Disability Frontlines Fund

Status
Invite-only

The Disability Frontlines Fund focuses on directly resourcing groups across the United States and Territories that centers and builds the leadership of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) who identify as D/disabled, living with disabilities, D/deaf, hard of hearing, chronically sick/ill, neurodivergent, and/or mad, and who practice Disability Justice. We resource these communities in order to create impactful, intersectional and sustainable movements to address issues facing BIPOC disabled individuals and communities in an ableist world.

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Frequently Asked Questions
An illustration of a femme person sitting in an electric wheelchair. They have long magenta hair in pigtails with flowers in their hair, and are wearing a teal crop top, green patterned shorts, purple lipstick, a purple choker with a heart charm, and a spiked purple bracelet. The illustration is set against a black background with large pink, purple, and yellow blobs. The Disability Frontlines Fund logo (a solid green leaf) is in the upper left corner.

Fund Status

The Disability Frontlines Fund is currently in a learning stage. In the Spring of 2022, we awarded two-year, general operating learning grants to better understand and build relationships with key groups in the field, while leading with resources and financial support. With the lessons gained from these learning grants, we will be developing and refining our grantmaking strategy for this fund. 

While this fund is not currently accepting applications for new funding at this time, we’ll be providing information on future grantmaking cycles after this cycle of learning grants concludes in 2024. 

History

The Disability Frontlines Fund started in late 2021 with a field analysis of the funding landscape for Disability Justice organizations. For this process, we interviewed ten BIPOC DJ leaders - Patty Berne, Lydia X.Z. Brown, Daphne Frias, Elliot Fukui, Sandy Ho, Najma Johnson, TL Lewis, Leroy Moore, and Max Vega. From these interviews, we developed a strategy to fund grassroots BIPOC groups practicing DJ, while still doing our own learning and development. These two-year learning grants are helping us develop and refine our longer-term grantmaking strategy. 

We’ve seen traditional philanthropy tend to engage in education while simultaneously holding back with its dollars during its learning period. In order to disrupt this, our first cycle of learning grants seek to resource groups while also allowing us to learn from their strategies, priorities, and success.

Image Description (top): Four disabled people are gathered around a white banner that says “Disability Frontlines Fund” in black text, against a background of abstract pink and purple hued flowers and green leaves. All the people depicted are smiling and wearing colorful clothing, and have varying genders, ages, and body types. From left: One person has magenta hair and is sitting in a powerchair to the left of the banner. There are two people standing behind the banner. The second person has gray, thick curly hair; they have a cane in one hand and their other hand on the shoulder of the third person. The third person has a prosthetic leg and is wearing a shirt with a fist on it and holding up a megaphone. The fourth person is framed within an online video call screen propped up in bed with their laptop and a small dog by their side. Image Description (right): A colorful illustration of a person framed within an online video call screen propped up in bed with their laptop and a small dog by their side.

Application Instructions

To learn more about the grant application process and how to apply, please access our request for proposals here:
Request for Proposals: Organizations
Request for Proposals: Google Doc in Spanish link here
‍Request for Proposals: PDF (screen reader accessible) link here
‍Request for Proposals: Google Doc link here
‍Request for Proposals: Individuals
Request for Proposals: Google Doc in Spanish link here
‍Request for Proposals: PDF (screen reader accessible) link here
‍Request for Proposals: Google Doc link here

‍If you need access to this document in a language or format not provided, please contact Nico Fonseca, Disability Frontlines Fund Program Associate, at Nico@thirdwavefund.org or 917-387-1262 ext. 807

If you intend to apply or would like more information, we encourage you to set up an interest call with DFF staff. Please email dff@thirdwavefund.org or call 917-387-1262 ext. 916 to schedule an appointment.

To apply for the Mobilize Power Fund, we’ll need the following information for a complete application:

Basic Information: Contact information, group description, and a brief (1-2 sentence) description of your application.

Group / Organizational Budget: Please include your group or organization's total budget of your current calendar or fiscal year (if applicable). Please download and use this Organizational Budget template.

If you are an independent 501(c)(3): IRS Letter for your Organization

If you are Fiscally Sponsored:

  1. Fiscal Sponsor’s Organizational Budget
  2. Fiscal Sponsor’s 501(c)(3) IRS Letter
  3. Current Fiscal Sponsor Agreement signed by both parties

Answers to our Application Narrative Questions: We accept application narratives as written proposals, selfie video submissions, OR through a Zoom or phone call. Application narrative instructions are below. 

  • Written application narratives should be no more than 1 page in length uploaded to our grant portal. 
  • Video narratives should be no more than 10 minutes in length with a link to the video uploaded to our grant portal.
  • Interview calls should be scheduled by emailing mpf@thirdwavefund.org or by calling 917-387-1262 x 920. Interview calls must be scheduled and completed at least one week before the application deadline.
    • Please note: Due to limited staff capacity, depending on the number of requests we get each month, we may not be able to accommodate your group for an interview call. We aim to prioritize phone interviews for groups for which a written narrative is not accessible, as well as groups led by BIPOC trans people, groups led by young people under 25, groups with no tax status, Spanish-speaking groups, and groups based in U.S. territories.
  1. Purpose & Structure: Please describe the purpose and structure of your organization. Include a brief overview of your regular work. If you are applying as a partnership or coalition, provide a brief description of each group or organization.
  2. Accountability: Please describe how your organization’s leadership is rooted in and accountable to communities being served – including young women of color, trans, queer, intersex, and gender non-conforming youth under 35 – and how leadership is aligned with the communities served.
  3. Context: Tell us about the specific incident or change in circumstance that has occurred in the last six months that you are responding to. Please let us know how this response is connected to gender justice.
  4. Pivot: Tell us how your organization or group has or plans to pivot in response to this change in circumstance. How is this pivot different from the work you’ve already been doing? Please include a detailed timeline for your response and how your strategies and activities directly address the incident or change of circumstance that has occurred in the six months. 
  5. Impact: What impact do you hope to have within 6-8 months as a result of this pivot? How will young BIWOC* and/or TIGNCBIPOC** benefit from your proposed work?
  6. For partnerships only: What roles will each group/organization have in your proposed work?

