Funding | Grantmaking Overview | Transformational Capacity Building
Transformational Capacity Building
As a supplement to our other grants, Transformational Capacity Building funds help Inatai grantee organizations build their knowledge, capacity, and capabilities for building power in their community. Depending on where an organization is in their power-building journey, we offer tailored funding to meet their capacity-building needs in the areas listed below. These grants are only available to organizations currently receiving funding from Inatai.
Range: $50,000-$150,000 for one- or two-year cycles.
Learning & Leadership Grants
Conferences, workshops, and training programs can be an effective way to strengthen your team’s skills, but they’re often out of reach financially. Our Learning & Leadership grants are designed to help existing grantees bridge this gap.
This opportunity is only available to current grantee organizations.
Community leaders at the Power to the Voter Summit in Vancouver. Photo: Uly Curry.
The Foundation for Youth Resiliency & Engagement preparing to open their Omak office in 2021. Photo courtesy of FYRE.
Operational Stability
Are you a power-building organization and need operational support to get that work going? This grant focuses on stabilizing organization operations so that you can begin to visualize and grow your capacity.
Change Capital
Whether it’s structural reorganizations, leadership transitions, or redefining strategies, change can be hard. This grant prioritizes organizations already engaged in community power building that need extra support to meet clear goals and take their work to the next level.
Magaly Solis talking about her work as executive director of La Casa Hogar. Photo: Uly Curry.
Naima Chambers-Smith of the Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council speaks during an Inatai gathering. Photo: Uly Curry.
To be eligible, organizations must be:
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- A current Inatai grant recipient.
- A nonprofit organization or a named sponsored nonprofit organization project.
- Led by communities most impacted by structural inequities, including efforts where decision-making power is held by people of color; queer, transgender, and gender-expansive people; D/deaf and disabled people; immigrants; people who are cash poor, and other lived experiences.
- Demonstrate a clear power-building goal regardless of where you are in the journey.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I apply for funding?
To be eligible for funding, please complete an application. Please make sure to review our funding priorities and requirements.
Can I submit more than one application?
You will only need to submit one application; we encourage you to articulate your range of needs across your organization which will help us when developing resources should you get selected.
What type of work are you most likely to fund?
These grants are specifically intended for organizations that want to expand on their capacity to build more power toward racial justice. These grants are not intended to maintain current programs or services.
Can you give me examples of what this means?
Though decisions about who is invited to apply often involve various unique factors and circumstances, here are some examples of what could be supported through Transformational Capacity Building.
We want to support your team to be strong for your community as you work towards building the collective power needed to change inequitable systems and hold decision makers accountable. This can be different for every organization in every community and these funds are flexible to that end. Some examples that may be a good fit for this fund include:
- Using the funds to complete a strategic plan.
- Exploring the creation of a new 501(c)(4).
- Hiring team members to canvas neighborhoods in support of a ballot initiative.
- Contracting a recruiter to help your organization search for a new executive director who is reflective of the communities you serve.
- Costs related to conducting a compensation analysis to support employee retention.
What TCAP funding cannot support
Transformational capacity building funds are restricted in the sense that they cannot be used for direct services. Some examples that may not be a good fit:
- Hiring someone to teach a U.S. citizenship class.
- Using the funds to host a summer youth program.
- Purchasing software to help manage a food delivery program.
- Regranting funds to other community organizations.
What other priorities are you considering when making decisions?
Like all our grantmaking , Inatai prioritizes funding community-led organizations that are building power for equity and racial justice. We particularly interested in supporting work led by people who are rooted in Washington communities with little access to resources.
I’m having a problem with the interest form or application. Who should I contact?
Send an email to targetedsupport@inatai.org.
I’m still not sure if this is for me, who do I talk to?
If you’re still unsure if this is the right opportunity for your organization, we encourage you to reach out to yourorganization’s program officer.
Accessibility commitment
We are committed to making the application process available in languages other than English and to people with disabilities. We are also excited to work with organizations that are new to us. To those ends, we provide:
- Interpretation and translation services (including American Sign Language and/or Communication Accessible Realtime Translation),
- Large-print formats of instructions and applications,
- Alternative application methods, including over the phone, by video or voice recording, and on paper,
- Support from professional grant writers.
Please contact us at targetedsupport@inatai.org if you need one of these or another service, and we will do our best to provide it. We know it takes time, trust, and effort to request these services, and thank you for sharing how we can make this process work for you.