Deadline: 5-Apr-21
The A.J. Muste Institute has announced the Social Justice Fund to make grants for grassroots activist projects in the US, giving priority to those with small budgets and little access to more mainstream funding sources.
Priority
The Social Justice Fund’s priority is to support:
- Direct grassroots activism and organizing;
- Groups with a diverse, representative, and democratic leadership structures;
- Groups that have or can obtain enough economic and in-kind support to carry out their regular work, but need additional support to carry out a project or build capacity.
Funding Efforts
The A.J. Muste Institute is especially interested in funding efforts to:
- End the violence of borders and the criminalization of immigrants, shut down CBP and ICE;
- Abolish prisons and dismantle and redefine systems of policing and criminal justice;
- Confront institutionalized violence against racial, ethnic, gender-based, and LGBTQ communities;
- Put an end to economic exploitation, class stratification, systemic poverty;
- Stop the war machine, end state-sponsored terrorism, expose the dangers of nuclear power.
Eligibility Criteria
The A.J. Muste Institute seeks Proposals:
- For projects with expense budgets under $50,000.
- From grassroots organizations with an annual income of less than $500,000.
- From groups with limited access to more mainstream funding sources.
- From groups which have not received Social Justice Fund grants in at least two years.
- From groups with or without 501(c)3 status or a fiscal sponsor: the Social Justice Fund only. requires a fiscal sponsor if the group receiving the grant does not have its own bank account.
- If you cannot receive a grant check made out in the name of your organization, you will need a fiscal sponsor. They cannot issue checks to individuals.
- A.J. Muste Institute will NOT consider grant proposals for the following:
- Individual efforts or scholarships.
- Schools or universities academic or research projects.
- Organizations with access to government, corporate or mainstream charitable funding.
- Art, theater, film or video projects that are not directly tied to activism or organizing.
- Economic development projects.
- Capital campaigns or expenses.
- Direct social services.
- Legal defense or litigation.
- Lobbying or electoral campaigns.
- Projects geared toward participants personal improvement or business success.
- Conflict resolution or violence reduction projects, unless they directly promote activism.
- Projects that will have already taken place by the time the grant is received.
- For an organization’s general operating budget.
For more information, visit https://ajmuste.org/apply/sjf