Build the Future of Nabala Cafe

Help Us Raise $100,000 for Stability, Growth, and Worker Sustainability

Nabala Cafe Is More Than a Coffee Shop

Nabala Cafe was built as a third space. A place where culture, organizing, art, and everyday life intersect.

On any given week, our Uptown Chicago cafe is filled with the smell of cardamom coffee and karak chai while open mics, live music sets, dabka classes, teach-ins, and mutual aid gatherings unfold around the room. We host everything from artist pop-ups to organizing meetings, creating a space where people come not just for coffee, but to connect, create, and build together.

Spaces like this are rare. And they are fragile.

Over the past two years, Nabala has grown into a vibrant community hub because people believed in it and showed up for it. Now we are asking for help securing its future.

We are raising $100,000 to stabilize Nabala Cafe, grow the business, strengthen our operations, and support the workers who make this space possible.

Why $100,000?

Running a community-centered cafe is hard. We’ve spent the last two years building something meaningful, often absorbing costs to keep the space accessible for artists, organizers, and community members. At the same time, we’ve found real opportunities to grow in ways that are sustainable:

Your support helps us:

Why This Is Separate From Beit Nabala

Nabala Cafe and Beit Nabala work closely together, but they serve different roles.

Nabala Cafe is the business.

It operates the physical cafe, employs workers, pays wages, covers rent and utilities, and manages the day to day operations.

Beit Nabala is the nonprofit initiative.

Its focus is cultural programming, education, and community organizing.

Nonprofit funding is typically restricted to programming and public benefit activities. It cannot be used to stabilize the business itself, pay down debt, support payroll, or cover the operational costs of running the cafe.

Because of this, Nabala Cafe must secure its own resources in order to remain financially stable.

Over the past few years the cafe has already absorbed many costs tied to community programming. We have regularly provided free or heavily discounted space, food, and drinks for artists, organizers, and community events.

This campaign helps strengthen the business that makes those activities possible.

A stable cafe means:

A Retail Line You Can Take Home

We’re expanding products we already make and sell every day:

With your support, we can package and scale these into a real retail line sold in-store, at markets, and beyond. The strategy is to invest in farmers markets as a core part of our business and get these products out there. This will help us reach new communities, grow our customer base, create consistent new revenue, and bring Nabala outside the cafe.

Reducing High Interest Debt

Like many small businesses, Nabala took on debt in order to open and sustain operations.

Some of that debt carries high interest rates that pull money away from wages, programming, and improvements to the space.

Reducing this debt will immediately improve the financial stability of the cafe and free up resources to reinvest in workers and the long term health of the business.

Supporting Workers and Operational Stability

The people who work at Nabala make the space possible. Strengthening the business allows us to maintain consistent staffing and move toward more sustainable wages.

Small businesses often operate with very thin margins. This campaign helps create breathing room so we can focus on building a healthy workplace while continuing to host the programming that defines the space.

Building a Path to Cooperative Ownership

Nabala Cafe is also exploring a long term transition toward worker and community ownership.

We have begun working alongside organizations like Project Equity and The Community Web, groups that specialize in helping small businesses transition into cooperative ownership structures. Their guidance is helping us think through what it would take to responsibly move toward a model where workers and community members can share ownership and participate in decision making.

These transitions take time and require strong financial and operational foundations. Stabilizing the business is the first step in making that future possible.

By strengthening Nabala Cafe today, we create the conditions needed to explore cooperative ownership in a thoughtful and sustainable way. The goal is to build a business that not only survives, but one that can eventually be shared with the people who make it possible every day.

How the $100,000 Will Be Used

Retail Growth

$28,000

This will support us to launch and scale packaged products. This includes syrups, coffee beans, hummus, and labneh.

Debt Reduction

$40,000

Pay down high interest debt to significantly reduce monthly financial pressure and stabilize the business.

Cash Flow and Worker Stability

$32,000

Provide working capital to stabilize operations, support staffing, and ensure more sustainable wages for workers.

Why This Matters

Cities everywhere are losing third spaces. Places where people can gather without spending a lot of money and where culture and conversation happen naturally.

Nabala has already proven what is possible.

Now we need the financial stability to keep building. Imagine What $100,000 Makes Possible–our future is within reach but we can’t do it alone.

If Nabala Cafe has ever:

We are asking you to help secure its future.

Contribute what you can, share this campaign, and bring others into the vision. Thank you!