Third Wave Fund has a new process for applying to our grantmaking programs.  

You will need to submit the above application materials to our online portal using the instructions below. Please set up your portal account at least two business days before you plan on submitting your application to allow for any potential technical difficulties.

To submit your application:

  1. Go to proteus.fluxx.io.
  1. Login or create an account: 
  • For returning applicants & grantees: If you have previously applied to any of Third Wave Fund or Proteus Fund's grantmaking programs but have not used our new application system before, use the "Forgot Password" function with your email address to reset your password and access your account.
  • For new applicants: Request a new account at least 3 business days in advance of the deadline for approval.
    • ‍ Click ‘Register Now’ on the bottom right of your screen.
    • Complete the registration form, ensuring you’ve provided answers to the required fields marked with an asterisk (*). Click ‘Submit Request.’
    • You will receive a verification email allowing you to set up a password. Please note that this verification link is only valid for 24 hours.
    • You can log in after you’ve verified your account and chosen your password.
    • Once logged in, click on “Open Grant Opportunities” listed on the left side menu. Click “Third Wave Fund - Mobilize Power Fund” to begin your application.
  • Please reach out to fluxx@proteusfund.org if you need any assistance logging into your account or experience technical issues within the application.
  1. From there, you will be guided to submit the information we need for your application.
  2. Once you have submitted your application, you will receive a confirmation email directly from Fluxx, and your application will be listed under “Submitted Requests” in your account. If we have any follow up questions or need any additional materials, you will be notified through the email address attached to your account and your application will be moved to “Requests to Edit.” In “Requests to Edit,” you can see what materials or information is needed and make changes there. 
  3. You will be able to see where your application is in the decision-making process through your account on Fluxx. We typically approve grants 4 weeks after the deadline, and funds are typically released within 5-8 weeks after the deadline. You can expect to receive a notification email about whether your application was approved for a grant or not within 4-6 weeks of the application deadline.

Questions about submitting your application materials?

If you have questions about submitting your application or using our new application system through Fluxx, please contact mpf@thirdwavefund.org.

FAQs

The Disability Frontlines Fund provides funding to organizations, groups, and individuals who are led by and center queer, trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming BIPOC people who are D/disabled, living with a disability, D/deaf, hard of hearing, chronically sick/ill, mad, and/or neurodivergent.

We ground our definition of Disability Justice (DJ) in the 10 principles of Disability Justice offered by Sins Invalid, and we are developing values that integrate these principles into our funding practices. This program exists because we understand that there is no liberation without DJ and that DJ is a critical component of all movements for justice.

This fund is dedicated to providing unrestricted, general operating support grants. This means our grantees have the agency to determine how they use their grant in service of their work. Funds can be used for training, resource sharing and building, cultivating accessibility, leadership development, community building, popular education, cultural organizing, and more. In some cases, we have made project specific grants to work that is housed in a larger organization.

  • Disability Justice focus: Applicants and grantees specifically working toward DJ and have evidence of practices that support individual and collective access, connection, spaciousness, and understanding. (Note: ”Disability Justice” exists within different languages and practices, and we understand that it may not always be described with that specific phrase.)
  • Youth and/or intergenerational leadership: Applicants and grantees show that young people (18-35) are currently in and being developed for leadership and decision-making roles across the group or organization, and/or that leadership is intergenerational. Leadership is also representative of the communities that groups and organizations center, work with, and/or serve.
  • Gender Justice lens: Applicants and grantees are led by, develop, and center Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) who identify as D/disabled, living with disabilities, D/deaf, hard of hearing, chronically sick/ill, neurodivergent, and/or mad. The work engages with how misogyny/sexism, homophobia, and transphobia intersect with DJ, and expresses a grounded understanding of how young cis & trans women of color and young queer, trans, non-binary, and intersex people of color are uniquely impacted.
  • Clear movement building strategies: Applicants and grantees are developing infrastructure, resources, and practices that build and strengthen DJ movement building. Their work builds connections that combat isolation, reflect DJ principles, and display an investment in cross-disability organizing, mutual aid, advocacy, education, and peer support.
  • Intersectional praxis: Applicants and grantees demonstrate an embodied intersectional analysis of how multiple forms of oppression are related to DJ, including but not limited to racial, gender, economic, immigration, reproductive, birth, healing, and health justice and abolition of policing, prisons, and militarism.
  • Philanthropic under-resourcing: The Disability Frontlines Fund prioritizes groups, organizations, and individuals who have never received a grant before; have a budget under $500,000 and experience barriers to accessing funding; and/or do work with and for communities systemically overlooked, such as currently and formerly incarcerated folks, people living in geographically underserved and/or isolated communities, communities oppressed by climate change, and undocumented communities.

The Disability Frontlines Fund is currently in a learning stage and is not accepting applications for funding. We worked with a small group of advisors to build our recommendations for our inaugural invite-only application process. As part of our learning grant cycle, we are committed to an iterative design process to learn how to adapt or change course to best support the community for future cycles. We have a lot to learn from DJ movements on how to support this work as funders. We will use the lessons we learn and the feedback we receive to develop our next cycle, scheduled for 2024.

Grantees

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Want to join the groundswell of donors that make our grantmaking possible? Make a donation today so we can continue to fund the critical work of youth-led gender justice movements.

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Third Wave Fund is fiscally sponsored by Proteus Fund.