Giving Project Grant

Giving Project grants provide general operating support to organizations across Minnesota that are led by and for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who use a community organizing approach to advance equity and justice. Mutual aid projects that mobilize people to meet survival needs and build shared understanding about the root causes of those unmet needs are encouraged to apply.

While the work will differ, all Giving Project grantees will share the following characteristics:

• They use community organizing as a core strategy to engage and build power in their communities in order to change systems and advance equity and justice.
• They are led by and for BIPOC communities most directly affected by the issues the organization is working on. At least 51% of their board of directors, staff and community identify as BIPOC.
• Their leadership is reflective of and accountable to their community.
• They continually build leadership from within their membership, base, or community. The base has a role in the organization’s decision-making.
• They bring people together to build power they wouldn’t have individually. Headwaters Foundation for Justice (HFJ) defines power as “the capacity of a group of people to decide what they want and to act in an organized way to get it.” (Class Action, Building Bridges Across the Class Divide).
• They use that power to create institutional, cultural, and/or structural change.
• They see their organization as part of a larger movement for social change, and work towards strengthening that movement.
• They use an intersectional, cross-issue approach that makes connections between race, class, and gender.
• They have limited access to mainstream funding sources.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)