FAQs

+ What is Emergent Fund?

Founded in 2016, Emergent Fund is a national rapid response fund created to explicitly support Black, Indigenous and People of Color-led (BIPOC) social justice movements. From family separation, to Muslim bans to continued violence against Black communities, Emergent Fund grantees are BIPOC organizers and directly impacted communities responding to the biggest crises of our time by boldly fighting to build the world we all deserve.

As a rapid response fund, we play a unique role in the funding eco-system; often filling a gap by providing low barrier funding in a little as a week to organizers when they need it most. Our team is committed to:

• Fiercely fundraising for and moving as quickly as possible our rapid response, low barrier, no strings attached grants

• Keeping Black liberation core to our organizing and philanthropic praxis

• Deepening multiracial solidarity practices to show up for Black and Indigenous leadership

• Positioning our folks to win and build real power that transforms our tangible living conditions so that we can thrive

• Raising to the moment with affirmative outreach, from Minneapolis to Mauna Kea

• Using rapid response grants to invest in emergent strategy not just emergencies

+ Who are Emergent Fund's staff?

Our small, but mighty team is made up of two staff, alicia sanchez gill, our Executive Dircetor, and Angela Vo, our Senior Program Officer. Read more about them here.

+ Who is the Advisory Council behind grant decisions?

Emergent Fund believes that the experts are, definitively, directly impacted communities themselves. Organizing is more art and alchemy than science, and expertise in communities and the best opportunities to help them require whole lifetimes of lived experience. That's why our grant making is governed by our Advisory Council — movement leaders, visionaries, well-trusted organizers from the communities that the Fund was created to serve. The Advisory Council are proudly immigrant, Latinx, Muslim, Black, Native, Asian and LGBTQ and unapologetically committed to collective liberation. Read more about our Advisory Council members here.

Our Advisory Council decides Emergent Fund's strategic grant criteria, reviews proposals, and distributes grants. Council members may not nominate an organization they founded, work for, or for which they serve on the board – and must recuse themselves for a vote on a grant recommendation made for any such organization.

+ How do I apply?

The Emergent Fund accepts proposals through JustFund, a digital platform established by Solidaire Network and other funders to help connect social justice funders, foundations directly with grassroots organizations and urgent projects. For detailed instructions on how to create an account and proposal on JustFund, please visit our Apply page. If you have questions about how to register or use the JustFund portal, please email the JustFund team at info@justfund.us.

We care deeply about protecting the time and energy of frontline movement organizers and disrupting the harmful power dynamics shaping philantrophy. Your grant proposal in JustFund will be considered and potentially resourced by other funders who share our values in this shared platform. We recommend spending less than 30 minutes on your proposal and encourage organizers to feel free to draw from other grant language to save time.

+ I haven’t received my login/password for the JustFund Portal.

Please allow up to 1 business day to receive your login/password for the JustFund Portal. If you have not received your information after 24 hours, please reach out to the JustFund team at info@justfund.us.

+ Who can see my proposal?

Proposals can be viewed by any funder or organization who has an account on the JustFund Portal as well as Emergent Fund staff and Advisory Council. Submitting your proposal on JustFund increases your chances of receiving additional funding from organizations and funders outside of the Emergent Fund. You are welcome to submit your proposal to any open funds using JustFund.

+ What is the deadline to apply? When are grants awarded?

There is no deadline to apply, and grants are awarded on a rolling basis. Our Advisory Council makes grant decisions and awards on a monthly basis, usually at the end of each month. Typically, you will receive an update on the status of your proposal within 4-5 weeks.

+ Does Emergent Fund grant internationally?

The Emergent Fund is unable to provide funding outside of the United States or US Territories at this time. Given the current political climate and urgency of need, we are currently focusing our resources on the US.

+ What is the grant size should I apply for?

There is no set grant size. They have ranged from $10,000-$30,000, depending on the scope of the project, the demands of the moment, and the expressed needs within each applicant pool. We have at times awarded smaller seed funding to emerging organizing projects responding to unique challenges or crises. During our COVID-19 grant cycles, due to unprecedented volume and demand for funding, our grants were smaller, ranging between $5k-$10k.

+ When is our grantee report due?

Emergent Fund does not require/request a final report, though we always love to know what grant partners are up to and how we can continue to support and amplify your work. Though we do not require final reports, we sign up for grantee listserves, follow grantees on social media and maintain deep relationships that allow grantees to be transparent about what’s working, what’s not working, and what support you need from us. We hope this reduces the burden and shows trust in the leadership of Black, Indigenous and people of color organizers so that grantees can do the work you are called to do!

+ Our organization already received funding. Can we re-apply?

