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New Grantmaking Vision and Guidelines

What have we learned from thirty years of funding the most courageous and innovative grassroots leaders and organizers? How do we help more communities to get their voices heard and needs addressed? What do we keep doing? And what do we change?

These were some of the questions that have guided a committee of North Star Fund board members and staff over the last 18 months as they prepare to launch a new grantmaking vision and set of guidelines in the fall of 2010.

North Star Fund has been known as the first funder of many innovative and effective grassroots groups working in New York City's marginalized and disenfranchised communities. Over 30 years, we've supported 1600 groups--through funding, technical assistance, and mentorship. The groups have used the funding to build a membership base and staff, connect a network of supporters, and deepen 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. But we know we can do more to build a stronger community led movement for social change. This is why in the fall, North Star Fund will launch a comprehensive grantmaking strategy that works with groups at every stage of their development, from start-up to seasoned. Since 2003, North Star's activist-led grants programs have been geared for new or small groups with annual budgets less than $250,000. That component of our grants programs will remain in place, with half of our activist-led grantmaking budget (some $350,000) devoted to it. The maximum amount for our popular and highly effective Rapid Response grants will grow from $2,000 to $5,000.

North Star Fund can take this more comprehensive approach because, in recent years, our donor community has stepped it up and grown.

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. According to Kevin, "We help 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 significantly increased their capacity and become stronger and more effective base-building community organizing groups. With these new guidelines, we can support these groups at multiple stages of their development."

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."

Here's an overview of the guidelines, and the strategies behind them:

Supporting Effective Leaders

This new grant category will provide a deeper investment of general support in groups that have demonstrated the potential for, or already have shown, a strong record of success in their community organizing work. Groups with annual budgets of up to $800,000 are eligible. The leaders and organizations selected under this category will receive a grant of $50,000 over two years.

In accepting the grant, a group's leadership team--both staff and members--will commit to participating in peer learning training sessions throughout the year. According to Oona Chatterjee, North Star Fund's board chair and co-executive director of Make the Road NY, "Frequently, in the organizations doing the best work, leadership goes way beyond a single person. Very often there's two or three or five visionaries working together to get stuff done."

Deeper Relationships for Donors

The donors who founded North Star Fund wanted a different kind of relationship to their philanthropy. Many were community activists themselves, who knew the vital importance of contributing financial support, but also found ways to contribute their time, skills and expertise.

According to Hugh, "Over the years, many donors have asked, 'How can I help beyond my donation?' The people who give to North Star--at whatever amount-- have skills and considerable experience in organizing, strategic planning, financial management, communications, teaching, or the law. Through the peer learning component of the new guidelines, North Star will begin a program that connects donors with grassroots leaders and groups to leverage the expertise of our donor community."

Grassroots Strategy Grants

A $15,000 Grassroots Strategy grant will enable grantees to access additional research, legal, media and policy expertise. It's technical assistance, but it's technical assistance to win: for instance, developing the language and strategy for passing a new law to demand accountability from public and private bureaucracies.

According to Henry Serrano, North Star Fund's Community Funding Committee co-chair and a senior community organizer at Community Voices Heard,"The Grassroots Strategy grants will enable groups to seize a strategic moment to catalyze a campaign, to define it concretely, and get advice from allies who are experts on policy reforms, communicating a platform of demands, or how city hall and the state house operate."

Innovative Activism

Innovative Activism grants of $10,000 will support the most exciting social justice work beyond community organizing. Areas of work eligible for this category include cultural, art and media projects; resources for organizing; and efforts to build alternative institutions, like community managed open spaces and alternatives to the criminal justice system. Priority will go to groups with a connection to a community organizing campaigns. As an example: a documentary looking at the role that parent organizing has played in informing and motivating neighbors to join a school reform coalition might get support--as might projects that creatively use dance, digital media or theater to support a local organizing effort. Projects that develop skills, build leadership, or raise awareness of social justice issues will also be considered.

While North Star Fund has always supported this kind of work, grantees previously competed with community organizing groups for the same pool of money. Under the new guidelines, these groups will be evaluated against others like them.

According to Hugh, "This is an important part of our work that I hope will grow."

Commitment to New Groups

The new guidelines build on our strength as a first funder, while ensuring that we are there as a partner and a resource to groups at every stage of their development. Says board chair Oona Chatterjee, "The new guidelines sustain North Star Fund's long-standing commitment to supporting small and emerging organizations. They ensure that the grassroots activism that we need in our neighborhoods can continue to be supported by North Star. These new guidelines open up great opportunities for leaders and innovators in the social justice field in New York City to get even more support for their work."

The challenge is raising the resources to do it right. That's what we're putting before our donors and the progressive community. We need to create leaders that can work together for a stronger grassroots-led movement for equality, economic justice, and peace.

To see the complete guidelines, click here.