Community Power Grants

This year, Inatai Foundation will focus on renewing funding with organizations who are reaching the end of their previous Community Learning Grant. Organizations and fiscally sponsored projects eligible for renewal will receive a direct invitation to apply from the foundation. We will reach out to a small number of prospective new grantees to submit grant applications, by invitation only.

We will prioritize support for those organizations that:

• Have been overlooked by—or have had limited access to—philanthropy and institutional funders.
• Are founded, led, and governed by people who reflect their communities.
• Are building community power to advance equity and racial justice.

Organizations and fiscally sponsored projects invited to apply for a renewal grant will be asked to submit an application that encourages organizations to describe their mission, leadership, and the aspirations they have for their community. The preferred method for submitting an application is through our online application form. Please note that the online application form does allow you to begin your application, save your work, and return to it later.

Inatai Foundation strives to make this process widely available to people with disabilities, people who communicate in languages other than English, and organizations that are new to working with philanthropy or other funders. Invited organizations are encouraged to request an alternative application process or other accommodations via email to grants@inatai.org or by calling us at 866.389.5532 if you require assistance in completing and submitting your application.

We invite you to review our organization definitions to clarify terms and to assist you in completing this portion of the application. It is very important that all applicants understand and use these definitions accurately when applying for funding.

Community Power Grants provide three-year, unrestricted funds to support day-to-day operations that fall within the mission of an organization. Grantees can use unrestricted funding for payroll and staffing costs, rent and capital projects, programs, services, or other costs without limitation.

We generally do not expect to support the following with Community Power Grants:

• Organizations whose work focuses exclusively on individual interventions (e.g., provision of services or care, mentoring programs, individual success or achievement) to address systemic issues.
• Organizations and fiscally sponsored projects that have significant financial assets and philanthropic revenue from foundations and private donors.
• Philanthropy-serving organizations, funder collaboratives, and community-of-interest funds (including those hosted by charitable organizations and research institutions).
• Partisan efforts or candidate electioneering, regardless of party affiliation.
• Specific departments, pilot projects, or some component part of larger organizations (Note: This is distinct from fiscally sponsored projects).
• Friends-of, fans-of, parents-of, and supporters-of groups affiliated with larger institutions.

Community Power Grants do not support individuals (e.g., scholarships and fellowships), LLCs, partnerships, or similar businesses. Nor do they support organizations that do not primarily serve people in and immediately surrounding Washington.

Finally, our guiding philosophy is that our grants do not support organizations whose model is to do things to and for communities—that is, groups that are not created, led, governed, and operated by people who the organization is intended to serve.

In 2024, we expect to make renewal grants to approximately 75 organizations. Each grant is a three-year commitment of $225,000 in total funding, or $75,000 per year.

No. We consider Sponsorships separately from Community Power Grants. You can apply for both.

Yes. You must provide full information for each application you submit. Please forgive any inconvenience this may cause.

We collect race and ethnicity, gender identity, and other types of information so we can understand the ways in which we are—and are not—making grants that are advancing our racial justice and equity goals. We are committed to funding organizations who are founded, led, and governed by the people they serve; and we hope that applicants will see this as an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate their leadership and organizational identities.

We ask that grant applicants provide us, at minimum, their race, ethnicity, disability, and gender identity demographics. We cannot accept applications without this information. If these fields are either incomplete or an inaccurate representation of an organization’s leadership we will discard the application, as we have written about here.

We recognize that organizations are in different places on the journey toward reflective leadership. We are interested to learn why this work is important for your organization, the approaches you’re taking to achieve your goals, and where you are in your progress. If there are elements of the identity questions that you cannot answer, or that pose a barrier for cultural or other reasons, please explain those barriers within the application. Questions about identity can be complex and sometimes come with context that we may not fully understand. We also recognize that sharing this information requires trust and we commit to hold in strict confidence all information you submit to us.

Fiscal sponsors must be able to provide documents that clearly define the differing roles and responsibilities of the fiscal sponsor (e.g., their legal, administrative, and financial oversight) versus the sponsored project (e.g., ability to exercise reasonable independence in programs and priorities). The fiscal sponsor must have the ability to produce separate financial statements and reports for each project that applies for funding. Generally, we expect that fiscally sponsored projects have distinct program staff or volunteer leaders and an advisory board or steering committee that guides the project (and is separate from the sponsoring organization’s board of directors or staff). We also expect the project to have a distinct name and brand from the sponsoring organization.

Over the coming months and years, we will continue to work with you to deepen our relationship, better understand your work, and share information and connections with you and a growing community of grantee organizations. Among other things, that will include the following:

• You’ll be asked to submit brief narrative reports and standard financial reports once per year. Photos and stories are encouraged!
• You’ll be invited to meetings hosted by us from time to time—including one-on-one and group gatherings where we build connections, share information with one another, and tackle issues together. Our goal is always to make those meetings worth your time. When we host, we pay for accommodations, travel stipends, and meals.

Throughout our relationship, we’ll ask that you keep us up to date on major developments (e.g., major staff transitions, changes to tax status, legal or communication issues, financial changes, major victories, etc.).