Grants for BIPOC

Grassroots Grants

Our Grassroots Grants program supports underfunded organizations and communities addressing a myriad of environmental and social justice issues, with a focus on fights over water privatization and plastic pollution.

Why We Give

The Story of Stuff Project established the Grassroots Grants Program in 2017 to support small organizations and groups organizing against water privatization and plastic pollution in the United States. Since we launched, we have supported over 20 grassroots groups with nearly $80,000 in funding.

We aim to offer these partners both financial resources, media infrastructure, and strategic planning and coalition building know-how needed to build winning campaigns. The Grassroots Grants Program is committed to equity and inclusion and prioritizes the funding of people of color, low-income, rural and women-led organizations.

We support projects that value local community involvement and organizing, creative interventions, strategic thinking, and both defensive “fight-back” and offensive solutions-focused projects.

Maternal-fetal Immune Disorders QuickFire Challenge

In the United States, significant racial and ethnic inequities in maternal morbidity and mortality exist, with Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women being two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.[1] A 2022 report found that the number of maternal deaths rose 14% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Black women and birthing people accounting for one-third of those deaths despite making up just over 13% of the population.[2] In 2020, Hispanic women and birthing people experienced severe maternal morbidity at a rate that was 33% higher than their white counterparts.[3]

Contributing to these complications are immune-mediated diseases,[4] which disproportionately affect women and birthing people and often occur during child-bearing years. Further, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) are more severely impacted by immune-mediated diseases, often experiencing greater disease severity and faster disease progression than white Americans.[5] These diseases put women and birthing people, particularly people of color, at risk for not only pregnancy complications, but potential disease flares that could lead to poor health outcomes for the mother and child.[6]

Black and Hispanic women and birthing people with immune-mediated diseases like lupus are even more susceptible to pregnancy complications of preterm birth, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction and maternal morbidity compared to their white counterparts. The pathogenesis behind these poor pregnancy outcomes may be the result of inflammatory processes associated with underlying disease.

Active immune tolerance mechanisms in pregnancy are critical to help prevent fetal rejection and organ-specific inflammatory diseases for the mother and fetus. Genetics, epigenetics, social determinants of health and the microbiome are all believed to play a role in racial and ethnic inequities for obstetrical syndromes, [8,9,10,11] indicating a need for data to guide racial and ethnic-specific evidence-based care.

To that end, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (OCMO) Health of Women team, together with Janssen Research & Development, is proud to launch the Maternal-fetal Immune Disorders QuickFire Challenge: Innovating for Health Equity. US-based innovators are invited to submit data-driven research methodologies, tools, or technologies that aim to better understand the manifestations of immune-mediated diseases of pregnancy impacting historically marginalized communities. Potential solutions should inform or catalyze the crucial next steps needed to develop diagnostics and novel therapies aiming to improve immune-mediated pregnancy outcomes in mothers and children from BIPOC communities.

The innovator(s) with the best potential solution can receive grant funding from a total pool of $500,000, access to the global Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS network and mentorship from experts at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.*

Why this challenge matters to us

We believe that improving health equity for individuals across the spectrum of humanity is a core responsibility. To help profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity, we feel we must help address health inequities impacting BIPOC communities. We are committed to crowdsourcing and enabling innovative solutions from diverse innovators that have the potential to change the course of healthcare in communities that have been historically marginalized.

Improved and accessible diagnostics could allow for early detection of high-risk immune-mediated pregnancies and referral to specialty care, enabling better health outcomes for pregnant individuals of all communities. A study from 2015 found that after implementing neonatal screening for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), the prevalence of SCID in Black and Hispanic individuals was higher than previously reported by clinical referrals to transplant centers for definitive treatment, , suggesting that disease differences among various racial and ethnic groups could be the result of having inequitable access to screening and specialty care and that increasing universal screenings could be a potential solution.

What we’re looking for

US-based innovators are invited to submit data-driven research methodologies, tools, or technologies that aim to better understand the manifestations of immune-mediated diseases of pregnancy impacting historically marginalized communities. Potential solutions should inform or catalyze the crucial next steps needed to develop diagnostics and novel therapies aiming to improve immune-mediated pregnancy outcomes in mothers and children from BIPOC communities.

Criteria

We are interested in methods, tools and technologies aiming to:

• Better understand and characterize immune-mediated pregnancy-related conditions experienced by BIPOC women and birthing people
• Identify novel diagnostic indicators predictive of BIPOC women and birthing people at higher risk for experiencing immune-mediated pregnancy complications
• Develop, implement, and evaluate potential solutions to overcome barriers to the diagnosis and treatment of immune-mediated pregnancy-related conditions impacting BIPOC women and birthing people
• Understand the utility of tools and technologies in historical diagnoses of immune-mediated pregnancy conditions for BIPOC women and birthing people
• Understand how BIPOC women, birthing people, and families frame pregnancy and pregnancy conditions and the impact of limited access to health education and support in the perinatal care framework
• Implement approaches to engage pregnant BIPOC women and birthing people, overcoming barriers and improving participation in pregnancy clinical trials

Funding

• Grant funding from a total pool of $500,000
• Access to the global Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JLABS (‘JLABS’) network
• Mentorship from experts across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies 

About Borealis Philanthropy

Borealis Philanthropy works as a partner to philanthropy, helping grantmakers expand their reach and impact. Our primary work includes managing donor collaboratives where numerous funders come together to pool resources that support a variety of issues, communities, and movements. Borealis currently has 10 donor collaboratives, including the Disability Inclusion Fund.

