General Fund Grants

If and when funding is available, you can apply for our grants via our online platform, Submittable. The first time you apply, you will need to create an account with your email address and a password.

To receive a grant, your group must be based in Oregon and either have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or be a group that’s fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization. Occasionally, we may fund groups that are neither 501(c)(3) or fiscally sponsored. (The question below this one addresses this scenario.)

For a list of projects we cannot fund, please check out Question 4.

We accept applications from groups that have neither 501(c)(3) status nor a fiscal sponsor under two conditions:

• They are registered in the state of Oregon as a nonprofit corporation; and
• They have established a bank account in the name of the organization

If you want to talk more about your unique situation, please contact us.

Seeding Justice will not fund: 

• Individuals or businesses (unless they’re fiscally sponsored)
• Animal welfare organizations 
• Capital campaigns (i.e. construction projects, building purchase or renovation, land acquisitions, etc.)
• Cooperatives, health clinics, or schools 
• Direct services (i.e. social services, food pantries, wraparound services, health services, etc.)
• Organizations that require participants in their programs to be faith or religiously affiliated 
• Personal hobby, mutual benefit, and for-profit groups 
• Previously funded groups that have overdue grant reports 
• Scholarships 
• Unions or direct labor organizing 
• Work prohibited by the IRS, including: 
  • Illegal activities 
  • Lobbying 
  • Partisan activity that supports or opposes specific political parties and/or candidates for public office 
• Work that has already happened or will be completed before the grant would be received

Organizations with 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor may apply for grants of up to $15,000, while groups without either 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor may apply for up to $7,000.

Having said that, we are unlikely to fund more than 50% of a project’s total or 33% of an organization’s total annual budget. 

We award two types of grants: 

Operating support grants: these grants are unrestricted and meant to support the overall operations and programs of a group. We reserve operating support grants for organizations that have 501(c)(3) status and whose annual budgets are under $500,000. 

Project Support Grants: these are restricted grants that are awarded to a specific project or program within an organization. 501(c)(3) groups with annual budgets above $500,000, all fiscally sponsored projects, and groups that have neither their federal tax exemption nor a fiscal sponsor must apply for project support grants.

Communities most impacted by injustice are often left out of decision making tables. That’s why we prioritize resourcing organizations that demonstrate that marginalized leaders not only serve their communities as frontline staff, but have a say in how programs are developed and implemented. 

When we say “leadership,” we mean the folks in your group who have decision making power, i.e. executive staff and/or board members. By majority, we mean more than 50% of that combined leadership. 

For example, if you have 10 board members and 5 executive staff (e.g. Executive Director or program directors or managers with significant authority), and 8 of those folks are BIPOC, then you would say that the majority of your leadership is BIPOC [8/(10+5)=53%].

We have two General Fund cycles a year: in the Spring and the Fall. The dates change every year, but typically, we open grant funding in mid March for Spring, and mid September for Fall.

Make sure not to miss our announcements by signing up to receive our newsletter and/or following us on social media. 

An organization can only submit one grant application per opportunity (i.e. General Fund, a special initiative, or Rapid Response).

However, they can submit one application each to the General Fund and other opportunities, assuming they are otherwise eligible.

We prioritize funding small and emerging organizations that haven’t had as much access to other sources of funding as larger organizations. And yet, we know that larger organizations—especially those that are led by BIPOC communities—may need to fund radical and innovative programs or projects that others won’t support. 

So yes, you can apply for our funding if you have a large budget, but only for project support.

With your application, we ask you to submit your current operating budget and next year’s if you have it. If you’re applying for a project support grant, we’ll also ask you to submit your project budget.  

If you are selected to receive a grant, we may ask you to submit more documentation, such as fiscal sponsorship agreements or financial statements. 

Unlike other foundations—who have program officers and trustees making decisions—we use a participatory grantmaking approach. Our Grantmaking Committee (GMC) is composed of social justice activists and organizers from across the state, who bring extensive lived and professional experience and represent the geographic and racial diversity of Oregon. You can read more about our grantmakers here.

Yes. In fact, if you received any grant that’s not a General Fund grant (e.g. Since Time Immemorial, Rogue Valley Relief, or a Donor Advised grant) you can still apply for a General Fund grant, assuming you are otherwise eligible.

The General Fund grants’ budget comes from our own fundraising efforts and is fairly consistent in terms of requirements, amounts granted, number of organizations being supported, and types of grants. The General Fund Grantmaking Committee makes decisions regarding which applications get funded. 

On the other hand, the Community Funds grants’ budget comes from community-wide fundraising efforts and are often set up in response to specific events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the water crisis at Warm Springs, or seasonal Oregon wildfires. If Community Funds are set up to receive applications (sometimes they are not), they may only be open to specific populations, geographies, or specific relief work being done. The decision making power for Community Funds grants resides in Steering Committees composed of community leaders at the frontlines of the relief efforts. 

Currently, we offer application materials only in Spanish and English. If you need application materials in another language, please let us know and we’ll work on translating them for you.

As a fundraising foundation, it has been difficult for us to both make multi-year grants (which we know most nonprofits desperately need) without decreasing our funding. So, currently, we do not have an established process to award multi-year grants, but our Grantmaking Committee may decide to fund an organization for multiple years on a case-by-case basis.

Donor-advised funds (or Donor in Movement Funds, as we call them at Seeding Justice), are funds set up by individuals to fund projects and groups that are near and dear to their hearts. If you received a donor-advised grant, it means that a Donor-in-Movement Fund holder has chosen your group to receive a grant. 

You can learn more about our Donor in Movement Funds programs here.

We don’t always ask grantees to submit reports and if we do require reports, they will never be in writing. Instead, we ask grantees to meet with us to talk about the lessons, surprises, challenges, and successes they experienced since receiving the grant. 

If you do need to submit a report, we will send you a reminder at least 30 days before it’s due with a link for you to schedule a time with us. 

If you’re unsure, you can always get in touch: grants@seedingjustice.org. 

A fiscal sponsor is a 501(c)(3) organization that agrees to serve as the holder of funds  for a smaller, non(c)(3) organization or project. Fiscal sponsors agree to receive a grant and manage the reporting and other legal requirements for the fiscally sponsored project in exchange for a small percentage of the grant(s) received. 

There are organizations whose sole purpose is to serve as fiscal sponsors for others (Social Good Fund is one), but generally, projects can find fiscal sponsors in their own communities by connecting with 501(c)(3) organizations that have similar missions and that are willing to take on the responsibility of serving as an agent.

When you’re a fiscally sponsored project, your fiscal sponsor is the one technically receiving the grant. In other words, your group is the project. (Plus if we make a general support grant to your sponsor, the funds would be unrestricted and they could use the funds for other things.)

We want to know about your project so you will enter information about your group, not your sponsor’s.