Search Through Grants for Criminal Justice in the U.S.

Vision

To promote wellness and access to opportunities so that individuals and communities can thrive.

Grounded in our work in Connecticut and New York, we support visionary leaders and nonprofit organizations that serve historically marginalized populations, help individuals contribute to their communities, and champion advancements and experiences that make it possible for all people to live healthy and joyous lives.

Our Story

The Tow Foundation was established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow as a way to give back to the communities that shaped them.

Leonard and Claire’s three children, Andrew, Emily and Frank, joined the board of directors soon after its inception, and our initial investments were largely guided by the personal passions of the boardroom. With a focus on New York, our earliest grants went to innovative projects in the fields of medical research and higher education.

As our organization evolved, so did our areas of support. Emily Tow was hired as the Foundation’s president and first full-time staff member in 1995. Motivated by the belief that every child deserves an opportunity to thrive, our grantmaking expanded to include nonprofits with a focus on youth justice. As the years went by, the transformative power of theater and performing arts led us to add culture as a core area of interest.

Today, our five primary impact areas are

• Arts and culture,
• Higher education,
• Civic engagement,
• Equity and justice
• Medicine and public health.

What We Fund - Justice Initiatives

We must address the harm caused by unfair systems and work to build new ones grounded in equity and justice. To realize a future in which all people are healthy, safe, and free to lead a fulfilling life, there must be a commitment to racial equity and justice.

We invest in work at the policy-change level to end mass incarceration, mass criminalization, and other harmful systems. We also fund direct service organizations working to support and empower individuals and families who have been impacted by these systems.

• Advocacy, organizing, and coalition-building, led by directly impacted leaders
• Initiatives that affirm the humanity and dignity of people who are incarcerated and remove barriers to their success
• Opportunities, care, and resources for individuals impacted by the criminal legal system
• Cross-disciplinary, intersectional approaches to achieving equity and justice

Who We Are

We are a national non-profit, 501(c)(3) compliant public charity whose purpose is to:

• raise funds and provide grants to non-profit organizations and programs which assist, educate, counsel and comfort children, teens, young adults and their families after a loved one’s death
• help educate bereavement, healthcare, social service, education, criminal justice, business and other professions, and especially, society to the needs of the bereaved
• help promote the conferences, seminars, events and other work of these organizations.

We are blessed in our society to have many national organizations serving the needs of the chronically ill or dying, yet the Foundation for Grieving Children is the first and only national organization which specifically provides grants to organizations which meet the needs of families after a loved one’s death through illness, accident, sudden death or violence.

Grant Seekers

The Foundation for Grieving Children, Inc. provides grants to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and programs which:

• Assist, counsel, educate and comfort children and families who have experienced the death of a loved one;
• Educate bereavement, healthcare, education, social service, business, criminal justice and other professionals and society to the needs of the bereaved.

Mission & Values

Life Comes From It is a first of its kind grantmaking circle where decisions over funding are made by people heavily steeped in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacemaking. We seek to grow the movement for adopting restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices throughout our society. We have come together around a shared vision of addressing harm through community solutions, without reliance on incarceration and punitive systems.

We aim to strengthen the foundation of restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices led by people of color.

Our Mission

Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle. We support grassroots movement-building work rooted in lived experience and relationships for restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking.

Funding Values & Criteria

We aim to support projects, organizations and collaborations that embody these values:

• Commitment to working towards replacing criminalization and incarceration with alternative approaches to address violence and repair harm rooted in community solutions
• Prioritizing peacemaking development and indigenous initiatives led by Native people
• Rooting the work in the community’s own culture(s), language(s), place(s), faith(s), and belief system(s) so it reflects the people that engage in it
• Guided by the wisdom of people, families and communities of color
• Commitment to anti-oppression practices
• Supporting the creation of new thinking and language that is holistic, intersectional, interdependent, and liberatory
• Promoting and sustaining collective leadership, collaboration and partnership
• Living the values of the work internally and externally to build community and heal harm within and against communities
• Intergenerational inclusivity - people of all generations: youth, adults, elders are encouraged to apply​

The Four Fields

• Restorative Justice
• Transformative Justice
• Indigenous Peacemaking
• Land Based Projects 

What we Believe

• We believe that human relations can replace the work of institutions.
• ​We are invested in shifting power.
• ​We believe in doing no harm – not further victimizing people who have been victimized in the search for funding. We seek to keep an open door relationship with those who look for funding.
• ​We believe in interdependence and creating a culture where we do not pit one against another.
• ​We strive to build connections between restorative justice, transformative justice, indigenous peacemaking, and "justice, healing and soil."
• ​We hold an intersectional lens
• ​We emphasize the underlying spirit and values of the work rather than the categories we use to define our work. 
• ​Our vision is rooted in lived experience – as community activists, formerly incarcerated people, crime survivors, indigenous persons, and people of color— and has led us to 115 years of experience in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacebuilding.

Background

The Domestic Public Policy Program supports projects that will help the public and policy makers understand and address critical challenges facing the United States. To that end, the Foundation supports research on and evaluation of existing public policies and programs, as well as projects that inject new ideas into public debates. 

The Foundation believes that policy makers face a series of challenges that need to be met if the United States is going to continue to prosper and provide opportunity to all of its citizens. Even as public finances begin to recover in the wake of the financial crisis and recession, officials are confronting difficult choices that will have to be made in order to restore long-term fiscal balances while maintaining essential public services. These choices will include decisions regarding how best to raise revenues while also creating an environment conducive to economic growth. Policy makers are also looking for strategies that can deliver key public services, such as education and criminal justice, in an effective and efficient manner. There is also a need to develop strategies to improve the long-term growth rate of the U.S. economy and strengthen economic opportunity. Doing so will require a combination of more effective strategies to develop human capital and establishing an economic climate hospitable to entrepreneurship and growth.

To meet these broad objectives, the Foundation has developed a number of grant making portfolios.

• A group of grants is focused on the challenges of identifying mechanisms that can inform thinking on fiscal practices at the national, state, and municipal levels.
• In terms of human capital development, the Foundation has been supporting work to identify how schools can become more productive by, for example, increasing the quality of the teacher workforce or adopting more effective curricula.
• Because success in the contemporary economy requires individuals to acquire education and training beyond high school, the Foundation is building a portfolio of projects on post-secondary education.
• Finally, the Foundation is supporting work on the criminal justice system that will examine whether costs can be lowered while still protecting public safety.

