Social Justice Fund’s primary grantmaking focus is to support organizations that are community based, and that use community organizing to achieve their goals. Our definition of community organizing follows:
Community organizing is a process that brings together exploited or oppressed people to change systems or institutions that affect their lives and communities through grassroots mobilization and actions that demonstrate collective power.
Community organizing builds a base of people who share a common understanding of the problems they face as well as a shared strategy to mobilize this base to take effective actions. Community organizing also develops leadership from and relationships among members of this base.
Elements of community organizing:
- Research/analysis: Oppressed people identify the common problems they’re facing, how they are being affected, and the root causes of the problem.
- Goals/targeting: Identify desired changes, prioritize them, and define shared vision.
- Planning for action: Create a plan of action to address the problem; assess factors that create or maintain the problem; analyze external and internal obstacles and opportunities; assess resources; identify those most affected by the problem, those who can help create desired change, and those who will stand in the way; and develop strategies to organize and mobilize supporters to address the problem and to create change.
- Evaluation: Monitor action plans, evaluate effectiveness of strategy in terms of overall goal, revise plans, and identify new problems or strategies.
Groups involved in some but not all of the elements listed above may still receive grants. However, successful applicants must at least demonstrate that:
- The issues being addressed are identified through a process controlled by the affected community,
- The effort involves mobilizing the affected community to take collective action, and
- The process ultimately alters unjust power relations, builds grassroots unity and strength, and develops leaders from among the affected community.