Calling all Community Organizers!  Maine Initiatives is now accepting applications for the 2025 Giving Project Fund for Community Organizing.  The purpose of the Giving Project Fund is to resource social change movements and organizing efforts by shifting money to community organizing groups advancing social, economic, environmental, and racial justice & tribal sovereignty in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory. The 2025 Giving Project Fund will provide one (1) year of unrestricted, general operating support of up to $20,000 to at least five (5) community organizing groups. Applications are due November 15, 2024 and awards will be announced in March of 2025. Interested organizations are encouraged to: Download and review the Funding Opportunity Announcement to learn more about eligibility requirements, award terms, and application instructions.  Click here to register for the Monday, October 21st application information session from 1:00pm-2:00pm.  Submit your application by November 15, 2024. ***Community OrganizingThe Giving Project Fund at Maine Initiatives focuses on community organizing because we believe that lasting change comes from the bottom up, affecting not just political and economic systems but also the culture of communities. Community organizing involves the most people, allowing for the greatest diversity and number of perspectives to be expressed. Community organizing is the exercise of democracy in action. We welcome applications from organizations and groups who bring affected people together in ways that align with one or more of the following key characteristics of community organizing: Constituent-led: led by the people most directly affected by the issues the organization is working on, promoting self-determination Systems Change: works to change conditions by understanding and addressing the root causes of issues, not just the symptoms Collective Liberation: brings people together – across generations and issues – to build collective power to create systemic change that impacts folks beyond the organizers or the Campaign Social Justice Vision: has a strong vision for social justice and sees itself as part of a larger movement for social change, and works towards strengthening that movement Building People Power: builds power/base-building: builds leadership from within its own membership, base, or community Funding PrioritiesIn response to the continuing impact of structural racism and colonization, the Giving Project Fund prioritizes funding for community organizing groups focused on Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty, and more generally, frontline groups led-by and -serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Groups organizing in the LGBTQ+, working class, rural, and other historically targeted and marginalized communities are encouraged to apply. Grantmaking DecisionsGrantmaking decisions will be made by our Giving Project cohort, a cross-class, multi-racial, multi-generational group of 20 donor-organizers who convene regularly over 6 months for engaged learning and training to collectively mobilize resources and evaluate applications.

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