Mission

The mission of the Smith Richardson Foundation is to contribute to important public debates and to address serious public policy challenges facing the United States. The Foundation seeks to help ensure the vitality of our social, economic, and governmental institutions. It also seeks to assist with the development of effective policies to compete internationally and to advance U.S. interests and values abroad.

The Foundation advances its mission through its two principal grant making programs: the International Security and Foreign Policy Program and the Domestic Public Policy Program. The Foundation believes that conflict and change in the international environment continually create needs in the U.S. policy community for analysis and guidance on critical foreign and defense policy issues. In the domestic arena, the Foundation believes that policy makers are seeking innovative and pragmatic solutions to the long-term challenges affecting the well being of all Americans.

About

Targum Shlishi is a philanthropic foundation devoted to supporting positive change. Effecting positive change in the world is a creative act, an often noble endeavor that deserves attention, imitation, and support. There are many daunting problems facing world Jewry today, and those problems must be addressed. At Targum Shlishi, we believe in working toward solutions. Our goal is to find and support organizations dedicated to innovative problem solving. We celebrate the art of positive change by funding initiatives we believe will make a difference in a variety of areas related to Jewish life.

Targum Shlishi seeks innovative, unpublicized, and behind-the-scenes initiatives working for meaningful change that otherwise might not attract funding. Such are the causes that need our support most, and it is where our funding can have the greatest impact. The projects we fund range in scope from local to international; our goal is not to fund the highest profile projects but to fund those that are creative and, when possible, replicable.

We give strategically and we give knowledgeably, extensively researching the initiatives and their supporting organizations. Many of the projects Targum Shlishi supports are initiated by us, and we then work with others to implement the ideas. In addition, Targum Shlishi has partnered with other funders in collaborative endeavors several times. Further, Targum Shlishi also generates several of its own projects, such as producing books and websites.

Where practicable, Targum Shlishi promotes its ideas to other communities and distributes information and guidelines for establishing similar programs.

Targum Shlishi was founded in 1992 by Aryeh and Raquel Rubin and is based in Miami. The majority of our funding initiatives have been remarkably successful. On some occasions, projects have not lived up to the promise we saw in them, but such situations are learning experiences; the insight generated is applied to future projects or shared with other organizations. There is no blueprint for the type of organization or the type of project we support. In a very meaningful way, our choices are subjective—we need, quite simply, to sincerely believe in the project and its ability to make a difference. And while there is no overriding formula that dictates our funding, successful projects tend to be a complex mix of vision and practicality. We invest in management. We look for strong, committed leaders with senses of purpose, realistic work plans, concrete goals, and abundant optimism. We look for the promise of creative change.

Primary Areas of Giving

Education

Jewish education is the key to our future, and Targum Shlishi is deeply committed to furthering causes, programs, and initiatives related to education. Providing the best possible schooling for our children, lifelong learning opportunities for adults, and advancing scholarship are all of urgent necessity. Targum Shlishi’s support for education is wide-ranging and encompasses a diversity of projects. Examples include units of study at day schools, research grants for academic books, film projects, conferences, and websites. On the day school level, there are many challenges facing Jewish education and educators today. One is the challenge of fully incorporating progressive educational practices and theories; another challenge is the emergence of technology. Targum Shlishi is an active supporter of projects related to the digital era, and the foundation nurtured and funded many technology-related projects in the educational arena, including websites, podcasts, blended learning, and more.

Women’s Issues

For women this is an exciting time of growth and change. True, lasting, positive change must be nurtured, tended, and enthusiastically encouraged over time for it to take root. The women of today are increasingly questioning the status quo, assuming leadership roles, and making critical contributions, in contrast to what was expected in the past, when women typically were relegated to supporting roles. Targum Shlishi is wholly dedicated to supporting the changing roles that women and girls are assuming in spiritual, religious, communal, and social settings. It is essential that our women and girls receive the same rigorous intellectual and spiritual training and support that men and boys receive. The foundation has supported several initiatives designed to enable the voices of Jewish women to be heard loudly and clearly, from within the synagogues and without. Projects supported vary widely, from educational programs that ordain Orthodox women to organizations that advocate for the rights of agunot.

Israel

Causes related to Israel are of core concern to Targum Shlishi, from promoting understanding among factions within the country to encouraging peace in the Middle East to countering the growing worldwide propensity to delegitimize Israel. In its early years as a foundation, Targum Shlishi took part in several fact-finding missions to the country, both privately and with official delegations. The foundation’s support has traditionally included programs that provide aid to Israeli educational institutions and its citizens, such as educational and spiritual initiatives for children and adults free loans, food rescue, and food for the holidays. Additionally, in recent years Targum Shlishi has turned its focus to supporting urgent issues related to the well-being of Israel both at home and abroad.

Holocaust Awareness

Support of projects related to Holocaust awareness, education, and combatting denial is critically important; Targum Shlishi believes that in the face of steadily rising anti-Semitism, increasing knowledge of the Holocaust is essential. In its first two decades as a foundation, Targum Shlishi’s commitment in this area focused on bringing the remaining Nazi war criminals to justice, in the belief that these individuals must be held fully accountable for their crimes, regardless of the passage of time. To that end, Targum Shlishi provided ongoing support for the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, working closely with its director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, and often assuming an active role in initiatives. In more recent years, the foundation has increasingly turned its focus to research and academic and community programs that promote accurate knowledge of the Shoah.

The Fund for Trans Generations resources BIPOC, trans-led organizations working to advance community safety, supportive community housing, decarceration, and access to health care and mental health—to build a world in which all people can live with self determination, safety, and joy.

The FTG plays an important role in providing significant resources to emerging trans-led groups that have had limited access to national funding streams. The FTG is committed to growing with organizations and increasing their capacity and leadership development as they meet the needs of transgender, gender non-conforming and nonbinary communities. The Fund provides both general support grants and organizational development grants to their grantee partners.

The FTG’s grantee partners work holistically to address the individual and collective needs of trans people, from survival to thriving to building power.

The FTG was launched in 2016 and has moved more than $12 million in 751 grants to 234 trans-led organizations!

The FTG prioritizes funding for organizations addressing:

• Health and Healing
• Education
• Anti-violence
• Employment
• Housing
• Criminalization
• Leadership Development
• Grassroots Organizing
• Movement Building
• Mutual Aid and Direct Services
• Arts and Culture

What are the values of FTG?