We are a small rapid-response fund, designed for emergent urgent work. Former grantees are always welcome to reapply. However, please note that we generally don't have the capacity to regrant multiple times unless the organizing environment or the organizing tactic has demonstratively shifted. Returning applicants might be considered on a case-by-case basis under extenuating circumstances. Emergent Fund is not designed to support organizations who reapply each month to support year-around programming or general operating costs.

Emergent Fund’s superpower within the movement funding ecosystem is moving rapid response resources that allow our people to adapt, pivot, and evolve their long-term power building and organizing strategy in the face of ever-shifting conditions. We know however, that grantees need multi-year commitments and we are happy to help grantees connect with allied funders within the philanthropic landscape, to help grantees meet more sustained needs.

+ What kind of projects does Emergent Fund support?

We support work where rapid response meets emergent movement strategy. This includes...

• Evolving approaches or tactics that help communities organize in the face of urgent and rapidly changing conditions, or resisting new or amplified threats in ways that build power and move a proactive agenda towards collective liberation
• Leveraging "organizable moments" to advance social and economic justice and directly disrupt and challenge hostile oppressive structures
• Rapid response inititives grounded in sound power analysis and propose meaningful investments in movement infrastructure

Our grantees often lead at the following intersections:

• New solutions responding to rapidly changing conditions in the current political environment
• Visionary and Power Building organizing that seeks transformational systemic changes rooted in social and economic justice. Develops community power through organizing and/or leadership development (including through new tools), direct action, and/or cultural work
• Leadership from impacted communities
• Intersectional Analysis: Engages multiple identities and multi-racial alliance building as core to theory of change
• Endorsed: Recommended by a member of the Nominations Network
• Right size of need: The level of Emergent Fund support is appropriate to the work
• Proposals can be ideas, collaborations, campaigns, or organizations, whether or not they are fully formed; don't worry about your notes being perfect or comprehensive.

We prioritize rapid response grantees engaged in these activities:

• Coalitions/Alliances*– multi-issue, multi-constituent alliances of social change groups led by and organized in communities of color
• Mobilization– groups mobilizing people for protest and resistance
• Organizing and Advocacy – groups engaged in organizing and advocacy, including: funding for public programs and services, creation of policies that protect our communities or defense against policies that harm our communities
• Healing, Inspiration, and Liberation– groups that bring people of color together for cultural and mental liberation, the individual and intra-communal level work that prepares people to resist
• Access for digital spaces and digital organizing, i.e. communication tools, or other tools to build digital resilience

+ What won't Emergent Fund support?

Emergent Fund is a small rapid response fund that resources emergent organizing strategy in the face of urgent, shifting conditions. Proposals without an urgent, rapid response, and/or organizing strategy component are not a strong fit for Emergent Fund. Work that does not align with our social justice values or is not grounded in a vision for collective liberation does not meet our criteria for funding. Examples include:

• Government or State Agencies, Universities

• Charity, Direct Services/Community Programming without an organizing foundation

• Broad General Operating Support or Budget Shortfalls (including back-to-back, repeated proposals)

• Religious institutions and affiliated programs

• International work or work based outside of the United States and U.S. Occupied Territories

• For-profit Business, Social Enterprise, Start-Up Costs, Capital-Raising campaigns

• Individuals (activists, consultants)

• Work or entities that promote or collude with systems of oppression and harm, that lack sound power analysis or understanding of collective liberation

Emergent Fund is unlikely to grant to organizations not led by the community most impacted by the proposed work. For example, organizations that "support" people of color but are not led by people of color are not a fit for Emergent Fund. We're also unlikely to support direct services without an explicit, clear organizing strategy such as after-school tutoring or arts programs, food pantries, support groups, case management, financial literacy classes, counseling services, and shelter programs. Emergent Fund is not designed to support general start-up business or non-profit costs and does not consider most social entrepreneurship projects to fall in the vein of rapid response emergent community organizing. We also ask that larger budgeted organizations with significant fundraising infrastructure or experience keep in mind our unique role within the existing funder ecosystem, as one of the few resources for BIPOC organizers who struggle to navigate and access mainstream philanthrophic dollars under current power structures because of who they are and the work they take on.

+ What are examples of work likely to be funded vs. not funded?

Here are some examples inspired by the very wide range of work pitched to our Advisory Council. Some of the proposals Emergent Fund did not have the capacity to fund may have indeed been incredibly good and important values-aligned work, but fell outside the scope of rapid response and organizing. Emergent Fund also plays a role within the funder ecosystem as a home for BIPOC-led highly innovative, emergent, and/or experimental movement organizing projects that might be deemed "risky" to fund for many reasons. Lastly, Emergent Fund pays close attention to the relationships, rapport, and trust you have with the communities you represent or work with. If you are unsure if your proposal is a fit for Emergent Fund, please reach out to our team at info@emergentfund.net.

