2023 Grantmaking Cycle

Grantmaking Guidelines and Application Process

Overview

JLF invites Grant Requests from current grantees interested in re-applying for a grant from JLF in the 2023 Grantmaking Cycle. JLF’s 2023 Grantmaking Cycle is only open to current JLF grantees.

JLF has grown rapidly since our launch in 2020. Between 2020-2022, the number of LOIs and proposals we received increased tenfold, and our total grants budget increased by 350%. This rapid growth has outpaced our human capacity to conduct our grantmaking in solid alignment with our core values. Namely, our commitments to:

  • honoring the time and labor of all involved and minimizing the burden on applicants;

  • situating decision-making power with movement leaders proximate to the work, and

  • giving each application a thorough and fair review.

In order to allow us to build upon the lessons we’ve gleaned in the last 3 years, we made the difficult decision to pause our grantmaking to new organizations in 2023.

Grantees who are interested in applying for a grant in 2023 will be asked to submit a combined report on the previous year’s work and request for new funding. Grants will be awarded in amounts ranging from approximately $10,000 - $25,000, on a one-year basis.

timeline

  • June 5: Grant Portal Opens - Program Officers available for feedback and consultation

  • July 31st: Combined Grant Report + Request Due

  • Late August: Response period for Steering Committee questions and feedback

  • Early September: Grant Decisions Communicated

  • October (rolling): Funds Disbursed

Eligibility

  • Prospective grantees must have received a grant from JLF in the 2022 Grantmaking Cycle. (JLF’s grantee relationship is held with the organization receiving funding, not the individual people within those organizations. Individual members of organizations that received a grant from JLF in the 2022 Grantmaking Cycle are not eligible to apply on behalf of a new organization.)

  • Prospective grantees must be United States-based 501(c)3 non-profit organizations, or projects operating under a fiscal sponsorship arrangement with a United States-based 501(c)3 organization.[1]

    • As a grantmaker practicing participatory grantmaking, we rely upon our reviewers’ expertise with the movement landscapes where we fund. Therefore, we may decline to fund a non-US based project even though it is deeply aligned with our priorities simply because, at this time, we don’t have the expertise to make responsible grantmaking decisions in the locale where the applicant predominantly operates. If you have any questions about whether your hybrid US & international work is eligible, please contact grants@jewishliberation.fund.

  • Prospective grantees must be engaging in work that is building or sustaining the progressive Jewish movement for justice and liberation in the United States. Secular organizing or movement-based projects with Jewish staff but that are not themselves Jewish projects due to the character of the work or core constituency are not eligible.  

  • Prospective grantees should be able to demonstrate impact or a track record. While there is not a minimum organizational age or budget size for projects to qualify for a grant from JLF, we are not considering projects that are still in the ideation/conceptual stage for this round of grantmaking.

  • Successful applications will likely reflect a minimum of four, if not all, of the Grantmaking Priorities articulated below.

Grantmaking Priorities

  • Work that nourishes and grows the progressive Jewish movement for justice and liberation - through traditional movement building work, and/or through spiritual, arts, and cultural-creation work.

  • Explicit organizational/project commitment and demonstrated praxis of anti-racism

  • Project’s work & leadership center/are composed of Black Jews, Indigenous Jews, Jews of Color, Sephardim, and/or Mizrahim (BIJOCSM), and/or poor/working class Jews.

  • Tricky-to-fund work - unlikely to receive funding from other Jewish institutional funders, on account of the nature of the work and/or the project’s values/political convictions.

  • Catalyzing work - sparks or ignites ripple effects; generates buzz, communal conversation, and action in new ways; has edge; project isn’t afraid to take risks and buck the status quo.

JLF Staff are here to support you in preparing and submitting your Grant Request. Please contact JLF staff (grants@jewishliberation.fund) if you have any questions or would like to schedule a preliminary conversation about your materials prior to submission.