The Fund for Trans Generations is rooted in the following values:

• Moving beyond equality to justice;
• An intersectional feminism grounded in queer, trans, and gender nonconforming communities of color;
• A commitment to addressing the root causes of transphobia, misogyny, racism, classism, and homophobia;
• A focus on the resilience of trans communities and leaders of\ the trans movement; and
• A commitment to solidarity, collaboration and transparency.

Can you tell me more about the Rapid Response Fund?

As we have witnessed recently and historically, the conditions of trans communities can change rapidly due to increased visibility and transphobic attacks by individuals and institutions. Organizations and communities often need additional resources to respond quickly to organized opposition and to unanticipated events. The FTG rapid response fund will provide support for situations that require immediate response and for proactive activities that pursue strategic opportunities.

Budget Criteria

• Project budget should not exceed $600,000; we have no minimum budget requirements. A project based at an organization with a budget larger than $600,000 may apply as long as it is trans-led.
• Organizations or projects may apply for a rapid response grant at any time and may only receive one rapid response grant per every 12-month period. Grant amounts will not exceed $10,000 per organization with an average size grant being $5,000 to $7,000.

Allard Prize for International Integrity

Launched in 2012, the Allard Prize for International Integrity is one of the world's largest prizes dedicated to the fight against corruption and the protection of human rights (CAD $100,000).

The Allard Prize is awarded biennially to an individual, movement, or organization that has demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in combating corruption or protecting human rights, especially through promoting transparency, accountability, and the Rule of Law. Nominations are ongoing and open to the public.

Criteria

We recognize that all range of participants in global society can make important contributions to addressing these critical issues, so we welcome nominations from all types of individuals, movements and organizations. Nominees could include prominent world leaders, grass roots activists, social movements, charitable groups dedicated to specific social issues or other corporate bodies, whether for-profit or not. The breadth of this focus reinforces our belief that we all have responsibilities to promote transparency and the Rule of Law.

• Courage - We understand courage as requiring action in the face of significant personal constraints. These constraints may be to the safety of the nominee and their family, but they may also entail other types of personal cost. They might include, for example, potential implications for future career prospects, financial wellbeing, exclusion from social groups or other consequences that are undesirable to the nominee. The essence of courage for the purposes of this award is that the nominee has acted to combat corruption and promote transparency, regardless of potential costs personally.
• Leadership - A nominee’s activities must inspire others. Leadership of new social movements is one obvious example of this inspiration, but there are many others. For instance, leadership could also include the development of new technologies for monitoring kickbacks to government officials, even though there might only be a loose connection between the developers of the tools and the end users. Along the same lines, scholars also show leadership where their actions stimulate change, irrespective of whether or not they implement their ideas themselves. Inspiration is the touchstone.
• Anti-Corruption - We understand corruption to mean the abuse of power. Corruption can occur within government, but it also takes place within private institutions, companies, and non-governmental organizations. At the political level, corruption often involves abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected or appointed government officials for personal or related party gain, sometimes in connection with favouritism in the awarding of jobs or contracts. Outside government, it involves extortion, bribery and other attempts to circumvent the law. A nominee’s work must seek to resist or overcome corrupt practices for the benefit of society and promotion of long-term stability, which sometimes may even involve challenging the law itself if it serves corrupt purposes. The nominee’s actions can relate to a single important act of corruption or practices that lead to the systematic or incremental corruption of a political regime.
• Transparency - Transparency implies public disclosure. On one level, transparency involves regular and accurate publication of important governmental practices and information that allow for informed public debate. This disclosure goes to the heart of democratic principles by allowing local voters to make informed decisions at the ballot box. On another level, the term also involves revealing hidden practices that are harmful to the wider social interest, even if they occur privately. While nominees must promote transparency, they should also be sensitive to the potentially negative and damaging consequences of revealing certain types of information.
• Accountability - We believe that those responsible for diverting public wealth or undermining the Rule of Law should answer to the public for their actions. At a minimum, this implies that those who are responsible for acts of corruption should be identified. Beyond identification alone, other forms of legal accountability might also be appropriate, ranging from financial reparations to criminal charges in egregious circumstances. While we have no preconceived idea about the form accountability must take, the nominee should work to further justice by calling those responsible for acts of corruption to account for their wrongs.
• Rule of Law - A society governed by the Rule of Law operates under a system of fair and just legal standards, not arbitrary government. Thus, the Rule of Law denotes an orderly and ethical legal system, where at a minimum legislature, executive and judiciary are independent, where law enforcement is impartial and where all individuals are equal before the law. Likewise, the term requires that no entity is beyond the law, including governments, corporations and other powerful members of society. The successful nominee’s work will promote the establishment and maintenance of these principles, within local communities, individual countries or globally.

Sky Ranch Foundation

Formed in 1961 and building on more than 60 years of tradition, Sky Ranch Foundation ℠ is a tax-exempt charitable organization committed to giving at-risk youth a second chance by identifying and offering grants to efficient and effective programs focused on improving the quality of help available to these youth.

Funding Interests

Preference will be given to organizations that:

• Serve troubled youth between the ages of 11-18, with a priority for programs that focus on youth between the ages of 11-15
• Focus on preventing youth involvement in the criminal justice system, or provide long-term rehabilitation in a residential or alternative setting.
• Provide comprehensive support services to youth that may include education, job training, enrichment activities, counseling and case management.

Proposals that fall outside of the Foundation’s guidelines will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

Geographic Focus

The Foundation funds programs and organizations that work with at-risk youth within the United States, its possessions, and territories, or operated within Native American tribal lands. Requests for programs outside those geographies will not be considered.

Type of Support

General operating, capital and capacity-building.

Award

The typical grant size will be between $5,000 and $40,000. Grants outside of this range will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

Focus Areas

Through our Catalyze Fund, Pillars invests in a vibrant network of Muslim leaders who are developing thoughtful, multidisciplinary approaches to complex challenges of inequity and injustice and, in doing so, catalyze just public policy and social change. For this RFP, we are searching for Muslim-centered, justice-focused organizations whose missions and programs fall within one of the following three focus areas: 

Reimagining Public Safety

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their homes, schools, places of worship, workplaces, and beyond. Too often, our communities experience racial and religious profiling and targeted policing in these spaces, jeopardizing our safety in our own communities. As a society, we must divest from harmful practices and invest in services and programs that promote individual and collective well-being. At Pillars, we support Muslim leaders and organizations who are working to end the unjust criminalization of our communities and who are promoting community-driven solutions that protect us all. Grantee partners reimagining public safety are organizing around mass surveillance, racial and religious profiling, immigrant detention and deportation, promoting prisoners' rights, and money bond/bail. 