Disability Inclusion Fund

We’re excited to share the Disability Inclusion Fund is accepting applications from organizations working for disability inclusion, rights, and justice.

Please check FAQ for additional informations.

Wellness for All,

Wellness for All, a Power of She Fund grant, supports women of color entrepreneurs and organizations committed to making wellness and fitness more accessible and inclusive to female BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities. The Power of She Fund was established by Athleta, in partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation. The grant supports:

• Leaders of non-profit organizations aiming to better serve these communities through their programs or services
• Entrepreneurs of non-profit organizations or for-profit businesses actively creating or building businesses/programs to serve these communities.

Funds can be used for, but are not limited to:

• Purchase of new software, hardware, website, and email tools to implement their project vision
• Leasing of physical space for events, program operations, community gatherings
• Marketing, communications, PR, operational, and business expenses.

The WITH Foundation (WITH) and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) are partnering in an effort to support projects that address the intersections of racial equity and healthcare equity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The geographic areas of focus are self-selected by the proposing organization/collaborative partners, but must be within the United States. As a result of this RFP, it is anticipated that up to four (4) grant awards will be made.

WITH is a private foundation that promotes comprehensive and accessible healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities in the United States. The mission of the AADMD is to improve the quality, outcomes and value of healthcare for individuals with developmental disabilities and their circle of support.

WITH and the AADMD embrace person-centered innovations and culturally competent care. We want to see people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their advocates, healthcare providers, and others smoothly navigate in today’s complex world.

RFP on Intersections of Racial Equity and Healthcare Equity—New Funding Opportunity

This is an invitation for collaborative proposals which focus on projects that address the intersections of racial equity and healthcare equity for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Proposals should use one of the following approaches:

• Implementation: Support implementation of models, i.e., projects that support community-based PCPs in providing care to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) adults with I/DD;
• Educational resources: Develop additional educational resources for Primary Care Providers who serve BIPOC adults with I/DD; and
• Research: Support regional or national research related to the care BIPOC adults with I/DD receive from Primary Care Providers.

Since 1986, The Trust for the Meditation Process has encouraged the practice of inner, silent awareness, whether it's called meditation, mindfulness or contemplative prayer. Our financial grants to non-profit organizations renew contemplative Christianity, promote health and wholeness, and bring silence and stillness to a hectic world.  

Contemplative Christianity Grants

Many people think of meditation as an exclusively Eastern religious practice. But Western religion, too, has a long tradition of silent, non-discursive prayer, often called contemplation, which is rooted in a rich mystical literature. Contemporary thinkers are unearthing this tradition. Their fresh encounter with the Gospels and mystics emphasizes that God is a living presence in us – to be known in silence and love and manifested in our acts of compassion.

• Grants made in the Contemplative Christianity Program have these objectives:  
• Introduce or expand the teaching and practice of Christian contemplative practices, such as Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer.
• Focus on silent, non discursive meditation rather than another aspect or method of prayer or spiritual formation.
• Connect with a Christian audience or have a Christian context.
• Identify and support emerging scholars and leaders in Contemplative Christianity and Christian mysticism.
• Raise the profile of Contemplative Christianity, with language and programs that speak to all Christian denominations and that reconnect people to Christian contemplative traditions.
• Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, people of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with low incomes and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.
• Encourage dialogue among contemplative traditions in all religions.

Mindfulness Grants

Thirty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts medical school adapted classic forms of meditation found in most religions for a modern, secular audience. A simple practice of paying silent attention to the present moment formed the core of their efforts to help people improve physical and emotional health. 

Since then, a large and rigorous body of research has shown that a regular practice of mindfulness meditation can change us in many significant ways: improving immune function, reducing stress, reducing pain and symptoms of chronic disease, improving sleep, improving attention, fostering self- care and compassion, and the list continues to grow. Today, an ever widening interest in the benefits of mindfulness practice has led to its introduction in many fields and professions.  

Grants made in the Mindfulness Program have both of these objectives:

Mindfulness Program grants are highly competitive and we generally receive more applications than we can award. 

Grant Guidelines

Our focus is short-term projects where a small grant can make a credible impact and result in clearly identifiable outcomes. We make 20 to 40 grants annually. Initial awards are typically small – $3,000 to $5,000.

The type of projects we fund includes:

• Meditation courses, workshops, lectures or retreats.
• Trainings, sabbaticals, retreats and other development for meditation teachers.
• Meditation curriculum development.
• Books, supplies and equipment for meditation programs.
• Efforts to expand and build the capacity of meditation programs and address barriers to practice. 
• Meditation research, especially the development of simple, effective, accessible evaluation tools.
• Publications that effectively spread critical perspectives on meditation and meet an important gap in the current literature.
• East/West meditation dialogue.