Environmental Justice Grant 2018

Application Instructions

Before beginning your application, please

Social Justice Fund NW (SJF) is a public membership foundation that supports organizations working for structural change, to improve the lives of people most affected by political, economic and social inequities.

The Environmental Justice grant will support organizing work that aims to achieve equitable access to a clean and healthy environment for frontline communities most impacted by environmental racism, climate change, and environmental injustice, especially the spaces where communities live, work, learn, play, pray, and heal. This grant will fund rural and urban organizations working at the intersection of environmental, racial, and economic justice to create sustainable, self-determined and just communities. Environmental justice work can include, but is not limited to, access to clean and healthy food, water and air; affordable and healthy housing, addressing neighborhood blight, just transition and climate resilience work, etc.

All of our grants are general operating funds; this is a two year grant of up to $10,000 per year.
Proposals must be electronically submitted no later than 5:00pm on August 23rd, 2018.  Social Justice Fund will not consider late applications. See timelines for each grant cycle in 2018 Grant Guidelines.
If you’re not sure whether your organization’s work qualifies, please contact Magan Do, Project Manager at Magan@socialjusticefund.org or (206) 624-4081 x 107.

SJF’s basic eligibility criteria (Applicants must meet these criteria):

  • Be an organized group of people (we do not fund individuals).
    • If your organization is a nonprofit with 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 status as determined by the IRS, or be a federally recognized American Indian tribal government or agency OR is fiscally sponsored by 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 organizations or by federally recognized tribal governments, you can apply.
    • If your organization is not incorporated or fiscally sponsored, you can probably still apply, but you must speak with SJF program staff first.
  • Be led by people who are most directly affected by the problems that the organization or project is addressing.
  • Use a community organizing approach, as defined on page 3 of our Grant Guidelines.
  • Carry out most of its work in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and/or Wyoming.
  • Satisfy evaluation requirements for all previous Social Justice Fund grants.
  • If you have not received a Social Justice Fund grant before, please fill out this brief pre-application questionnaire before you begin your application.

Make sure your application includes all of the following:

  1. 2018 Standard Grant Application Cover Sheet
  2. Narrative Questions
  3. Fiscal Status Letter (submit one of the following)
    1. IRS 501c3 or 501c4 letter, or Federally Recognized American Indian Tribal status letter
    2. Fiscal sponsorship letter
    3. Non-sponsored/Non 501c3 form (see Attachment A)
  4. Organizational Information:
    1. Diversity Chart
    2. Roster of all current members of your Board or your leadership body as defined by your organization (Please include names and email contact)
  5. Financial Information about the coalition: (Submit all of the following attachments as PDFs)
    1. Most recent completed (2017) Annual Statement of actual income and expenses
    2. Projected annual operating budget for the current year.*
    3. A Balance sheet. This is a snapshot of your financial status at the current moment: a brief, statement of your current assets, liabilities, and cash on hand. Upload in your own format.
  6. List of Funding Sources
  7. Optional: Project budget. Only include if requesting project-specific funds.*

*NOTE: For budgets, you may use your own format OR you may use the attached template.

If your coalition does not have any of the above financial documents, please upload an explanation of why you do not have said document(s) and to the best of your ability explain the financial activities and position of your organization in a narrative form.

8. Year-End Report ONLY IF you have previously received a grant from Social Justice Fund and your year-end report is past due.

We strongly prefer that you submit your application using our online portal. You may also submit your application by postal mail or email.

– Email: Include all attachments in a single email and address to grants@socialjusticefund.org

– Postal Mail: Social Justice Fund NW – GRANT APPLICATION, 1904 Third Ave Suite 806, Seattle, WA 98101

Either way, your application MUST be received by 5:00pm PST on August 23rd, 2018. If you have any questions, please call (206) 624-4081 x. 107 to speak to Magan Do, Project Manager or by email at Magan@socialjusticefund.org.

Please be prepared to provide the following information during the application process:
A brief description of your organization’s:

  • Mission, history, and major accomplishements
  • Leadership and community organizing strategies
  • Program/project description and workplan
  • Program/project budget
  • Collaborations
  • Work for racial justice

Note: Your entire application (narrative and all attachments) will be shared with all Giving Project members — volunteers from the community who will read and decide on the applications for this grant cycle. In addition, if SJF makes a grant to your organization, your narrative or portions thereof might be shared with the general public to illustrate the type of work we fund. If we share any portion of your narrative, we will always give credit to your organization.
Additionally, you will be asked to provide the following documents:
Financial Documents: 

  •  Annual Statement: This is the statement of actual income and expenses for the most recent completed fiscal year. Upload in your own format, but do not send your annual report, tax returns, or entire audited financial statement
  • Balance Sheet: This is a snapshot of your financial status at the moment: a brief, current statement of your assets, liabilities, and cash on hand. Upload in your own format.
  • Annual Operating Budget: This is a projection of all known and estimated income and expenses for the current fiscal year. You may upload in your own format or use our Budget template.
  • Project Budget: This is required only if you are requesting project-specific funds. Otherwise, it is optional. You may upload in your own format or use our Budget template.
  • NOTE: If submitting budgets in your own format, please include a breakdown of income which includes, at minimum, the following categories:
    • Membership income (if any)
    • Individual contributions (may include fundraising events; if so, please indicate)
    • Grants
List of Funding Sources (download Funding Sources template).

Include all funding sources, whether or not they will be directed to the work described in this proposal.

List a funding source as “pending” if you have submitted an application, but it has not been accepted or denied.

Do not neglect the final two columns of this form. Indicate whether or not the listed funding source will support general operating funds and/or the same work described in this proposal.
Organizational Diversity Chart (Download Diversity template)

Please fill out this form to the best of your ability. Note that “Leadership Body” refers to the group of people who together make strategic decisions about the organization’s direction, provide oversight and guidance, and are ultimately responsible for the organization’s mission and ability to carry out its mission. In most cases, this will be a Board of Directors, but it might also be a steering committee, collective, or other leadership structure.

Do not neglect section 4 of this form, regarding the specific diversity category that are important to your organization. For example, if your organization works with day laborers, include day laborers as a diversity category. If refugees are an important part of your constituency, include refugees as a diversity category. Don’t just list the category; be sure to fill in the numbers for each.
If your Year-End Report (for any prior grant from Social Justice Fund) is past due, please complete it prior to submitting your proposal. You will not be considered for a new grant if you have not fulfilled all prior reporting requirements.  Sign in to SJF’s online grant application to complete your year end report.
Fiscal Letter

If you are a 501c3 or 501c4 organization, please submit your IRS status letter.

If you are using a fiscal sponsor, please provide a letter from the sponsor stating that it agrees to act as your fiscal sponsor and supports Social Justice Fund’s mission. Your fiscal sponsor does not need to submit any financial or other documents.

If you are an orgnaization but not a 501c3 or 501c4 or fiscally sponsored, please speak with an SJF staff member before applying. Social Justice Fund NW is able to make a limited number of grants to organizations that do not have 501c3/501c4 status. However such grants are awarded via a slightly different process, which you must review with us before applying. When you apply, submit Attachment A with your application.