Promoting Mental Health and Wellness

Access to adequate health care—including mental health care—is a basic human right. Yet barriers to access prevent Muslims from receiving the mental health support they need, even as the demand for it grows. We need to build an infrastructure that reimagines what healing and holistic care can look like for our communities. At Pillars, we support the promotion of healthy communities and spiritually and culturally relevant mental health resources designed with Muslims in mind. Grantee partners promoting mental health and wellness are organizing around mental health awareness and education; public events and campaigns; coalition building; mental health research; spiritual abuse; and suicide prevention. 

Building Civic Power

A true democracy demands transparency and fully informed, engaged citizens. However, entrenched inequality in the United States has kept many communities out of critical decision-making processes that have real-life consequences. We need to create more opportunities for full participation at all levels of civic life and to build the power necessary to reshape systems for the greater good. At Pillars, we support Muslim leaders who are organizing communities, creating timely and relevant civic media, training potential candidates, mobilizing voters, ad demographic and issue area research, and ultimately transforming our democracy to one that serves us all.

If you have any questions or concerns, check out our FAQ page. 

Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation

The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in the lives of those living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is our mission to award grants to organizations and institutions doing work that will have a tangible impact on the field of mental health. Our vision is a better world, where those afflicted with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might no longer feel the isolation so often associated with the disease.

Every grant the foundation awards starts with a single question: “Would this have benefited Sidney?” Our namesake was a member of the well-known family who founded the Stix Baer and Fuller department store chain. A brilliant businessman who was only limited by his illness, Sidney accumulated a great deal of wealth in his lifetime, but no amount of money was enough to soothe the overwhelming struggles associated with his schizophrenia.

In honor of Sidney R. Baer, Jr., the foundation has identified five grant segments where we believe our funds will make the biggest difference for those suffering from serious mental illness. Education, criminal justice, reintegration, clinical research, and social support are all aspects of Sidney’s day-to-day life where greater access to understanding and resources would have improved his quality of life

Criminal Justice Grants

According to a study cited by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, an estimated 2 million individuals suffering from serious mental illness are jailed each year. Despite the fact that most of these individuals are arrested for nonviolent crimes like trespassing, disturbing the peace, or drug use; research shows that mentally ill inmates tend to be incarcerated for longer, return to prison more frequently, and cost more to incarcerate than those without mental illness. Sidney R. Baer, Jr. himself is a part of this statistic.

From pre-arrest treatment options to training for law enforcement officials and discounted specialized legal services, it is the goal of The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation to provide grants to the organizations and individuals who are striving to make a difference in this area of the mental health field.

Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation

The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in the lives of those living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is our mission to award grants to organizations and institutions doing work that will have a tangible impact on the field of mental health. Our vision is a better world, where those afflicted with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might no longer feel the isolation so often associated with the disease.

Every grant the foundation awards starts with a single question: “Would this have benefited Sidney?” Our namesake was a member of the well-known family who founded the Stix Baer and Fuller department store chain. A brilliant businessman who was only limited by his illness, Sidney accumulated a great deal of wealth in his lifetime, but no amount of money was enough to soothe the overwhelming struggles associated with his schizophrenia.

In honor of Sidney R. Baer, Jr., the foundation has identified five grant segments where we believe our funds will make the biggest difference for those suffering from serious mental illness. Education, criminal justice, reintegration, clinical research, and social support are all aspects of Sidney’s day-to-day life where greater access to understanding and resources would have improved his quality of life

Education Grants

The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation provides grants that afford individuals living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder the same opportunity at an education that Sidney received. We are also passionate about fostering additional financial and academic resources that, if in existence at the time, would have greatly benefited Sidney during his time in school. From direct scholarships to the sponsorship of academic programs for those resuming their education after experiencing mental health issues, The Sidney R. Baer Jr. Foundation views education as a priceless resource for the mentally ill.

Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation

The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in the lives of those living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is our mission to award grants to organizations and institutions doing work that will have a tangible impact on the field of mental health. Our vision is a better world, where those afflicted with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might no longer feel the isolation so often associated with the disease.

Every grant the foundation awards starts with a single question: “Would this have benefited Sidney?” Our namesake was a member of the well-known family who founded the Stix Baer and Fuller department store chain. A brilliant businessman who was only limited by his illness, Sidney accumulated a great deal of wealth in his lifetime, but no amount of money was enough to soothe the overwhelming struggles associated with his schizophrenia.

In honor of Sidney R. Baer, Jr., the foundation has identified five grant segments where we believe our funds will make the biggest difference for those suffering from serious mental illness. Education, criminal justice, reintegration, clinical research, and social support are all aspects of Sidney’s day-to-day life where greater access to understanding and resources would have improved his quality of life

Reintegration Grants

Living with mental illness is a lifelong journey. The key to making the most of that journey is focusing on a person’s abilities rather than just their symptoms. Thanks to outstanding curing, aiding, and treatment programs, individuals living with severe mental illness can experience increased fulfillment, stability, and a sense of purpose both personally and professionally.

Sidney R. Baer, Jr. was an avid supporter of the clubhouse model of treatment for schizophrenia. It was his belief, and is the belief of The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation, that encouraging individuals to be active participants in their own recovery and the recovery of others builds confidence, friendship, and life skills.

We manifest our support of reintegration programs in many ways. From scholarships for deserving individuals to get the reintegration support they need to fully funding the construction and management of New York based Fountain House, we aim to ensure that living with mental illness is an obtainable goal.

Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation

The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in the lives of those living with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is our mission to award grants to organizations and institutions doing work that will have a tangible impact on the field of mental health. Our vision is a better world, where those afflicted with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might no longer feel the isolation so often associated with the disease.

Every grant the foundation awards starts with a single question: “Would this have benefited Sidney?” Our namesake was a member of the well-known family who founded the Stix Baer and Fuller department store chain. A brilliant businessman who was only limited by his illness, Sidney accumulated a great deal of wealth in his lifetime, but no amount of money was enough to soothe the overwhelming struggles associated with his schizophrenia.

