Foundation for a Just Society
OVERVIEW: The Foundation for a Just Society funds a number of grassroots organizations that seek to fill funding gaps in human rights matters related to marginalized women, girls, and LGBTI people.
IP TAKE: A GUTC signatory, the Foundation for a Just Society is an inclusive funder that works at the local, regional, national and global levels to pursue its mission. Grants tend to prioritize Francophone West Africa, Mesoamerica, South and Southeast Asia and the U.S. Southeast. A small number of grants focus on New York City.
Foundation for a Just Society also prioritizes unrestricted general grants and multi-year support, so this is a great funder to know if you’re looking to build a long-term relationship. In addition to grants, this funder provides its “partners with an array of grantee-driven accompaniment that fosters organizational and movement strengthening to complement general operating grants” with a particular “emphasis on accompaniment for strategic communications and holistic safety and collective care.” It is comfortable “acting boldly,” and thus, says it takes grantmaking risks.
However, the Foundation for a Just Society prefers to field its own grantees to support, requesting proposals only if it believes a grant seeker is a good fit. While it’s possible to reach out to specific program officers, note that they receive many requests. A better approach may be to ask them about the work they oversee and how it’s evolving to learn more about how your work may fit.
PROFILE: The Foundation for a Just Society was established in 2011 by Audrey Cappell, daughter of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies founder James Simons. A GUTC signatory, the foundation works to “support innovative, intersectional, grassroots strategies that meet immediate needs while igniting long-term, structural change in communities and regions that have been overlooked by philanthropy.” To this end, the foundation supports the intersectional global advancement of human rights, targeting marginalized women, girls, LGBTI people, land rights, healthcare, climate change and migration. Like several large foundations that have joined the gendered turn in philanthropic giving, Just Society supports organizations that work to fill funding gaps in gender equality and justice.
Grants for Women, LGBTI, Racial Justice and Human Rights
Grantmaking strategies are defined on the Foundation for a Just Society’s website, focusing on the U.S. Southeast, Mesoamerica, Francophone West Africa, South and Southeast Asia, as well as global funding. Rather than maintaining distinct programs, the Foundation for a Just Society conducts all of its work through a racial and gender justice lens that has a dedicated intersectional approach. As a result, this funder is dedicated to women, immigrants, LGBTQ+, and Black and Afro-Indigenous-led movement-building across all areas of giving.
While the Foundation for a Just Society does not provide highly detailed information about its grantmaking strategy, it takes a “field-led” and “trust-based” approach to its grantmaking, based on building lasting relationships, transparency and accountability. It seeks to effect “long-term, structural change and meet immediate needs” by developing “a cohort of long-term grantees that work at the intersections of multiple issues and fill critical gaps in local, national, regional and global movements to advance the human rights of marginalized girls, women and LGBTQI people.”
In other words, Just Society emphasizes the “power imbalance” between funders and grantees by empowering community members to create sustainable and intersectional, long-term solutions at the local level. Its philosophy centers on feminism, collaboration, risk and giving those most affected by injustice a voice.
Grantees include African Women’s Development Fund, American Jewish World Service, Asia Justice and Rights, Asociación Mujeres Transformando, Carolina Youth Action Project, Center for Women Policy Studies, and Coalition of African Lesbians. While the foundation no longer hosts a grants database, you may scroll down the home page to read grantee spotlights at the bottom.
Important Grant Details:
The Foundation for a Just Society awards single- and multi-year grants that range from $50,000 to about $500,000.
- Just Society’s grantmaking regions include the Southeast United States, New York City, South and Southeast Asia, Francophone West Africa, and Central America.
- Grantmaking strategies remain flexible in order to meet the needs of grantee partners, and “are informed by a range of thought partners who have intellectual and experiential expertise, such as community leaders, funders, journalists and movement elders.”
- The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or fund individuals, partisan organizations, and lobbying efforts.
- The foundation makes grants four times per year: March, June, September and November. Proposal invitations are extended two months prior to the grant approval dates.
The staff, headquartered in New York, New York, may be reached at (646) 362-0039 or info@fjs.org.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: