIC Social Club members
Monthly membership fees go a long way way towards covering the costs of platform hosting fees and building up our Giveback Fund for BIPOC members.
INDIVIDUAL DONORS
Donations have come from community members and complete strangers to support Autastic as a whole and, specifically our Community Gifting Fund.
VOLUNTEERS
Our many communities are maintained through generosity, compassion, and skills of our volunteer moderators, many of whom have been part of this work for several years.
In addition, services have been and continue to be provided by members who give their time and talents to projects such as creating resources (see our Gold Book directory), hosting community events, and through other member-led initiatives.
Want to Join Our Circle of Support?
Autistic BIPOC adults are not a niche—we are a vast, global community that’s been systemically overlooked, underestimated, and unfunded. The idea that we don’t exist in large numbers or don’t have economic power is a reflection of bias, not reality.
In exchange for corporate support, Autastic offers custom sponsorships and partnership opportunities that reach thousands inside our network—and help serve millions more who’ve been excluded from traditional outreach.
Whether you’re with a company, foundation, or are an individual donor,
get in touch to be part of something liberating.