In honor of Sidney R. Baer, Jr., the foundation has identified five grant segments where we believe our funds will make the biggest difference for those suffering from serious mental illness. Education, criminal justice, reintegration, clinical research, and social support are all aspects of Sidney’s day-to-day life where greater access to understanding and resources would have improved his quality of life

Social Support Grants

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do not need to be stigmatized. Through social support and education The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation softens the blow of loneliness and shame typically felt by those living with mental illness. Simple awareness is the first step towards a more compassionate environment for the mentally ill. The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation also supports advocacy and other channels for eradicating the many misconceptions about schizophrenia.

About the Youth Foundation

The Finish Line Youth Foundation (FLYF) supports life's biggest possibilities as the philanthropic arm of Finish Line. FLYF is a national partner of Special Olympics and dedicated corporate citizen to the Far Eastside of Indianapolis. FLYF also provides financial support for diversity and inclusion initiatives, opportunities for those with special needs and resources for disadvantaged youth.

Louder Than Words Grant

Our Louder Than Words grants serve as part of Finish Line's Louder Than Words platform and our goal to support diverse and underserved communities. These grants will be awarded to nonprofit organizations that make a difference in our corporate Indianapolis neighborhood as well as communities across the country.

Projects that Qualify for Funding

Cycle 1 Focus: Far East Side of Indianapolis

Cycle 2 Focus: Health & Wellness

• Programming or activities for participation in programs that place an importance on personal development, an active and healthy lifestyle or mental health
  • Scholarships that provide full or partial funding to participate in programs provided by organization

Cycle 3 Focus: Workforce Development

• Programming or activities for participation in programs that place an importance on higher education, vocational training, and/or career development
  • Scholarships that provide full or partial funding to participate in programs provided by organization

Cycle 4 Focus: Safe Communities

• Programming or activities for participation in programs that emphasize public safety, building trust between communities and police, and/or reforming the criminal justice system
• Improvements and/or renovations to existing buildings, grounds, and property or for new facilities and/or grounds
• Emergency needs that would somehow be keeping the organization from providing current services such as natural disasters or other unforeseen circumstances that require special funding to help

Available Funding

• Organizations can request up to $10,000.

The Rapid Response Fund provides the philanthropic community with a vehicle for deploying resources quickly and strategically to Reproductive Justice and social justice organizations during unexpected and critical campaign fights and key opportunities.

In 2023, we funded 96 organizations to the tune of almost $820k.

We encourage applicants to submit requests in advance of the deadline as intake call spots can be filled up quickly.

Groundswell’s Rapid Response Fund (RRF) provides fast funding to grassroots organizations led by women of color, trans people, and low-income women in critical but unexpected fights to protect and advance reproductive and social justice.

What does the Rapid Response Fund support?

There is a range. The Rapid Response Fund has supported organizations doing work around activating and mobilizing their base for direct action, key campaigns, organizing opportunities, and building up coalitions and alliances. The Fund is a multi-issue Fund and has resourced work around reproductive justice, abortion care and support, trans justice, criminal legal reform and abolition work, environmental justice, healing justice, building communities and systems of care, among other critical issues of our time.

The Rapid Response Fund also  collaborated with the Black Trans Fund to grant $200,000  specifically to Black trans-led organizations. In addition to the $1.1 million, RRF moved $150,000 in one-time rapid response support grants to existing Birth Justice Fund  grantees.

Groundswell’s Rapid Response Fund will continue to center its criteria around:

Urgency

The request is responding to an unanticipated event, political moment, and/or requires urgent or timely action. It is a new/unexpected critical opportunity or threat.

 Leadership

• Must be majority women of color and/or transgender, gender expansive people of color-led organization.
• Groundswell Fund defines majority leadership that is more than 50% in decision making.

Definition of Women of Color and/or Trans and Gender Expansive (TGE) Led:

• organizations with a majority WOC/TGE board, staff, and volunteers in leadership positions;
• a WOC/TGE-led effort that is a core strategic priority within a majority white/cisgender people of color/white trans-led organization. This organization must have WOC/TGE in decision-making positions at the staff and board level;
• a WOC/TGE-led coalition; or

Organizing + Base-Building

• Groundswell Fund’s RRF aims to support organizations with a history of dismantling systems of oppression by way of organizing as a central strategy.
• Groundswell defines organizing as ongoing, systematic engagement and relationship building with an ever-expanding and increasingly committed number of constituents and leaders who act collectively to change the conditions harming the community due to systemic oppression and state-sanctioned violence.
• Specifically, this is achieved by building a base. Groundswell defines base building as using strategies to build the leadership of directly impacted communities to create solutions to the issues negatively impacting their lives, and gain skills, abilities, and collective power needed to transform and dismantle policies and systems that affect their lives.

Building Systems of Community Care

• For birth justice groups, using a reproductive justice and community-centric frame to provide a spectrum of support which includes abortion services, birth, and postpartum care that is urgent and responsive to a specific event.
• Building new systems and imagining new ways of care for directly impacted people outside of existing systems which may include mutual aid and food sovereignty.
  • This must be tied to organizing and not direct service provision.
• If the organization is an existing Groundswell Fund grantee, the RRF request must fall outside their existing scope of work.

We are particularly interested in supporting the following issues in response to this political moment that meets other funding criteria and addresses the following community care needs:

• Community Care, mutual aid, and disaster resilience efforts in response to climate disasters led by directly impacted communities.
• Local efforts to advance vaccine equity and health justice in places where Covid-19 variant deaths and cases are on the rise rooted in issues organizing and base-building organizations.
• Housing justice efforts in response to the eviction moratoriums being lifted
• Community rooted and local birth justice efforts and organizing. This means using a reproductive justice and community-centric frame to provide a spectrum of support which includes abortion services, birth, and postpartum care that is urgent and responsive to a specific event.
• Healing justice connected to a specific campaign or issue organizing opportunity

Additional Considerations:

Groundswell Fund has made a commitment to movement to specifically increase grantmaking to Black women, Indigenous women, trans women of color, and TGE people broadly. In addition to those communities, Groundswell is also prioritizing Southern, Midwest, and rural communities.

About Us

As a leading pharmaceutical company in the United States, we focus our innovation on some of the most devastating diseases and the most complex medical challenges of our time, across six therapeutic areas:

• Cardiovascular & Metabolism
• Immunology
• Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
• Neuroscience
• Oncology
• Pulmonary Hypertension

Therapeutic Giving

Janssen is interested in funding programs and initiatives that improve patient access to treatment and services, advance health equity and strengthen frontline health workforces within the therapeutic areas noted.

