Northern Star Foundation Grants

Northern Star Foundation Grants is sponsored by Northern Star Foundation. Concentrates on animal welfare and environmental conservation, supporting organizations in Florida and Minnesota.

Welcome to North Star Fund Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) We are a community of New Yorkers committed to justice We are a social justice fund that supports grassroots organizing led by communities of color building power in New York City and the Hudson Valley. Our Latest Report Make a Gift We’ll be closed for summer rest starting Friday, August 28. We’ll reopen Tuesday, September 8.

Our Rapid Response applications will remain open, but our responses will be delayed until we return. We’ll see you this fall, when we open a new grant cycle and start accepting applications for our 2027 Giving Project ! We support community organizing We raise money and then use it to make grants for organizing in New York City and the Hudson Valley for racial, gender and economic justice.

We fund work that is led and enacted by people directly affected by an issue. If you see a group of New Yorkers on the steps of the state Capitol or in the streets demanding their rights, we probably fund them now or have funded them in the past. As of June 30, 2025, North Star Fund has awarded over $146 million in grants to over 3,000 organizations.

Our 2025 Action Report is Online! The most complete list of the 150+ active grantees we have in New York City and the Hudson Valley How the four active funds are moving money to support organizing across our region Thank Yous to our community of 500+ donors Highlights from the last year of organizing within philanthropy It’s all online in our 2025 Action Report . Or the printable version of the 2025 Action Report is here .

Hudson Valley Grantmaking Our Hudson Valley funding area includes a mix of rural, suburban and urban settings that provide unique opportunities to support grassroots organizing based in communities of color. Many policy issues that affect New York’s communities of color—housing, policing, schools, food policy and more—require legislative action.

That means both a statewide strategy as well as an approach that builds on hyperlocal community organizing from New York City and other communities. As of June 30, 2025 we’ve awarded over $6 million in grants in the region. Learn More About our Hudson Valley Program We have a collection of stories and information about the first decade of the Let Us Breathe Fund.

Our newest fund launched with a $1 million slate of grants. Since 2015, the Let Us Breathe Fund has centered Black-led organizing groups largely focused on police and state violence, structural racism and systems reform. The fund has also supported multi-racial organizing in support of these issues.

As of June 30, 2025 the Let Us Breathe Fund has awarded over $6 million in grants. Meet the North Star Fund Leaders Voices of the Let Us Breathe Fund OUR "Meeting the Moment" PODCAST A New Cohort of Food Justice Leaders Community Food Funders (CFF) is a philanthropic organizing project at North Star Fund. CFF supports the transition to an equitable, ecologically sound food system.

Twelve regional food justice leaders have been selected as the fourth cohort of CFF’s Seeding Power... Ten Years of the Let Us Breathe Fund: Voices of the Let Us Breathe Fund Story Collection The Let Us Breathe Fund A Decade of Defiance2015–2025Story CollectionWe’re celebrating 10 years of the Let Us Breathe Fund! It’s still the only fund in New York where Black organizers award grants to Black-led grassroots groups.

We’re sharing this collection to... The Freedom Function: A Gathering to Honor 10 Years of the Let Us Breathe Fund On June 25, 2026, North Star Fund hosted an intimate gathering to honor and celebrate 10 years of the Let Us Breathe Fund. The event—The Freedom Function—was held in a beautiful space at Women Building Up in Brooklyn.

It was deeply meaningful to gather in person to...