Agape in Action

Members of ANAKBAYAN-East Bay, Agape Spring 2008 Grant Recipient with Agape Board of Trustee Members Gwyn Kirk and Susan Fang.

The Agape Foundation is once again casting its net out for emerging grassroots organizations that are ready and willing to change the world. We aim to fund community-based efforts towards creating systemic change for social justice. We value self-determination, in which leadership is taken from the communities most affected by the social problems they are working to change. Since our formation in 1969, the Agape Foundation is proud to have awarded more than 12.5 million dollars in the form of grants, loans and fiscal sponsorship to more than 800 grassroots organizations!

Letters of Intent for our Fall 2008 grant cycle is due August 1, 2008. Please keep in mind that we only award grants to California-based, social change organizations that have existed for 5 years or less and have budgets under $100,000. We focus our funding on such young start-up organizations because they have the most challenges with fundraising from traditional sources. We also fund the distribution of media that will be used specifically as a tool to raise consciousness, inspire action, and engage communities to respond to injustice.

Grantmaking at the Agape Foundation is committed to being transparent, accountable, and rooted in histories of nonviolent resistance. Believing that the organizations we fund should be reflected in the Foundation, Agape strives to recruit Board Members from a range of diverse backgrounds in activism, community organizing and non-profit work.

After reading through each proposal, our Board will carefully select the finalists to come to a “granting session”, an all day event where groups can meet the board themselves and give half hour presentations about their work. Applicants are also able to listen to the Board’s deliberations and can participate in the evaluation process at the end of the day. Reflecting the spirit of community building, granting session is our way to level out the playing field by making our processes as transparent as possible. It’s such a great honor to personally meet the people who are doing the actual work that we are funding. Their presentations, heartfelt, energetic and full of enthusiasm, convey the true passion their work is about, which is something that doesn’t always come through in a written proposal. At the granting session, the groups also get the opportunity to network with each other, to share ideas and even collaborate on projects.

If you are interested in applying for a grant, please view our grant guidelines by clicking on the “Fall 2008 Grant Guidelines” link on the right, under “Pages.” For more information, feel free to contact our Administrative Director, Nina Dessart at 415-701-8707. And please help us with our outreach by forwarding this blog posting to all grassroots social justice organizations that are eligible for a grant from us!

From left to right: Board of Trustee Member Ali Vogt, Executive Director Karen Topakian, and Pablo Paredes of Bay Peace, Spring 2008 Agape Grant Recipient

Tags: granting session, grants, grassroots organizations, social change

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