Deadline: 10-Aug-21
The Colorado Health Foundation is seeking applications for the Equity Collective Initiative to build power within and across the communities they serve.
The Foundation believes that communities have the inherent ability to identify and solve their own challenges when they are equipped with the decision-making power, infrastructure and financial capital to do so. Organizations led by people of color – who are deeply rooted in health equity and racial justice – have not historically been afforded the same access to resources to sustain their work and build power. The Foundation’s Equity Collective Initiative will put these resources in the hands of organizations – that are led by people of color – to advance health equity and build power in community through approaches they determine on their own.
Funding Information
The Foundation will provide one-time investment awards – ranging from $750,000 to $1,500,000 – to selected organizations to develop their own approaches and long-term direction to drive health equity and racial justice work forward.
Examples of long-term strategies and approaches the Initiative intends to support include, but are not limited to:
- Creating an endowment to achieve financial sustainability and support organization’s long-term health equity and racial justice efforts.
- Building cash reserves to stabilize and scale up organizational capacity.
- Long-term investments such as real estate acquisition to build financial equity, create stability and/or expand revenue streams.
- Other financial tools to leverage lending power and/or other institutional investments.
Eligibility Criteria
Investments will be awarded to community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits and groups with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Organizations considered for an investment will deeply align with and reflect the following characteristics:
- Strongly aligned with the Foundation’s mission and cornerstones.
- Community-based and grassroots organizations that are based in Colorado and focus specifically on Colorado communities.
- Have existing work that is deeply rooted in health equity and racial justice efforts.
- Led by people of color
- These organizations have a governing and implementation body (board, executive leadership, staff, etc.) who are predominantly people of color—Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous/Native American and multiracial communities— and their purpose is to center, improve the lives of and uplift that specific population.
- Clearly demonstrated credibility, trust and historical connections with communities they exist to serve.
- Positioned to conduct and advance work “with” and “by” communities they exist to serve, and a track record of collaborative and constructive approaches within and across communities to advance health equity and racial justice.
- Demonstrated strategic thinking on organization mission and purpose. The Foundation is not requesting a strategic plan, but instead want to understand the strategic thinking about the role and intent of the organization’s long-term work to advance health equity and racial justice.
- Demonstrated capacity to engage in and advance self-determined approaches to put investment award to use in advancing health equity and racial justice.
- Minimum organizational budget of $100,000 or a minimum $100,000 budget for fiscally-sponsored projects.
- An interest, openness and commitment to engaging in a participatory review process.
- Commitment to transparency, openness and reciprocal relationship with The Colorado Health Foundation and other community partners, as well as a high tolerance for risk of unknowns in the context of a fluid, participant-driven effort.
For more information, visit https://coloradohealth.org/equity-collective-initiative