BEFORE YOU APPLY

Note: This section is intended to help you determine whether your organization and its activities fall within Needmor’s funding guidelines.

The Needmor Fund’s grantmaking is guided by our mission statement, which is “to work with others to bring about social justice. The Needmor Fund supports people who work together to change the social, economic, or political conditions which bar their access to participation in a democratic society.”

The Needmor Fund seeks to:

remove systemic barriers to the practice of democracy by encouraging the efforts of people who are working together for justice and the common good;
encourage involvement in community affairs by people whose participation has been systematically denied; and
foster the active participation of all citizens in crafting a vision, values and policies that are more equitable, to guide the operation of our country.

The Needmor Fund has identified community organizing as the most effective means for achieving these goals. Community organizing is “a process through which historically disenfranchised people can build power, can address the systemic barriers to the practice of democracy, can hold public and corporate officials accountable for their actions, and can begin to participate in shaping public policy.”

Background:

The Needmor Fund operates a national grantmaking program. The rationale for an ongoing national program is so that Needmor can continue to be informed of, learn from, and support important organizing efforts in various parts of the country, particularly those that cross boundaries and offer promising models. The national program also enables Needmor to project a national presence in the field that is helpful in our attempts to bring more philanthropic resources to support organizing.

The Needmor Fund also operates a regional grantmaking program. The concentration of cluster resources is in two regions—the Southwest (AZ, NM, Southern CA, and South TX) and the Southeast (AL, MS, LA). The overall rationale for the regional clusters is to ensure that, in order to fund organizing most effectively, the board and staff have a broad understanding of the political, economic and social context in which community organizations work, a deep knowledge of grantees’ work, and a strong familiarity with key players in the community, state and region where organizations work. The national program and the regional programs learn from and inform each other.

Some of the basis for selecting the clusters includes:

demographic/statistical data indicating social and economic distress;
organizations with commitment to long-term base-building;
existing citizen organizations willing to work collaboratively;
interest in voter participation strategies connected with base building activities;
recognized need among organizations for skills development;
demonstrated need for financial support;
other funder interest; and
issue/strategy opportunities.

The approximate allocation of grantmaking resources is:

o 25 percent Southwest Cluster

o 25 percent Southeast Cluster

o 50 percent National Program

The grantmaking policy is to provide core operating support to grantee organizations for up to four years, after which time organizations may not re-apply for at least two years.

Guidelines:

The Needmor Fund seeks to fund community organizing groups with the following characteristics:

The organization is well managed; it has a financial and fundraising plan, engages in strategic planning, and has strong leadership and lively governance.
The organization is multi-issue; in particular, it addresses issues of race, immigration, poverty, economic justice, and low-wage work.
The organization balances issue work with organization building; it effectively links issues to building organization and power.
The organization is membership-based and democratically run, with deep and broad leadership and a process both to develop a strong cadre of leaders and to regenerate its leadership over time.
The organization engages in direct action; it has a power analysis and clear plan, and can win concrete victories that alter the relations of power in its community.
The organization organizes primarily low and moderate-income people, and gives historically disenfranchised people a sense of their own power.
The organization builds power; it has a larger vision to aggregate power, taking on bigger policy issues and expanding its base of allies to increase its impact over time.

While the aforementioned guidelines apply to all grantees, Needmor Fund looks for specific assessment criteria within each regional cluster and nationally:

Southwest Cluster:

organizing in rural areas and border regions
organizing low-wage workers and immigrants
labor-community linkages
faith community involvement
building community infrastructure

Southeast Cluster:

countering race polarization and working across racial lines
organizing low-wage workers and immigrants
linking with organizations across state and region to build regional clout
building basic organizing infrastructure
challenging structural injustices and disenfranchisement

National Program:

Strategies that link and leverage the power of faith, labor and community organizations into powerful local, state and regional organizing networks that represent the interests of low- and moderate-income communities.
Utilizes creative membership strategies and structures to build powerful organizations made up of low wage workers that bring about equity in the economy.
Integrates voter engagement strategies and the expansion of democracy into the building of powerful multi-issue community organizations.
Support powerful organizations that recognize and address the interconnection of globalization to local and regional organizing.
Seeking powerful organizations that aspire to frame and implement new, broad and creative public policies that address systemic issues facing low- and moderate-income communities.
Support powerful local organizations that are connected to larger organizing networks and will use their leverage and power with sister organizations and allies to implement change at the regional, statewide and national level.

The Needmor Fund will not consider proposals for funding of the following:

Community development corporations

Scholarships/fellowships

Private businesses

Direct service or training programs (e.g., counseling programs, medical services, job training, information and referral services, child care programs, emergency shelters, etc.)

Cultural enrichment programs, films, TV or radio productions.

Books, publications or research

Conferences

Capital Improvements

Litigation

Projects outside the United States

Government sponsored or controlled projects

National Organizations