Applications Open for Peace Development Fund Community Organizing Grants Supporting Projects in the U.S., Haiti and Mexico

Deadline: 1 February 2017

The Peace Development Fund makes grants to community based organizations working for social justice, with the belief that the change in values needed to establish a more just and peaceful world can come about only if it is strongly rooted in local communities that value the importance of building movements to create systemic social change. These are communities that view everyone, especially young people, as a vital force in the transformation of society.

The Peace Development Fund is committed to supporting organizations and projects that recognize that peace will never be sustained unless it is based on justice and an appreciation of both the diversity and unity of the human family.

Funding Priorities

• Organizing to Shift Power:
  • Groups that are creating a power base that can hold leaders accountable to the people who are affected by their decisions.
  • Groups that let their membership or constituents take the lead in collective action-planning and decision-making.
  • Groups whose leadership comes directly from the people who are most affected by the issues you are organizing around.
• Working to Build a Movement:
  • Groups that organize in the local community, but make connections between local issues and a broader need for systemic change.
  • Groups that provide a space for members to develop their political analyses at the same time as taking action for change.
  • Groups that break down barriers within the progressive movement, by building strategic alliances between groups of different cultural or class backgrounds or different issue areas.
  • Groups that explore the root causes of injustice and have a long-term vision for the kind of social change they are working for.
• Dismantling Oppression:
  • Groups and projects that are proactively engaged in a process of dismantling oppression, confronting privilege and challenging institutional structures that perpetuate oppression (both internal and external to the organization).
  • Groups that are proactively making connections between the different forms of oppression (racism, heterosexism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, etc.), and its connections with injustice.
• Creating New Structures:
  • Groups that have alternative organizational structures that allow power to flow “from the bottom up.”
  • Efforts to create new, community-based alternative systems and structures (economic, political, cultural, religious, etc.) that are liberating, democratic, and environmentally sustainable and which promote healthy, sustainable communities.
  • New or emerging organizations; efforts that have difficulty securing funds from other sources; community organizations working on climate change issues at the local policy level; groups that have a genesis in Occupy or Movement for Black Lives; or issues that are not yet recognized by progressive funders.

Size of Grants

The grant range lies from $2,500-$10,000, with an average of up to $5,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Programs with a primary geographic focus within the United States, U.S. Territories, Mexico and Haiti.
• If an organization is U.S.-based but works mostly outside of these areas, it should consider filling out an LOI for a Donor Advised Fund grant, which are reviewed on a rolling basis.

How to Apply

Applicants are required to submit an online application form available on the given website.

Eligible Countries: United States, Haiti and Mexico

For more information, please visit Peace Development Fund.