Across therapeutic areas, we support disease awareness efforts, patient empowerment and advocacy, and linkages to care. Our preference is in support of programs focused on health system improvement with measurable outcomes over fundraising activities.

Neuroscience

Disease Areas

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Schizoaffective Disorder

Areas of Interest

• Recovery-focused programs, including initiatives on quality of life, coping, housing, social isolation, employment, and wellness
• Early intervention programs
• Programs supporting access, continuity of care, and relapse prevention
• Programs addressing healthcare disparities and the stigma associated with mental illness
• Crisis intervention programs
• Education and programs addressing mental health and the criminal justice system
• Initiatives may be for patients, caregivers/families, peers, policy makers, community leaders, or the broader community

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:

Introduce or expand mindfulness meditation through educational or human service nonprofits or government entities, such as K-12 public schools, colleges and universities, correctional facilities, rehabilitation programs, healthcare, counseling and case management services.

Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, BIPOC and LGBTQ communities, people in the criminal justice system, people with low incomes, and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.

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.

Our Social Justice Fund (SJF)

The Institute’s primary grantmaking program funds grassroots activist projects in the US and around the world, prioritizing those with small budgets and little access to mainstream funding . A rotating council of current and past board members, with volunteers from our SJF grantee community, screens applications. They bring a wide range of organizing experience and diverse political perspectives to the process.

Our Social Justice Fund makes grants for grassroots activist projects in the US, giving priority to those with small budgets and little access to more mainstream funding sources. We are especially interested in funding efforts to:

• end the violence of borders and the criminalization of immigrants, shut down CBP and ICE
• abolish prisons and dismantle and redefine systems of policing and criminal justice
• confront institutionalized violence against racial, ethnic, gender-based, and LGBTQ communities
• put an end to economic exploitation, class stratification, systemic poverty
• stop the war machine, end state sponsored terrorism, expose the dangers of nuclear power

The Social Justice Fund's priority is to support:

• direct grassroots activism and organizing
• groups with diverse, representative and democratic leadership structures
• groups that need additional support to carry out a project or build capacity

Circle for Justice Innovations

Mission

CJI’s mission is to end mass criminalization and incarceration by building and strengthening the infrastructure of the grassroots criminal justice movement to fundamentally transform the U.S. criminal legal system. We fund where the movement is developing, shifting, and growing. We believe this movement should be led by those most impacted by the injustices of the current system, working in alliances across race, class, faith, gender, gender identity, sexuality, immigration status, and age.

Until She’s Free

Launched by CJI in 2020, the Until She’s Free is a necessary, strategic, and timely response to this growing crisis. Until She’s Free is an innovative, participatory grantmaking circle comprised of community organizers, many of whom have experienced incarceration, working alongside donors and donor activists. We share power and a passion for supporting a meaningful, transformative, and systemic change in the criminal legal system, as well as a commitment to interrogating the elements of a Just Sisterhood.

Until She’s Free is a grantmaking initiative strictly supporting women-led organizations addressing state-sanctioned violence against women and girls, including trans women and trans girls, and gender-nonconforming people, and their criminalization and subsequent incarceration, while also elevating their leadership in bringing about foundational change.

UNTIL SHE’S FREE FUND

The Until She’s Free Circle, a fund of Circle for Justice Innovations, is seeking applications from women, girls, trans and gender expansive people-led organizations tackling the Systems faced by incarcerated, detained, criminalized or formerly incarcerated women, girls, trans and gender expansive people.  We are committed to flanking organizations that are addressing current realities of incarcerated and criminalized women, girls, trans and gender expansive people and the innovative solutions needed to build power and create transformative systems change.

If this is your work and mission, we encourage you to apply including but not limited to formerly incarcerated women, girls, trans people, undocumented activists; focused on forward thinking approaches to transform the criminal legal system and sustain our communities.

BACKGROUND

The Circle for Justice Innovations (CJI) resources organizations seeking to end mass incarceration and criminalization. Celebrating 25 years of grantmaking, CJI was founded to combat prison expansion, mass incarceration, and racial disparities affecting marginalized communities and seed organizations whose work is led by formerly incarcerated and directly impacted leadership

The Until She’s Free Circle (USF) is a participatory grant-making circle of community organizers, many with lived incarceration experience, alongside donors and donor-activists. The Until She’s Free Fund shares consensus decision making power and commitment to a Just Sisterhood process in philanthropy. The Circle seeks to end the racialized carceral state, creating new frameworks for safety, and accountability models. This Circle was launched to provide vital support for addressing the criminal legal system's impact on women, girls, trans and gender-expansive people, while uplifting their leadership in this critical work.

This year’s USF funding priorities include:

• Carcel Conditions and Systems Control focused work organizations committed to improving conditions for those incarcerated, advocating for basic human dignity, as well as addressing harmful alternatives to incarceration (e.g., e- incarceration) and the economic related profits from Systems surveillance.
• Black and Latine Trans-led organizations advocating for ending incarceration and criminalization of trans and gender expansive people. Including but not limited to conditions and access while incarcerated and/or detained, participation in survival economy strategies, and gender-based affirming justice solutions.
• Immigration & Detention organizing around immigrant detention, family separation, and ICE deportations; political education and Know Your Rights trainings for community safety.
• Gender Affirming Care & Reproductive Justice, Health and Access for justice and systems involved women, girls, trans, and gender expansive people, including those in jails, prisons, detention centers and other forms of state supervision.
• Indigenous Practice Based and Cultural Organizing work using indigenous practices to disrupt incarceration and criminalization. Including narrative shifts, cultural organizing, and storytelling.
• Restorative, Healing and Transformative Justice work - innovative solutions to combat incarcerations and criminalization in communities, behind the wall and as an interruption and intervention to incarceration.

Background

The Foundation for Improvement of Justice, Inc. is a private, not-for-profit organization that was founded for the purpose of improving local, state and federal systems of justice. Our mission is to recognize innovative and effective works and/or programs whose efforts have made positive influential differences in the United States criminal and civil judicial arenas.

Our intent is to encourage further improvement in the various systems of justice in the United States through both recognition and reward.

Awards Program

The Foundation accepts nominations of individuals and/or organizations who have contributed unique improvements to the civil or criminal justice systems within the United States. 

