Community Organizing Grants – Jan 31

Posted by Peace Development Fund on December 9, 2025

Peace Development Fund invites applications for grassroots social justice efforts

The Peace Development Fund (PDF) was founded in 1981 when a small group of donor activists came together with a common vision of funding social justice and peace through a public foundation.

The organization invites applications for its Community Organizing Grants (COG) program. All partners deeply embody each of the fund’s four pillars of community organizing. Funds may have additional strategic priorities depending on their stated purpose or analysis of the current social, political, and economic moment. The four pillars include:

Shift Power: Your organization brings people together to take coordinated action that changes institutional practices. The institution could be a government, hospital, corporation, school, or any powerful group that is causing inequity. You should be led by a base that is most impacted by the systemic issue the group is organizing around.

Build a Movement: Your organization takes meaningful action to expand membership without compromising your vision. You build capacity and leadership within your organization and among your local ally organizations. PDF believes organizational sustainability is key to building a movement, too. Your organization may have specific infrastructure or practices of care that ensure your people are around for the long haul.

Dismantle Oppression: Your organization challenges institutional structures that result in unequal experiences for certain people. You have an array of loving internal practices or policies that work to end racism, classism, ageism, sexism, ableism, and all other harmful power dynamics within your organization.

Create New Structures: Your organization practices new ways of doing things that are liberating, equitable, democratic, and sustainable. You have a clear understanding of how your new structures break away from old systems of oppression. Your vision is unafraid of fundamentally transforming political, social, and/or economic systems.

Applicants can apply to one of the three funds under the COG umbrella:

Braiding New Worlds Fund: This fund is for youth-led and youth-focused organizing. Groups should actively challenge “adultism” and have young people in positions of consequence within the organization. This year the fund is interested in applications from youth-led organizations working on economic justice, housing, immigration, climate, healing justice, and technology. The average grant in this category is $3,000.

Western Mass Transformation Fund: This fund is for community organizing groups in western Massachusetts. Organizations applying to this fund should be based and work in the counties of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, or Hampden. The average grant in this category is $4,000.

Seeding the Movement Fund: This fund is for any community organizing group in the United States, Mexico, or Haiti. This year, PDF is particularly interested in organizations that build the movement for justice. Applicants should be actively expanding and cultivating their base of active members or are a movement support organization that trains and sustains movement leaders. The average grant in this category is $7,000.

Applicants must be tax-exempt as defined by section 501(c)(3) or use a U.S.-based fiscal sponsor, have budgets of $250,000 or under, and be in the United States, Haiti, or Mexico.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Peace Development Fund website.

Deadline: January 31, 2026