Life Comes From ItWhat we fund
Trust-based support for the people closest to the work
Grants are usually unrestricted and for general operating costs, with a minimum of bureaucracy. We fund the people doing the work and trust them to know what they need.
The four streams
Restorative justice
Practices that respond to harm by repairing relationships and meeting the needs of the people affected, rather than relying on punishment.
Transformative justice
Community responses to violence that prevent harm and address its roots, without relying on policing or prisons.
Indigenous peacemaking
Justice and healing rooted in the traditions, languages, and lifeways of Indigenous peoples.
Land-based projects
Work that heals people and communities through relationship with land, place, food, and the practices that connect them.
The terms
- Small grants
- Up to $25,000.
- Midrange grants
- Multi-year, from $50,000 to $200,000, by invitation.
- Typical terms
- Grants are usually unrestricted, for general operating costs, with minimal proposal writing and reporting.
- Who can receive
- A 501c3 organization, or a project fiscally sponsored by one. If you are neither, the circle can help connect you to a fiscal sponsor.
- How grants begin
- Many begin with a recommendation from a previous grantee. You can also introduce yourself.
How a relationship begins
- 01
A relationship, not an application
Most grants begin with a recommendation from a previous grantee or someone already trusted in the movement. You can also introduce your own work directly.
- 02
A conversation
We get to know the work and the people doing it. There is no long proposal to write and no scoring rubric.
- 03
Support that fits
Funding is usually unrestricted and for general operations, so it can meet the real need rather than a grantmaker's category.
- 04
Staying in relationship
Beyond the grant come convenings, webinars, consulting, education, and the wisdom of elders, with the network kept in touch over time.
More than money
Money is only part of it. We bring convenings, webinars, consulting, education, and the wisdom of elders to the movement.