No, the Grassroots Fund does not require that a group has a formal tax exempt status. We fund both informal (unincorporated) groups - we call them “ad hoc” - and formal (incorporated or 501c3 status) groups. The minimum requirement is that a group must have a checking account in the group’s name (if you don't have a fiscal sponsor or a certain tax status as a group). This requirement is to ensure that the grant isn't considered personal income for the recipient. Note that a group is allowed to submit an application before having a checking account or a fiscal agent in place.

In order to open a bank account to deposit funds, the bank can request an Employee Identification Number (EIN) be assigned for identification purposes.  A Community Volunteer Group can request an EIN number online by following these steps:

• Go to this IRS Website
• Click on Apply for an EIN (near the middle of the page)
• Click on Begin Application (at the bottom of the page)
• When you get to the list of the type of group, check the  View Additional Types box at the bottom of the list, then hit Continue
• Choose Community or Volunteer Group, then Continue
• Click on the Continue button
• Fill out all of the applicable information for the group

The Grassroots Fund's Guiding Practices highlight some of the process elements we aim to prioritize in our funding. The Guiding Practices focus on rooting work in community context, shifting power in decision-making, ensuring barriers to participation are lowered and centering just transition principles. We understand no single project will be able to excel in all areas, but we seek to engage in conversations about who makes decisions, how priorities are set and who is able to participate. Those are questions we ask ourselves about our own programs & projects as well. 
The Fund interprets the word ‘environment’ broadly and will provide funding for a wide range of activities. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss a project idea or if you are looking for feedback on an application. 

If you are working to launch a newly evolving project (generally active less than 2 years), go with Seed.  Seed grantees often have less experience with the work and aren't able to draw from many experiences with implementation. If you are an established group with some experience with the project and are looking for support to deepen or broaden the work, then Grow is more appropriate.  Grow grantees often are able to give specific examples for how they are implementing (or evolving) specific practices.  Don't hesitate to contact us for help deciding betweent the grant programs.

Please reach out and connect so we can talk more about next steps. It generally is not a problem to extend the grant period if there are plans to complete the project in the next 6 months. Staff will ask follow up questions where needed and we can note on the application that an extension was granted. In some cases, we may ask for an interim report but we can best determine that when we understand the specifics.  Please don't hesitate to contact us to discuss more. 

The group should fill out a final Grant Report form and return the remaining money to the Grassroots Fund by check. We will use the funds to support other grassroots groups across the region! Please contact Chetana with any questions about returning grant funds.

Eligible groups are able to receive up to two Seed grants per calendar year, as long as each individual grant is for a different area of work. For example, a group could be awarded a Seed grant to fund a community garden) and another grant in for their tenant organizing work (such as “Know Your Rights” workshops). 

That depends. There is no set limit. We work through a participatory process and rely on grant readers and grantmaking committee members to make final decisions.  Alignment with the Guiding Practices is at the center of conversation and we understand that much of the work takes time to develop and has to respond to shifting realities. For the Seed program, we do prioritze newly emerging work that doesn't have the established experience of implementing a project. If you are unsure whether or not your group should apply again, please don't hesitate to contact us.

In Grassroots Fund’s commitment to environmental justice, we are focusing our efforts in making sure that grant funds are reaching community organizers and organizations whose voices and identities are most often underfunded. This most strongly shows up as we think about what it means to Shift Power. Grantees who have scored high in this particular guiding practice emphasize needing to understand who is in their community and who is in their organization’s leadership. They do so by seeking to understand their leadership’s lived experiences. As our application is built to provide reflection points for groups to think about how they are organizing, we have added additional questions to think about who is present in your group. We also will use this information to better understand who is receiving funding and how we can better focus our efforts to ensure our funding dollars are leading towards greater environmental justice.

We similarly ask these questions in our volunteer sign ups to better ensure that the lived experiences of folks who are traditionally left out of decision making spaces are centered in our participatory review process, including our community reader program and grantmaking committee.