Annual award winners are chosen based solely on the blind nomination. The number of winners selected each year is based on a percentage of the nominations received. The award package includes: a Paul H. Chapman Medal, a check for $15,000, a framed certificate, and an expenses paid trip to the awards banquet in Atlanta, Georgia.

Please note that these are awards for successful accomplishments inclusive of innovative programs which have proven effective and can serve as models for others. Recipients are not required to render any further services as a condition of receiving an award. 

The Foundation considers accomplishments in the following categories:

• Legal Reform
• Crime Prevention
• Child Protection
• Speeding the Process
• Crime Victims’ Rights
• Alternative Sentencing
• Lowering the Cost
• Improvements to Civil Litigation Process
• Other Significant Efforts

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

About Us

As a leading pharmaceutical company in the United States, we focus our innovation on some of the most devastating diseases and the most complex medical challenges of our time, across six therapeutic areas:

• Cardiovascular & Metabolism
• Immunology
• Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
• Neuroscience
• Oncology
• Pulmonary Hypertension

Therapeutic Giving

Janssen is interested in funding programs and initiatives that improve patient access to treatment and services, advance health equity and strengthen frontline health workforces within the therapeutic areas noted.

Across therapeutic areas, we support disease awareness efforts, patient empowerment and advocacy, and linkages to care. Our preference is in support of programs focused on health system improvement with measurable outcomes over fundraising activities.

Neuroscience

Disease Areas

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Schizoaffective Disorder

Areas of Interest

• Recovery-focused programs, including initiatives on quality of life, coping, housing, social isolation, employment, and wellness
• Early intervention programs
• Programs supporting access, continuity of care, and relapse prevention
• Programs addressing healthcare disparities and the stigma associated with mental illness
• Crisis intervention programs
• Education and programs addressing mental health and the criminal justice system
• Initiatives may be for patients, caregivers/families, peers, policy makers, community leaders, or the broader community

Background

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) was founded in 2018 as a private 501(c)(3) national, grant-making foundation focused on addressing the United States’ opioid and overdose crisis. FORE is committed to funding a wide range of projects contributing solutions to the crisis at national, state, and community levels. FORE’s mission is to convene and support partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions impacting people experiencing opioid use disorder (OUD), their families, and their communities.

Funding Opportunity

This RFP will focus on continuing to support CBO capacity to address OUD and overdose through organizational strengthening, program development, and community partnerships. FORE will provide support for requests that lead to greater capacity for and expected sustainability of initiatives that reduce the burden of OUD and overdose in local communities. Funding is for specific activities or projects designed to strengthen an organization’s operations, leadership, technology, programmatic, and/or administrative capacity. Applicants will advocate for what they need to be successful and the results they aim to achieve. Requests may include one or more of the following, or may propose other activities:

• Enhance Operational Effectiveness to improve productivity and organizational functioning in areas such as administration, finance, human resources, and technology to plan for longer-term sustainability and diversified funding.
• Strengthen Communication efforts to raise awareness about an organization’s mission and attract attention and resources to the organization.
• Strengthen and Evaluate Programming to enhance access and delivery of OUD services to more individuals and families in their communities.
• Foster Collaborations with a broader range of allies – education, workforce, criminal justice and specialty courts, primary and behavioral healthcare – to strengthen community engagement that results in stronger and expanded services.

Competitive applications will demonstrate how the funding will result in long-lasting improvements in increasing access to OUD and overdose prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and/or recovery services in their communities. Applicants must explain the link between the proposed use of the grant funds and their ability to attain specific outcomes addressing OUD and/or overdose. Through this funding, it is expected CBOs will enhance their ability to lead and deliver services addressing the opioid and drug overdose crisis, particularly in communities with high-risk populations. FORE envisions a national cohort of CBO grantees and expects that project leads will participate in periodic meetings and opportunities to share knowledge with fellow grantees in the cohort.

Applicants may apply for a grant of up to $75,000 per year for up to two years. Award amounts and project duration must align with the scope of work and the capabilities of the applying organization.

Mission

AIDS United’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the United States.

In the ongoing work for social justice and true equity, ending the HIV epidemic in the United States is our chosen role. We’ve seen firsthand how the intersectionality of social injustice, discrimination and health care disparity impacts those living with HIV, and we believe alleviating this struggle is a pivotal step toward our national well-being.

Vision

AIDS United envisions a time when all people, governments, and organizations commit to ending the epidemic and strengthening the health, well-being, and human rights of everyone impacted by HIV.

Harm Reduction Futures Fund

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund (formerly the Syringe Access Fund) is a collaborative grantmaking initiative that seeks to reduce the health, psychosocial, and socioeconomic disparities experienced by people who use drugs (PWUD). The Harm Reduction Futures Fund invests in evidence-based and community-driven approaches to prevent the transmission of both HIV and viral hepatitis, reduce injection-related injuries, increase overdose prevention and reversal efforts, and connect people who use drugs to comprehensive prevention, treatment, and support services.

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund will award grants this Round to three kinds of organizations:

• syringe services programs providing direct services,
• harm reduction organizations supporting multiple syringe service programs providing direct services

Please note, we are currently not offering advocacy grants. At this time only direct service applications will be accepted. 

Purpose

The primary goal of the Harm Reduction Futures Fund is to provide core support for programs that demonstrate:

• an ability to provide high quality syringe and other drug user health services to one or more identified communities

The Harm Reduction Futures Fund seeks to identify and support organizations across intersecting movements to enhance and coordinate services for people who use drugs. It supports and funds organizations that are led by and/or meaningfully involve and serve networks of people who use drugs, including in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services. In Round 16, the Harm Reduction Futures Fund will prioritize support for programs that are led by and serve Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), as well as those in jurisdictions of high need and low resources. Other compelling factors may include the leadership of current or former sex workers; prevalence of HIV, viral hepatitis, and other blood-borne pathogens in a community; injection drug use prevalence; opioid use; overdose incidence; availability of local funding.

Funding

AIDS United expects to provide one-year cash grants to a total cohort of  7 to 15 organizations.

