Funding | Grantmaking Overview | Systems Change Grant
Systems Change Grant
We made the first Systems Change, (formerly Systems, Power, and Action) grants in 2020 to strengthen community power-building and create the conditions for transformative change. To date, we have awarded more than 70 organizations each with up to $750,000 in three-year grants. Our team is not currently accepting applications. For future grantmaking opportunities, please sign up for our newsletters.
To stay up to date with our grantmaking:
Funding priorities
This fund is shaped by our commitment to racial justice, reflective leadership, and community-driven solutions. Consistent with our experience that incredible leaders live and work in every corner of Washington, we will support work that has a statewide and/or local impact on institutions, political power, and systems change. Keep reading to learn what we look for in prospective grantee organizations.
Kim Rinehardt of Mason County HOST at an Inatai gathering in Tukwila. Photo: Uly Curry.
Groups accountable to people who face the greatest inequities
and who therefore have the most to gain or lose. We fund organizations and leaders who have strong mutual relationships with individuals and families in communities where the organization works directly.
Organizations founded and governed by the communities and people they serve
with leadership at senior staff and board levels that reflects the community. We believe that people with lived experiences in addressing systemic barriers are best positioned to develop policies and strategies to ensure equitable access to, and distribution of, resources.
Stina Janssen of Firelands Workers United and Ubaldo Hernandez of Comunidades at an Inatai gathering in Tukwila. Photo: Uly Curry
A demonstrator in Olympia. Photo: Uly Curry
Work that demonstrates the ability to change systems at the local, regional, or statewide levels.
Organizations with a proven ability to make change also show a commitment to the sustained efforts and action necessary to create that change.
Groups aligned to our values and our mission of transforming the balance of power for equity and racial justice.
We look for grantees to name specific ways in which systems affect the people their organization serves and how public institutions can be challenged and changed to support increasingly equitable outcomes.
A community leader talking to event attendees at Pacific County Pride. Photo: Amiran White
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:Â
- Interpretation and translation services (including ASL and/or CART),Â
- Large-print formats of instructions and applications,Â
- Alternative application methods, including over the phone, by video or voice recording, and on paper,Â
- Support from professional grant writers.Â
Please contact us at grants@inatai.org or 866.389.5532 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.Â
Organizations We Are Supporting
Get to know the leaders of three organizations we support through Systems Change Grants.
Community Conversations: Hanncel Sanchez
In this discussion with Inatai Senior Program Officer Jorge Gutierrez at MiA’s new office, Hanncel shares more about her personal journey finding and building community in Spokane.
Q&A: Magaly Solis, La Casa Hogar’s first Latina executive director
Magaly Solis became La Casa Hogar’s first Latina executive director in the organization’s 33-year history. In celebration of her new role, we spoke to Magaly about organizational transitions from white to people-of-color leadership and how philanthropy can support nonprofits like hers.
Community Conversations: Ginger Kwan
In this virtual Q&A, Open Doors’ Executive Director Ginger Kwan joins Jay Thomas, a Program Officer at Inatai, to share more about the story behind the organization’s formation and her own personal journey in this work.