FAQ
FAQ: noun. a document (as on a website) that provides answers to a list of typical questions that users might ask regarding a particular subject.
Photo Credit: Highlander Research and Education Center
Where do the funds for HSF come from?
What social justice strategies does HSF support?
What is the size and length of a typical grant?
How do I apply for HSF’s Small Grants Program?
Does HSF have a regional focus for its grantmaking?
What does HSF mean by multi-generational organizing?
WHERE DO THE FUNDS FOR HSF COME FROM?
The Hill-Snowdon Foundation was established through a gift of Johnson & Johnson stock from its founder, Arthur B. Hill. For many years, the foundation's endowment was invested entirely in Johnson & Johnson shares, however, the Board of Trustees made a deliberate commitment to diversify the foundation's investment portfolio, including increasing investments that align with socially responsible investing principles and the foundation's values.
The foundation distributes several million dollars annually in support of grassroots organizing, movement building, and community-led efforts across the country. In addition to its core grantmaking, the foundation has periodically expanded its annual grantmaking budget through special funding initiatives, allowing us to invest an additional $500,000 – $1.5M each year in organizations advancing community power, racial equity, and civic engagement.
WHAT SOCIAL JUSTICE STRATEGIES DOES HSF SUPPORT?
HSF has adopted community organizing as its core social justice strategy. We believe that community organizing is the best way to enliven the sense of individual and collective power of disenfranchised and marginalized communities and push through the systemic barriers that bar people of color and low-income communities from participating fully in the democratic process. While we realize that community organizing is just one of many social justice strategies, HSF supports organizations that have community organizing as a major aspect of their overall work.
WHAT IS THE SIZE AND LENGTH OF A TYPICAL GRANT?
The Hill-Snowdon Foundation primarily provides general operating support to strengthen the long-term capacity and sustainability of grassroots organizations. General operating grants typically range from $40,000 to $50,000 per year.
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Organizations receiving their first grant from the foundation generally begin at the lower end of this funding range. Our largest grants are typically reserved for organizations that demonstrate a strong integration of multi-generational organizing and economic justice organizing, reflecting our commitment to long-term community power building.
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To support a diverse ecosystem of grassroots organizations, the foundation has adopted an eight-year limit for our major grant partnerships. Grants are initially awarded and renewed on an annual basis before they may shift into a multi-year grant for the remainder of our support.
HOW CAN I APPLY FOR A GRANT?
As the Hill-Snowdon Foundation has continued to evolve its grantmaking practices, we have also refined how we engage with new organizations, emerging movements, and prospective partners. We remain committed to building meaningful relationships, sharing information about our funding priorities, and helping organizations determine whether there is alignment with our mission, values, and approach to grantmaking.
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We encourage organizations interested in our work to begin by exploring our website to learn more about our program areas, funding priorities, and the types of organizations we support. While referrals from our grassroots partners, funding partners, or other trusted members of our network often help us better understand an organization's work and community connections, they are not required for consideration.
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If, after reviewing our website, you believe your work aligns with our grantmaking priorities, we invite you to register for one of our informational sessions. These sessions provide an opportunity to learn more about the Hill-Snowdon Foundation, space to ask questions and better understand our funding approach, and the kinds of grassroots organizing, movement-building, and community-led efforts we seek to support.
HOW DO I APPLY FOR HILL-SNOWDON'S SMALL GRANT PROGRAM?
Only current HSF grassroots partners are eligible for HSF Small Grants Fund. The HSF Small Grants Fund was established to provide organizations with timely small grants to current HSF grant recipients to help respond to urgent and unanticipated events, unique opportunities or capacity building needs between grant cycles. Current HSF Grassroots Partners can apply for one-time discretionary grants of up to $7,500 per year between regular grant cycles. Because the funds are limited and on a first come, first serve basis, we ask that applicants make every effort to calculate actual costs, rather than general requests for the full $7,500. The Small Grants Fund is divided into two pools of funds, the Opportunity Fund and the Capacity Building Fund. Please visit the Grassroots Partners web-page to learn more about our Small Grants.
DOES HSF HAVE A REGIONAL FOCUS FOR ITS GRANTMAKING?
Under HSF’s 2012-2015 strategic plan, we have simplified our geographic interest areas. The Fund for DC is our program area that is limited to a specific locale (e.g., Washington, DC). In our Youth Organizing and Economic Justice Organizing program areas, the majority of our grant funds(60-70%) will be directed toward the US South, and the remainder will be available for grantmaking will made for strategic investments throughout the country that help promote the goals of our Youth Organizing and Economic Justice Organizing program areas. The Making Black Lives Matter Initiative and Defending the Dream Fund both emphasize the South as a priority region, but also include the Mid-West and other under-resourced areas as well.
WHAT DOES HSF MEAN BY MULTI-GENERATIONAL ORGANIZING?
Multi-generational organizing refers to organizing efforts that bring together youth (18 years and younger) and adults to share leadership and power within organizing campaigns and decision-making structures (i.e., organizations, coalitions, networks, etc). For our purposes, there are two types of multi-generational organizing arrangements:
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Inter-generational: where youth and adults share leadership in the design, implementation and evaluation of organizing campaigns, as well as the management of a particular organization (i.e. board or senior management level).
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Cross-generational: where youth-led organizations/projects and adult led organizations come together in networks or coalitions to do joint work. Youth in these settings have power and leadership in the direction of the coalition’s efforts, but not within the decision-making structures of the other coalition member organizations.
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In both formations, we would like to see that there is a growing intention to develop, promote and integrate youth leadership as a “cultural” norm. Our hope in promoting multi-generational organizing is that it will create a stronger and more vital movement by utilizing the strengths of adult and youth organizers, create a pipeline for a new generation of social justice leaders and increase the sustainability of the social justice movement overall.
WHAT DOES HSF MEAN BY ANTI-BLACK STRUCTURAL RACISM?
Structural racism is the normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics — historical, cultural, institutional and interpersonal — that routinely advantage whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color. Structural racism encompasses the entire system of white domination, diffused and infused in all aspects of society, including its history, culture, politics, economics and entire social fabric.
Anti-Black Structural Racism is the term used to specifically describe the unique discrimination, violence and harms imposed on and impacting Black people specifically. We see anti-Black structural racism as the foundational architecture for the strategies, tactics, tools and cultural worldviews that propagate and maintain racial oppression, repression and exclusion in the U.S. and the world.
HOW DOES HSF DEFINE BLACK LED & POWER?
We define Black-led organizing groups as groups that have a predominantly Black Board, executive leadership, staff leadership and membership/leadership base; and the primary purpose of these groups is to work to build power with and for the Black community.
The reason why Black-led groups are emphasized is in order to facilitate the rebuilding of a Black social change leadership base and pipeline. This can best be achieved through supporting Black leaders in the process of leading organizations, campaigns, work on the ground and through providing supplemental leadership development support. It is also important to work to reverse the historical trend of under-resourcing Black-led groups, particularly Black-led social change groups.
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In 2015, the Black Lives Matter movement has developed a considerable amount of Social Power, but its Institutional Power was more fragile or minimal, and its Political Power had yet to be realized. Now, in 2020, while we have seen advancements on the latter - we know that the work continues to evolve.
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The three critical, inter-connected forms of power necessary for social change:
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Social Power – the ability to influence and shape the way that people think about issues and themselves and the ability to inspire people to action.
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Institutional Power – the structural capacity (necessary) to move forward an agenda for social change, in a strategic and coordinated fashion and over time
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Political Power – the ability to influence and change how systems operate (e.g., changing policy and practice).
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