Fund For Nonviolence

The Fund for Nonviolence operates as a relationship-driven, invitation-only grantmaker with a tightly concentrated portfolio in criminal justice transformation. Founded in 1997 and based at 2519 Empire Grade in Santa Cruz, California, the foundation is led by President and CEO Betsy Fairbanks (compensated $307,052 in the most recent filing) with Raquiba LaBrie serving as board chair. The fund underwent a watershed financial transformation between FY2022 and FY2023: total assets grew from approximately $3.85 million to $69.85 million — a net increase of roughly $66 million almost certainly driven by a major donor contribution or endowment bequest. This capital event has repositioned the fund from a small-to-mid-tier social justice funder to an institution operating at genuine scale, with 2024 grantmaking estimated at $9.48 million across 79 awards.

The fund's three core giving lenses — dismantling structural racism, challenging state violence, and promoting active nonviolence — serve as the organizing philosophy across three formal program areas: Reimagining Public Safety, Death Penalty Abolition, and Reparations, Accountability and Healing. The foundation also maintains a Legacy Fund for continuing grantees and an Opportunity Fund to respond to urgent needs outside its primary programs.

The single most critical fact for any prospective grantee: the Fund for Nonviolence does not accept unsolicited proposals. This is not a soft preference — it is the fund's explicit and consistent policy, confirmed by its own website, Inside Philanthropy's grantmaker profile, and the grantee record, which shows deep, multi-year relationships with virtually every top recipient.

The fund favors organizations led by communities most directly affected by the violence or injustice they address — people with lived experience of incarceration, capital punishment, or state violence. It funds a mix of national intermediaries (Tides Center, Amalgamated Charitable Foundation), state-level abolition coalitions (Nevada, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arizona, South Carolina), litigation organizations (Center for Death Penalty Litigation, Texas Defender Service, Atlantic Center for Capital Representation), and California-based community safety groups (Silicon Valley De-Bug, Essie Justice Group, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights). Multi-year relationships are the norm: the fund's top 10 grantees average 4.5 grants each in the tracked record, confirming that the fund builds lasting partnerships rather than making transactional one-time awards. First-time grantees most commonly enter through state-based death penalty coalitions or California community safety organizations.

Across 200 tracked grants totaling $10.02 million, the Fund for Nonviolence has historically awarded grants averaging $50,093, with a typical range of $10,000 to $410,000 and a median of approximately $30,000 per historical grant. These figures reflect a pre-endowment era; the fund's reported 2024 grantmaking of $9.48 million across 79 grants implies a per-grant average of approximately $120,000 — a dramatic upward shift reflecting the $66 million asset infusion received in 2023. Inside Philanthropy places the range at $10,000 to $1 million with a median of approximately $50,000.

Death Penalty Abolition dominates the funding portfolio by total dollars. The four largest cumulative grantees are all death penalty-focused: Equal Justice USA ($1.34 million across 7 grants, funding Breaking Cycles of Trauma and Wyoming organizing), Center for Death Penalty Litigation ($666,000 across 7 grants, 8th Amendment Project work in Virginia), Ohioans to Stop Executions ($500,000 across 3 grants), and Promise of Justice Initiative ($275,000 across 3 grants, Louisiana repeal). These four alone represent $2.78 million — 27.7% of all tracked giving. State-level coalitions receive consistent multi-year support: Nevada Coalition ($180,000), Texas Coalition ($175,000), Tennesseans for Alternatives ($150,000), Kentucky Coalition ($85,000-$95,000), and South Carolinians for Alternatives ($65,000).

Reimaging Public Safety grants trend toward smaller, multi-grant relationships: Silicon Valley De-Bug ($200,000 across 7 grants), Alliance for Safety and Justice ($120,000), Ella Baker Center ($70,000 across 4 grants), Essie Justice Group ($70,000 across 4 grants), and A New Way of Life Reentry Project ($70,000 across 4 grants). California-based grantees account for 70 of 200 tracked awards (35%), reinforcing the fund's geographic anchoring in the state.

Reparations, Accountability and Healing — the newest program — is represented by Liberation Ventures via PolicyLink ($200,500 across 2 grants), Death Penalty Information Center's racial justice storytelling project ($270,000 across 3 grants), and Healing Dialogue and Action ($110,000 across 3 grants).

Annual grants paid have grown more than sixfold in five years: $1.45 million (2019), $2.86 million (2020), $3.40 million (2021), $3.77 million (2022), $5.65 million (2023), and approximately $9.48 million (2024). General and unrestricted support appears alongside project-specific grants throughout the grantee record — a strong signal that the fund extends significant organizational trust to established partners.

