Fall 2010 New Grantmaking Guidelines

North Star Fund is known as the first funder of many innovative and effective grassroots groups working in New York City's most marginalized communities. In 30 years, we've supported 1600 groups--through funding, technical assistance and mentorship. The groups have used the funding to build their membership base and staff, build their support networks, and deepen their fundraising and strategic know-how. In the process, North Star has helped foster a dynamic network in almost every arena of progressive grassroots activism in the New York City metropolitan area.

See our video that describes North Star's impact over the years, including testimony from Make the Road New York, Community Voices Heard and VAMOS Unidos, current and former North Star grantees.

After 30 years we've learned a lot about supporting the growth of New York City grassroots organizations. We put those lessons to use as we went through a process over the last year to make our grantmaking even stronger and more effective at building a powerful community-led movement for social change.

All of us at North Star Fund are proud and excited to launch our new grantmaking program - a comprehensive strategy that works with groups at every stage of their development, from start-up to seasoned. Click here to learn more about the programs.

Our Vision

Leadership development and helping leaders build trust and work together is a central goal of the new guidelines. According to North Star Executive Director Hugh Hogan, "The new guidelines will focus us more on fostering leadership, both by supporting individual leaders and by finding practical ways for people to work together more effectively. We want to see more grassroots activist groups and their memberships thinking not just about their own organizational development, but how they can connect with other grassroots organizations, coalitions and global movements of women, immigrants, labor and the LGBT community. Leaders at the national level know they need a base of people to ensure their movement's success. To do that, we need more investment at the grassroots."

Kevin Ryan, North Star's board vice chair and a program officer at New York Foundation, is excited about the new guidelines. He served on the Strategic Grantmaking Committee that developed them. As Kevin says, "We've helped to seed innovative new projects on which other funders will not take the risk. As a result, we have supported a number of groups that have become stronger and more effective base-building community organizing groups. And with these new guidelines, we can support these groups at multiple stages of their development."

Once again, we are proud and excited to launch this new program to support and grow the leadership of grassroots organizing groups in New York City.