Grant Details

Borealis Philanthropy directs resources to people building powerful, thriving communities that serve all of us, with those most impacted by injustice leading the way. They invest in leaders, organizations, and movements using diverse and innovative strategies to pursue transformational change, and they work with donors to support movements in ways they may not be able to do on their own. Through their work with both funders and grantee partners, they aim to shift power and invest in communities.

Borealis is made up of ten funds that work collaboratively to enhance their collective impact within movements across the country. Collaborative funds offer funders an opportunity to work together on central issues and combine their resources, energy, attention, and expertise to exponentially increase the impact of their work together. Their donor collaboratives focus on a range of social justice issues including Black-led movement work, immigration defense, disability inclusion and justice, uplifting the dignity and respect of queer and trans communities, and more. They support grassroots organizing and movement building led by those most impacted by the issues they are working on.

Borealis Philanthropy's ten funds are:

• The Black-Led Movement Fund supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) so that it can better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power. The Fund provides a dedicated vehicle for funders to support the M4BL ecosystem.
• The Communities Transforming Policing Fund resources local communities impacted by deadly and discriminatory policing practices to build power, increase police accountability and transparency, and redefine safety by advocating for investment in community-based programs and services as alternatives to police, jails, and prisons.
• The Disability Inclusion Fund supports U.S. groups run by and for people with disabilities to lead transformational change. The Fund is supported by the Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion, which committed $12 million over the next five years to support disability inclusion as part of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion within philanthropy.
• The Fund for Trans Generations invests in trans-led organizing to support a future where transgender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people live with freedom, safety, and self-determination.
• The Immigration Litigation Fund supports impact litigation to ensure that the nation's immigration enforcement system is fair, humane, and prioritizes the civil and human rights of those vulnerable to deportation or exclusion.
• The Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund is expanding the capacity of racial equity consultants to work with nonprofit organizations. The Fund invests in practitioners to develop and scale tools and strategies for the benefit of the nonprofit sector.
• The Racial Equity in Journalism Fund invests in news organizations led by and for people of color. The Fund bolsters a strong, diverse, and independent media sector that increases civic engagement for communities of color by reaching them with vital, relevant information.
• The Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund invests in philanthropy- serving organizations to inform, educate, and equip funders to integrate racial equity policies and practices into their grantmaking and programs. The Fund seeks to normalize grantmaking strategies that prioritize structural change, with the ultimate aim of ending racial disparities.
• The Spark Justice Fund resources grassroots organizing groups that are ending money bail and unjust pretrial detention policies. Grantees' longer-term goals are to significantly reduce jail populations, decriminalize poverty, and reduce disparities for low-income communities of color, including for women of color and other marginalized people.
• The Transforming Movements Fund supports the bridging role that young LGBTQ leaders play to support movements in becoming more connected, inclusive, and thus more powerful. The Fund invests in organizations and organizers who understand that the issues like community safety, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and others do not exist in isolation from each other, and who carry out organizing that addresses how these issues intersect.