Deadline: 20-Oct-20
The Spark Justice Fund at Borealis Philanthropy invites interested grassroots organizing groups working to end cash bail, transform pretrial justice, and build power in communities most impacted by incarceration to submit proposals for rapid response funding to meet the needs arising out of the current COVID-19 pandemic in jails and communities.
The Spark Justice Fund (SJF) is a donor collaborative housed at Borealis Philanthropy that supports grassroots organizing groups in localities and states around the country. SJF provides both financial and capacity building supports to groups that are typically overlooked and underfunded despite doing visionary work on the frontlines of change.
The purpose of this funding is to help grassroots organizing groups that are working to transform pretrial justice to meet urgent needs arising out of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in jails and communities.
Objectives
The Fund’s long-term vision is to:
- End money bail and transform pretrial justice in order to decarcerate, decriminalize poverty, and secure justice for low-income communities of color, including for women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other marginalized populations;
- Strengthen the capacity of grassroots organizing groups rooted in the communities most impacted by the criminal legal system to lead the movement for its transformation;
- Elevate the leadership of those most directly impacted by the criminal legal system.
Funding Information
- They anticipate most grants will be in the range of $15,000-$25,000, with the possibility of a small number of grants of up to $50,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Both current Spark Justice Grantees and those who have not yet received Spark Justice funding are eligible to apply.
- To be eligible for rapid response funding, groups must:
- Be an independent 501(c)(3) or be fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization
- Work authentically with constituencies most impacted by incarceration. The Fund is particularly interested in supporting groups led by individuals most directly impacted by the criminal legal system.
- Have an explicit, demonstrated commitment to racial, economic, and gender justice that is reflected in the organization’s leadership and staffing and in how it conducts its work
- Demonstrate a clear power-building and leadership-development strategy that meaningfully engages directly impacted communities in defining problems, solutions, and actions
- Engage in efforts to end cash bail that are connected to a broader decarceration strategy and to advancing a holistic vision of criminal justice transformation that centers community-led models of justice.
- Priority consideration will be given to:
- Groups who do not receive significant support from national foundations
- Ongoing campaigns in jurisdictions with particularly timely opportunities for change
- Organizations led by individuals who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system
- Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2HwG47r