Our Vision
We envision a world in which resources and power are equitably shared, and a future where everyone can live with dignity and thrive.
We are a social justice fund that supports grassroots organizing led by communities of color building power in New York City and the Hudson Valley. We organize people across race and class to give in support of these movements.
As of June 30, 2024, North Star Fund has awarded $133 million in grants to over 3,000 organizations. We have now made over 10,000 grants via donor-advised funds, our Community Funding Committee process and related grantmaking, and our philanthropic partnerships.
Our Strategic Plan
In early 2020, we re-committed to our founding principles and laid out our priorities for 2020-2023. Check out our strategic plan.
Latest News and Updates
From Nixon to Now: Why We Keep Fighting
A message from our director, Jennifer Ching, for this moment... I was born a few months after Richard Nixon resigned and in the waning days of the Vietnam War. I was a child in...
Our Newest 2024 Grantees
Over the last several years, our grantmaking has grown in every way—we're making bigger grants to more grantees than ever across a wide array of activist areas and our whole...
Summer 24 NYC Grants
Through our longest running fund—the New York City organizing fund, we continue to support grassroots community organizing by communities of color across the five boroughs. This...
Sign up for news, updates and movement resources
Twice a month we send our Community News email with updates from our grantees, invitations to upcoming events, and links to jobs and grant opportunities. Sign up and we'll hook you up!
What We Do
We give grants through a process that shifts decision-making power to communities fighting for justice.
Community organizers—including former and current grantees—collectively make our funding decisions and participate in the governance of our organization.
We strengthen the leadership of grassroots organizers.
We support new and emerging leaders and are often the first foundation to fund new organizations or campaigns. We contribute to the social change ecosystem by providing capacity-building and leadership programs to organizations led by communities impacted by injustice.
We organize people across race and class to mobilize resources towards social justice movements.
We offer programs that bring experienced organizers and supporters together to recognize the shared stake we have in dismantling white supremacy and structural systems of oppression. We create opportunities for people to move money and to take collective action towards building a different future.
We challenge the entrenched racism and power imbalances in philanthropy.
We work across the field of philanthropy—where less than 10% of all dollars go to communities of color—to increase funding for social justice movements and to build greater accountability, transparency, and accessibility.
Learn More About Our History
For over 40 years, we have built community and resources for New York’s grassroots movements for justice.