• Direct Service organizations are invited to submit proposals for $10,000 to $25,000 for one year.
  • AU anticipates 5-13 programs will receive funding
• Multi-Program Support organizations are invited to submit proposals for $25,000 to $40,000 for one year.
  • AU anticipates 1 program will receive funding

Background 

The H. C. Gemmer Family Christian Foundation was created in 1956 by the philanthropy and vision of Hiram C. and Edith Gemmer, and their son, H. Robert Gemmer. The founders’ convictions and charitable interests focuses on peace, justice, sobriety, and racial harmony. They were also strong supporters of ecumenical and inter-organizations. By the generosity and estate planning of H. Robert Gemmer, the value of the Foundation’s assets grew fourfold following his death in 1992. The Foundation board meets semi-annually, normally the weekend after Memorial Day and the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Primary Areas of Funding

Peace with Justice

• Alternative to Violence, militarism and War
• Conflict Resolution
• Reconciliation and Healing
• Peace Education
• Criminal Justice

Human Rights

• Anti-Discrimination and Protection
• Immigrants’ rights
• Diversity and Intergroup Relations
• Social Justice
• Economic Justice

Leadership Circle Grant Program

CJI’s Leadership Circle is requesting proposals from formerly incarcerated people and directly impacted people-led grassroots organizations working to transform and reimagine the current U.S. criminal legal system, building to create new alternative community-based solutions and organizing to stop the criminalization of marginalized identities and communities.

We fund alternatives outside of the current legal and cultural systems of oppression, prioritizing those that empower communities to lead their own alternatives. In supporting the crucial work of building infrastructure that replaces the current system, which is rooted in racism and inequity, CJI also prioritizes groups enhancing the safety of communities that are victims of state-sponsored violence (both overt and insidious), those affected by the criminalization of protests and those working toward community healing. We will support the crucial work of building infrastructure that replaces the current system.

CJI believes that formerly incarcerated movement leaders and their organizations, working at the grassroots and drawing from experience, must be at the forefront of determining the solutions that will move us forward. The movement must also push back against the emergence of tools of repression, however disguised. The time is now for innovative approaches to building a vibrant movement that engages the imaginations of directly impacted communities creating the solutions and alternatives to disrupt, dismantle and establish new systems for justice.

This year, CJI will support movement-building* organizing that is based in Creating the World –WE Demand NOW! We want to support the efforts that:

• build alternatives to create safe and healthy communities that don't rely on arrest and incarceration
• invest in approaches that seek to end mass criminalization and incarceration
• create policies to reform and dismantle current repressive criminal legal systems
• lift up the leadership and experience of those affected by the criminal legal system, regardless of the type of detention (e.g. jail, prison, ICE detention, etc)
• re-establish rights and access to those formerly incarcerated and newly criminalized; e.g. intersections of reproductive health & justice, protesting & resisting oppression and repression
• promote transformative and restorative justice that heals, builds across movements and collaborations to effectively address the current criminal legal system.

CJI defines movement building as:

An ongoing collaboration, both within and across communities, intended to eradicate core systems of injustice. Collaborations may include those among grassroots or community organizations and/or between grassroots/community organizations and people or groups working with transparency and integrity inside the institutions they seek to transform; eg (Community Review Boards, Arrest Divergence Programs, etc. 

About the Program

NFL Foundation Player Matching Grants are designed to provide nonprofit organizations or schools and youth football organizations with funding of up to $5,000 per grant, on behalf of a current NFL Player or NFL Legend (i.e., former player) that has contributed to the organization.

Players and Legends may apply for up to TWO Player Matching Grants per calendar year if the grants are awarded to different organizations. Additionally, an organization may receive up to TWO grants, in one year if the grants are awarded from different Players/Legends.

Player Matching Grant

To be eligible for match funding, a 1:1 match must be provided by the applicant in the current calendar year.

Social Justice

Player Matching Social Justice Grants should be used to fund organizations, programs or initiatives that reduce barriers to opportunity. Areas of priority include, but are not limited to, education, criminal justice reform, community/police relations and workforce/economic development. Strong consideration will be given to those organizations that place an emphasis on grassroots leadership and community involvement as a vehicle for social change.

Former Players Currently Coaching Youth or High School Football

Recognizes the time contribution of former NFL players who coach youth and high school football programs. Eligible players may receive up to $5,000 in non-match funding, based on the need, merit and standing of the application.

Former players MUST serve as HEAD COACHES or full-time assistants in order to be eligible for the grant. Athletic Directors and league commissioners may apply and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Players must be vested.

About the Innovation Prize

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks out innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of the environment, heritage conservation, and social justice.

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize is open to non-profit and mission-driven for-profit organizations that are tackling America’s most pressing challenges through social innovation. In 2019, we will award up to ten Prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 for project expenses, for a total award of $175,000. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network, providing tools and training for ascendant change agents.

For more than three generations, The J.M. Kaplan Fund has provided catalytic funding for projects in their early stages of development. Whether a pilot project, a new organization, or a nascent initiative, work supported by the Fund has involved a certain measured risk that ultimately led to large-scale, transformative results. We launched the J.M.K. Innovation Prize in 2015 to leverage this legacy of catalytic grant-making in the field of social innovation. Currently on a biennial schedule, the Prize has to date funded twenty wildly creative solutions to social and environmental challenges, ranging from high-tech efforts to restore imperiled coral reefs, to the nation’s first farm labor trust. Each awardee takes a visionary approach to a societal need, working within one or more of the Fund’s three program areas:

• The Environment: Protecting natural resources and reducing the impacts of climate change.
• Heritage Conservation: Conserving the places that communities care about most.
• Social Justice: Supporting just alternatives and reforms to the criminal justice and immigration systems.

Tailored for Early-Stage Social Entrepreneurs

We know there is a scarcity of funding for untested ideas being piloted in the social innovation field. The Prize is designed to fill this gap in innovation philanthropy, supporting ideas that other funders may deem too risky or too small. We also know that early-stage innovators need the freedom to seize opportunities when and where they arise. The Prize’s unrestricted funding offers this flexibility, letting awardees deploy resources where they are most needed, whether investing in core projects, hiring staff, or just keeping the lights on.

We know each organization must follow its own path to achieving a change-making vision. With its three-year period, the Prize gives awardees room to evolve at their own pace, with an infrastructure of support tailored to their specific needs as early-stage innovators.

An Innovation Community

Beyond the cash award, the Innovation Prize provides tools to help turn ideas into action. Over the three-year Prize term, we bring awardees together for two convenings each year. Each of these meetings, spotlighting a different awardee’s organization, offers opportunities for peer learning and mentoring from experts in organizational development, board cultivation, media coaching, leadership training, and more. From West Virginia coal country to Monterey, California, our awardees have shared powerful learning moments, embedded in one another’s work and reflecting on their role as change agents.