Funding | Grantmaking Overview | Emerging Opportunities
Emerging Opportunities
The Emerging Opportunities Fund explores power-building efforts around issues that grantee organizations and community leaders have told us are essential to advancing their long-term capabilities and goals.
These grants are only available to organizations currently receiving funding from Inatai Foundation. If your organization is a current grantee and would like to learn more about this funding opportunity, please reach out to your program officer at the foundation.
Range: $75,000-$500,000 for one- or two-year cycles.
Funding Priorities
Our priorities were shaped by grantee organizations, who say the following work is integral to building community power and transforming systems and structures.
501(c)(4) COMMUNITY POWER-BUILDING
If your organization is ready to explore creating a 501(c)(4), this grant can help you take the next step. This opportunity is designed for organizations wanting to expand the tools necessary to get more involved in activities like endorsing political candidates, advocating for ballot measures, influencing policies, and lobbying legislators.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Unjust and discriminatory policies, violence against marginalized groups, threats to our democracy, and any other dangers to the well-being and safety of communities is a civil rights violation. This grant is designed to support organizations with a clearly defined strategy and response to civil rights violations in your community.
IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
Regardless of immigration status, people deserve to be treated equally. Whether that’s through safe working conditions, fair wages, access to healthcare, education and economic opportunities, language access, and protections from cruel and unjust immigration and justice enforcement (ICE) activity, this grant ensures you have the support to safeguard immigrant communities from discrimination or harm.
WEALTH & ASSET CREATION
A community’s well-being for generations to come often depends on the ability for organizations today to acquire assets like land and buildings, and pay off capital debt. This grant supports those who are engaged in tipping power through asset development and projects that promote community ownership and visibility. Grantee organizations must be based in an underserved geographic location.
VOTER & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Civic engagement is critical for battles toward equity and racial justice. This grant ensures you have the support to engage your community in the democratic process, from voter registration drives, get-out-the-vote campaigns, election protection programs, and more.
YOUTH & STUDENT ORGANIZING
Youth organizing helps communities act on issues now while also preparing for the future. Whether you are advocating for youth priorities, bringing young people together, or offering youth leadership development opportunities, this grant supports your work to mobilize the next generation of leaders. Inatai defines youth as up to 30 years old.
To be Eligible, organizations must be
- 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.
A community leader takes notes at an Inatai convening in Leavenworth. Photo: Uly Curry
Community leaders deep in discussion at an Inatai gathering in Snoqualmie. Photo: Uly Curry
Interested?
If your organization is working in any of these areas, please fill out this interest form to tell us about you and your work. Once we receive your form submission, you should hear from our team within four to six weeks. To be considered for our funding cycles, forms must be submitted by our next funding cycle: August 23, 2024.
After the deadline, our team will review all submissions. Organizations most aligned with our grantmaking goals will be invited to submit an application, which would be due four weeks after invitation. Once we receive your application, our team will take four to six weeks to review it and notify you of our final decision.
FAQ
What you need to know
How do I apply for funding?
To be eligible for funding, please complete this interest form. Please make sure to review our funding priorities and requirements. The interest form serves as an initial inquiry and is not a formal grant application. We estimate it should take 10 to 20 minutes to complete.
Can I submit more than one form?
Organizations will only be considered for one funding area, so we encourage you to select the funding category most aligned with your work.
Why are you asking for an interest form first?
We want to be respectful of your time and efforts, so instead of asking you to submit a full application, this interest form will help us evaluate if the Emerging Opportunities Fund might be right for your organization.
What happens if I’m not invited to submit an application?
If you are not invited to apply, you may choose to submit a new interest form to be considered during the next cycle.
What type of work are you most likely to fund?
These grants are specifically intended to fund organizations that want to expand on their work with the purpose of expanding an organization’s 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 might be a great or not-so-great fit:
Immigrant Justice
Not a good fit: An immigrant-serving organization seeking funding for ongoing legal aid work.
Possibly a fit: An immigrant-serving organization seeking funding to hire a community organizer to mobilize their community.
Youth and Student Organizing
Not a good fit: An organization seeking funding to support an ongoing a youth mentorship program.
Possibly a fit: An organization seeking funding to expand their mentorship program, prioritizing youth leadership.
Wealth & Asset Creation
Not a good fit: An organization seeking resources to rent their first office space.
Possibly a fit: An organization seeking seed money to kickstart a capital campaign for purchasing a building.
Civil Rights
Not a good fit: An organization seeking resources for ongoing community education programs on social justice issues.
Possibly a fit: An organization seeking resources to engage in impact litigation to defend communities experiencing discrimination or civil rights violations.
Voter & Civic Engagement
Not a good fit: An organization seeking funding for U.S. citizenship classes.
Possibly a fit: An organization seeking funding to develop opportunities for community members to engage in civic issues such as voting or running for office.
501(c)(4) Community Power-Building
Not a good fit: An organization is interested in starting a 501(c)(4) but aren’t quite sure how and need some direction. (These organizations may be better suited for support through the Transformational Capacity Building Fund.)
Possibly a fit: An organization is in the process gaining their 501(c)(4) status, or has very recently launched a 501(c)(4) and are ready receive funding to kick-start their 501(c)(4) work.
What other priorities are you considering when making decisions?
Like all our grantmaking initiatives, Inatai Foundation gives priority to funding organizations dedicated to building power for equity and racial justice. We particularly emphasize supporting groups that reflect the communities they serve and are rooted in Washington communities with less access to resources.
I’m having a problem with the interest form or application. Who should I contact?
Send an email to grants@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 your program officer. Since they are the ones most familiar with your organization they might be able to provide additional insight to help you decide whether if you should submit an interest form.
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 grants@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.