This GivingTuesday, Invest in an Arizona That Belongs to All of Us
This GivingTuesday, December 2, we’re inviting you to stand with the entrepreneurs who power our communities by donating, volunteering or amplifying the work of Local First Arizona.
From community kitchens to corner cafés, from farms and workshops to main street storefronts — Arizona’s story is being written one locally owned business at a time. For more than 20 years, Local First has worked to ensure those stories not only survive, but thrive.
And when we talk about Arizona’s local stories, we mean the ones rooted in real people and real places: the Navajo conservation planner helping families reclaim and restore long-neglected farmland; the South Phoenix family who turned a dream café into a neighborhood anchor; the Tempe entrepreneur who transformed skills acquired through a federal prison horticulture program into a thriving wellness business.
Nuru ZeKariyahh
Ed Harvey
Ana Alvarado
These aren’t side notes in Arizona’s economic landscape — they are the landscape.
They’re the engine behind community wealth, cultural connection and long-term resilience.
But local, independent businesses are competing in an economy built to benefit corporate giants. Rural and tribal entrepreneurs continue to face outsized barriers to capital. Small farms operating on thin margins are feeding families and fighting to stay viable. Community-serving businesses are carrying more than their share of the social load.
Your support for Local First Arizona isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure.
When you donate to Local First, you’re investing in:
Local ownership — keeping wealth rooted in Arizona communities instead of extracted out of state
Stronger local food systems — where small farmers, producers and tribal growers have stable markets and thriving, climate-smart operations
Community-driven entrepreneurship — especially for Black, Latino, rural and tribal business owners historically shut out of traditional capital
Fair competition — where independent businesses don’t have to fight uphill against consolidated corporate power
A sustainable Arizona — through programs that reduce environmental impact, expand clean energy opportunities and build resilience from the ground up
This is the work that’s reshaping Arizona’s future — not with slogans, but with impactful systems change that empowers local Arizonans to build the kind of sustainable, resilient economy we want our kids to inherit.
Your belief in an Arizona defined by opportunity, local ownership and community strength means you are already a part of this movement. Your gift simply moves us further, faster — and thanks to Arizona’s Charitable Tax Credit (QCO #22141), you can even redirect a portion of your state tax dollars to support this work, keeping your money rooted in the communities that need it most.
On GivingTuesday (and beyond) please support local — and support the Arizonans building our state’s future.