Activist Collaboration and Care Fund – Aug 25

Posted by Ms. Foundation for Women on August 1, 2023

Ms. Foundation for Women issues request for proposals for Activist Collaboration and Care Fund

The mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women is to build women’s collective power in the United States to advance equity and justice for all.

The foundation invites applications for one of its six grantmaking initiatives, the Activist Collaboration and Care Fund, which aims to deepen collaboration within and across movement-building organizations, affirm organizations’ need for healing and rest and catalyze increased investment in social justice movements nationwide. ACF aims to correct the often-difficult experiences of women and nonbinary people of color-led organizations in accessing philanthropic funds that more mainstream, well-resourced, and white-led organizations often obtain.

The fund will invest approximately $1 million in organizations and networks of, by, and for trans and cis women and girls of color and nonbinary people of color, with individual grants ranging from $15,000 to $25,000. Areas of funding the foundation will consider include:

Collaboration: Efforts to deepen relationships, build trust, or strategize across organizations, including building shared understanding, repairing relationships, working through challenges that stall collaboration, and developing plans for acting collectively.

Healing, rest, and restoration: Efforts to heal from intergenerational trauma and/or violence (as well as from movement- and organizing-related trauma and violence) or invest in the restoration and rest of staff. This might include (but is not limited to) investments in training, convenings, or spaces that enable individuals or organizations to heal, rest, and restore, as well as investments in meditation, mindfulness, somatic practices, conflict resolution support, and/or child and elder care.

Rapid response: Efforts to respond to immediate threats, such as an unexpected/evolving policy change that harms community members or responding to unanticipated opportunities that emerge to set new legal or policy precedents.

Digital infrastructure and digital safety: Efforts to improve an organization’s digital infrastructure and/or increase digital or physical safety.

At least 50 percent of the organization’s leadership must include trans women, cis women, and non-binary people identifying as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). An organization’s leadership includes people with significant influence or decision-making power (i.e., the executive director, management staff, advisory committee members, or governing boards). A majority of the organization’s work should focus on issues impacting trans women, cis women, and non-binary people, with a strong emphasis on those who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).

Applicants must be tax-exempt as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or be a project of a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, must have an annual budget of $2 million or less, and must be operating in the U.S. or U.S. territories, with a particular emphasis on state and local movements and campaigns.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Ms. Foundation for Women website.

Deadline: August 25, 2023