Likely: A Black and Latinx youth-led student group organizing to remove and defund police within their schools and school system

Unlikely: An afterschool program seeking to "give at-risk minority youth the tools to excel in middle school"

Likely: An undocumented immigrant survivor-led collective proposes to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of their political leadership program with an art and healing justice initiative to respond to increased gender violence during the COVID pandemic

Unlikely: Funding to pay stipends for 5 university students to lead a BIPOC film festival

Likely: A housing justice coalition of working class Black, Southeast and South Asian communities in North Carolina responding to displacement from newly proposed market-rate housing need digital organizing infrastructure quickly to reach their base who largely lack wifi or laptop access

Unlikely: A multimillion dollar housing nonprofit is seeking funding to improve the diverse reach of their influencer strategy to raise awareness about homelessness

Likely: An Indigenous and Native women and two-spirt-led organization launches a digital art and media campaign to center their issues, voices, land sovereignty, and decolonization into national GOTV efforts

Unlikely: A social entrepreneur seeks start up capital and funding for a sustainable honey collecting worker cooperative to help them reach and recruit Indigneous youth from a nearby reservation to participate

+ How We Understand Social Justice

This definition is from our friends at the Diverse City Fund in Washington, DC.

"Social Justice work amplifies the leadership and voices of those directly-affected by issues and needs. It takes action to create equitable outcomes and transfer of power and resources to directly-affected communities. It tackles root problems by engaging directly-affected communities to find solutions, organize against oppression of all kinds, and create mechanisms for change."

+ How does Emergent Fund define Black, Indigenous and people of color-led (BIPOC-led)?

Emergent Fund prioritizes organizations led by people of color. We define BIPOC-led organizations as registered or fiscally sponsored non-profit organizations or projects where:

• The executive director, highest paid staff, or the equivalent, is BIPOC- If the person in this role is not a person of color, we do not consider your organization "people of color-led."
• At least 66% of staff are BIPOC
• At least 51% of the board, steering committee, or other leadership body and volunteers in leadership positions are BIPOC

Beyond numbers, when defining a BIPOC-led organization, we also imagine an organization where:

• The work culture and organizational focus prioritize culturally relevant and racially just internal and external policies and stances
• The primary focus of the work is to secure changes at the personal, community, legislative policy and/or institutional level for the benefit of BIPOC folks, and ultimately, all people
• There is commitment to strategically and intentionally building the power of communities of color
• There is a holistic, intersectional approach to justice and liberation work
• We also support white-led organizations that explicitly engage in racial justice work with other white people to help remove the burden of anti-racism work from Black, Indigenous and people of color organizers and communities.

*Definition of “BIPOC-led” inspired by Hill-Snowdon Foundation, Diverse City Fund and the Weissberg Foundation.

+ What is the Nominations Network, and how do I get nominated?

The Nominations Network is a network made up of activists, organizers, partner organizations, and funders. Members of the Nominations Network help to recommend groups by email or notify the Emergent Fund’s Advisory Council of a group that’s doing important work that requires urgent funding, based on our criteria. If you are nominated by a member of our network, you will receive an invitation to submit a proposal to apply for from the Emergent Fund. While not required for funding, a nomination is another lens of community endorsement that we use in reviewing proposals which allows us to keep our proposals short and reduce the burden on grantees.

+ How do I donate to the Emergent Fund? Are contributions to this fund tax-deductible?

Emergent Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of the Amalgamated Foundation, and all contributions are tax deductible. Amalgamated Foundation accepts donations via cash, security, grant, and credit card. Please visit the contribution page for details.

+ Is there a way to contribute through a DAF?

Yes! We accept donations from DAFs via our fiscal sponsor, the Amalgamated Foundation. Please visit Amalgamated Foundation’s contribution page for details.

+ Who funds this work?

Emergent Fund is, at its core, a collaborative fund, powered primarily by YOU and donor networks, including our founding partners at the Women Donors Network and Solidaire. We depend on small dollar donations, and we have also received support from The Libra Foundation, Akonadi Foundation, NoVo Foundation, and donor networks including Threshold Foundation, Donors of Color Network and Resource Generation, among other partners.

As a fund with no endowment, everything we get, we raise with the support of donors, and institutional funders, and everything we raise we move right back to impacted communities utilizing our low barrier reporting process which requires minimal administrative burden from grantees and no final reporting.

+ What if I have a question about the Emergent Fund or application process that’s not listed here?

Please reach out to [info@emergentfund.net][5], and we will get back to you within a few business days.