Grow Power Fund

Status
Invite-only

Young people of color have always been at the forefront of social change. Launched in 2016, the Grow Power Fund provides up to six years of holistic support inclusive of general operating support, capacity-building resources, organizational development coaching, and annual convenings. The fund supports emerging organizations with budgets under $200,000 that demonstrate shared leadership and potential for growth, but lack access to skills development and grant funding. We prioritize organizations focused on issues and geographic regions that have been under-resourced by philanthropy.

Meet our grantees
An illustration of two brown-skinned femme people amidst large sunflowers. One person has a green headwrap and is holding a sign that reads "long term investment now." The other person has long hair and is wearing a blue shirt, and is drawn with a fist in the air. They are set against a background of pink sparkles, as well as purple, blue, and pink blobs. The Grow Power Fund logo (three interlocking pink semicircles) is in the upper left corner.

Fund Status

Currently, the Grow Power Fund gives out grants on an annual, invite-only basis.

History

Third Wave Fund launched the Grow Power Fund in early 2016 with a grantmaking committee of young women, queer, and trans activists of color under the age of 25, representing the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Our process was intentionally designed to be accessible to emerging youth-led organizations who are poised for growth, but lack the experience with approaching funders for grants.

The inaugural cohort of the Grow Power Fund (2016-2022) is made up of organizations that were receiving long-term grant funding and capacity building offerings for the first time. In the initial year, we supported each organization in learning how to manage their immediate day-to-day needs with the unique opportunities they have in order to increase the scale and impact of their organizations with each year of funding. Learn more about this first cohort of grantees in our ‘Year One’ report back video!

The Grow Power Fund logo - an illustration of two brown hands (stylized with geometric shapes filled with black lines) cupping a green seedling with three leaves in some soil, with the words "Grow Power Fund" below the hands. Four BIPOC people are placed side by side above the hands, with two at the center placed shoulder to shoulder with their fists up. The other two people are placed toward the outside of the image: The person on the left is holding a sign that says "longterm investment now" and the person on the right is speaking into a megaphone. Illustrations of large sunflowers take up most of the space behind the two people at the center, with a semicircle of pink sparkles above their heads.

FAQs

That’s a great question! The Grow Power Fund grant is invite only. We learn of potential grantees from other staff at Third Wave Fund, current and former grantees, and from our own travels in social justice movement spaces. Because there are not enough programs doing this type of multi-year funding, we are often overwhelmed with letters of interest from potential grantees. Your group is welcome to first review the criteria listed above in the fund description and below in the next question. If you’d like to reach out, please feel free to email rachel@thirdwavefund.org. Please know that we get an overwhelming number of emails. If you don’t get an immediate response, please know it’s because we do not have capacity to address every email directly.

The Grow Power Fund funds emerging, intergenerational youth-led, feminist, queer, and trans reproductive and gender justice movement building organizations. We focus on organizations led by young women, trans, queer and intersex people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We focus on funding groups and organizations in regions that are historically underfunded and who have budgets of less than $200,000 USD.  

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Some issue areas we fund: racial and/or economic justice, immigration justice, reproductive justice, HIV/AIDS justice, trans, intersex, gender non conforming, and queer justice, abolitionist/anti-carceral work, anti-imperialist work, and anti-violence work aimed at ending interpersonal and state violence.

Yes! Please reach out to your program officer to see if your group might be eligible for consideration.

You do not need to have a 501(c)3 status, your group can also be a fiscally sponsored project.

​​The Grow Power Fund exists as a resource for reproductive and gender justice activism because of individual contributions from our community. If you are moved by this fund, consider joining hundreds of other community members who give monthly to sustain this resourcing, or give a one-time gift today.

Grantees

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Third Wave Fund is fiscally sponsored by Proteus Fund.