The foundation's asset-matched peers in the Human Services NTEE category represent a range of geographic and thematic orientations. The table below compares Fund for Nonviolence to the five closest peers by endowment size:

Fund for Nonviolence stands out sharply from its asset-matched peers in two ways. First, its estimated $9.5 million in 2024 giving implies a payout rate of approximately 13% of assets — more than double the 5% minimum required of private foundations, signaling leadership that prioritizes rapid movement investment over capital preservation. Second, its mission focus is exceptionally narrow and specialized relative to its size: where its asset-comparable peers distribute funds across broad human services delivery, Fund for Nonviolence has concentrated virtually all resources on criminal justice transformation with three articulated program streams and a clear theory of change. For grant seekers, this concentration means either a very strong fit or no fit at all — there is no room for mission-adjacent work.

The most consequential recent development at the Fund for Nonviolence is the dramatic endowment expansion documented in its FY2023 financial filing. Total assets grew from $3.85 million in FY2022 to $69.85 million in FY2023 — an increase of approximately $66 million. With total contributions received of only $1.56 million and net investment income of $870,281 in FY2023, much of this asset growth reflects a major donor bequest, a transformative gift from a strategic partner, or a portfolio restructuring event. The foundation has not made a public announcement explaining the source. FY2024 data shows continued growth to $73.16 million in assets and $11.89 million in total revenue.

The grantmaking expansion has been rapid and significant. The fund made 65 grants in 2023 ($5.65 million in grants paid) and grew to an estimated 79 grants in 2024 totaling approximately $9.48 million — the largest single year of grantmaking in the foundation's recorded history. President and CEO Betsy Fairbanks has led this expansion, with her compensation tracking organizational growth from $212,885 in FY2020 to $307,052 in the most recent filing. Raquiba LaBrie is listed as current board chair, with Mona Cadena having previously served in that role. Patricia Clark serves as a compensated director at $140,400-$211,530.

No specific press releases, new program launches, or leadership changes from calendar years 2025 or 2026 were surfaced in web research — consistent with the fund's characteristically low public profile. The three formal programs (Reimagining Public Safety, Death Penalty Abolition, and Reparations, Accountability and Healing) plus the Legacy Fund and Opportunity Fund were all active as of the most recent available information.

Given the fund's explicitly invitation-only posture, strategy here is entirely pre-proposal — success depends on relationship development, not document quality.

Network through the grantee roster first. Equal Justice USA, Tides Center, Center for Death Penalty Litigation, Silicon Valley De-Bug, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and Essie Justice Group are all high-volume grantees with deep fund relationships. Partnerships, coalitions, or organizational ties to any of these groups create natural introduction pathways. For death penalty-focused organizations, membership in state-level abolition networks — including coalitions in Nevada, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, and Georgia — is a direct alignment signal.

Use the fund's three lenses as your vocabulary. The phrases "dismantling structural racism," "challenging state violence," and "promoting active nonviolence" are not rhetorical decoration — they are the fund's analytical framework for evaluating all grantee work. Any organizational pitch, website language, or introductory email should explicitly map your theory of change to at least two of these three dimensions by name.

Lead with most-affected leadership. The fund's stated priority of reaching "most-affected, least-served and marginalized communities" carries real weight in how it evaluates organizations. Boards and leadership teams that include people with lived experience of incarceration, the death penalty, or state violence resonate more strongly than organizations framing their work as advocacy on behalf of others.

Contact the fund directly but thoughtfully. Email mail@nonviolence.org or call (831) 460-9321 with a brief, personalized introduction — not a templated proposal summary. Reference a specific current grantee you work alongside, name the program area you believe aligns with your work, and share one concrete outcome. Keep the message under 300 words.

State-based death penalty work is the highest-probability entry point. States where the death penalty remains active and where the fund already has a grantee presence — Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Nevada — are clearly prioritized. Organizations working on moratoriums, repeal legislation, or commutation campaigns fit the portfolio cleanly.

Monitor the Opportunity Fund for urgent moments. This mechanism exists for time-sensitive grantmaking outside core program cycles. Organizations responding to an imminent execution, a legislative emergency, or a critical legal filing should explicitly ask about Opportunity Fund eligibility rather than waiting for a standard program cycle.

Build for the long term. The fund's grantees average 3-7 awards each in the tracked record. Frame your organization as a long-term movement partner and resist specifying a dollar amount until the fund signals readiness to discuss a grant.