Grants for Change Program (Expansion)

Grants for Change Program (Expansion) is sponsored by Maine Initiatives (with funding from The Pull Up Fund). The Pull Up Fund has committed $1,000,000 to support the expansion of Maine Initiatives' Grants for Change program over four years. This program provides financial and other support to grassroots organizations on the front lines of racial justice organizing and activism in Maine.

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Review the 2024 Funding Opportunity Announcement Download the 2024 Grants for Change application Watch the June 25th Applicant Information Session Grants for Change is a grantmaking and community organizing program.

It funds and strengthens Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) -led and -serving nonprofit organizations advancing racial justice, and engages and connects people in Maine around shared values of racial justice and equity.

The program seeks to organize people and resources in support of efforts across Wabanaki Territory (Maine), that intervene on legacies of white supremacy, settler colonialism, and racialized capitalism by creating or reclaiming liberatory possibilities for today and future generations.

Community Organizing Alliance Maine Black Educators Collective Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition Sunlight Media Collective Wabanaki Youth in Science Maine Community Integration Maine's Black Future Podcast Resources for Organizing and Social Change Sipayik Resilience Committee Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission Penobscot Nation Agriculture Program Scarborough High School Civil Rights Club Somali Bantu Community Association Southern Maine Workers’ Center Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness Wabanaki Women's Coalition, Inc. Grants for Change organizes people and resources to support efforts across the state that intervene on legacies of white supremacy, settler colonialism, and racialized capitalism.

The program creates and/or reclaims liberatory possibilities for today and future generations. Central to the Grants for Change program are the BIPOC-led and serving organizations that are leading the work of racial justice organizing and activism in our state.

Each year, we select and fund a new Grants for Change cohort: 12 organizations chosen through our participatory, community-led process and recognized as organizations doing critical work to advance racial justice in Maine communities. Learn more about Grants for Change grantees. Grants for Changes is also a community organizing strategy and program.

We use our participatory grantmaking to engage, connect, inform, and inspire the broader community with the BIPOC leaders, organizations, and work being done on racial justice in Maine. Learn about participatory grantmaking.

Our funding prioritizes BIPOC-led and -serving organizations that: seek to dismantle racial injustice in its institutional, structural, and systemic forms; further the racial justice movement, prioritizing Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty through community building, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and/or policy change; strengthen communities through traditional and/ or Indigenous wisdoms and liberatory cultural practices, including (but not limited to) healing, rematriation, earth protection, and the arts; and are led by, serve, and/or organize in solidarity with Black and Wabanaki communities Grant Amount & Funding Levels For a three-year period, beginning in 2022, the Grants for Change Program has committed to providing over $1.

5 million in multi-year, unrestricted, general operating support to BIPOC-led and -serving organizations. The organizations selected for each annual cohort will receive general operating grants of $45,000 over three years, or $15,000 per year. Funded organizations will be invited to participate in a series of peer learning, training, capacity-building, and community outreach activities over the course of the grant period.

To be eligible for the Grants for Change Program, applicant organizations must: Working exclusively or primarily in Maine Programming primarily serves and supports BIPOC communities A Black-, Brown-, Indigenous-, Latinx-, Asian-, or People of Color-led (BIPOC) organization, group, or coalition.

*The Grants for Change program prioritizes Black and Wabanaki-led and-serving organizations and BIPOC-led groups working in solidarity with Black and Wabanaki communities, however, all BIPOC-led and serving organizations working to advance racial justice in Maine are encouraged to apply and will be considered for grant awards. Implementing programs that advance racial justice in local communities or statewide.

Have an organizational operating budget, including administrative and programming budget, of under $2,500,000. (Not required for groups applying with sponsorship from a Wabanaki Tribal Government or other Tribal entity.)

To establish BIPOC-led status, organizations need to meet at least two out of three of the following criteria for the past two years: BIPOC staff leaders of the organization - 50% or more in leadership roles BIPOC members on Board of Directors - 50% or more in governing decision-making roles BIPOC organizers - 50% or more of on-the-ground, community interfacing staff/volunteers Applications for the 2024 Grants for Change Fund closed July 31st, 2024 11:59pm EST.

See all of our G4C grantees site by: Polychrome Collective & SlickFish Studios