Movement Leadership: Five Groups Leading the Way

In Fall 2010, we unveiled our new grantmaking vision and program. Movement Leadership Grants are a centerpiece of our new grants vision. They are the biggest grants that our Community Funding Committee has awarded in the foundation's history -- $50,000 grants over two years for a deeper investment of general support in effective organizations that have already shown a strong record of success in their community organizing work. In accepting the grant, a group's leadership team--both staff and members--commit to participating in bi-monthly peer learning sessions throughout the year. The sessions begin with the how the groups plan to connect more people from the community to their work (in community organizer speak: "building their membership"), develop them as leaders, and mount effective campaigns to change laws and conditions at the community level.

We are proud to present the first five recipients of this new grant category: