Letter From Our President

Our Impact in 2024

Our Grantee Partners In Action

Borealis Funds in Review

Resources for Funders

This Moment Is Urgent. It’s Time To Act. Together.

Our Impact in 2024

GRANTEE PARTNERS IN ACTION

2024 IMPACT REPORT:
BOREALIS FUNDS IN REVIEW

Borealis Philanthropy is a philanthropic intermediary working to advance the impact of our movements across the country. We focus on a range of social justice issues, including Black-led movement work, disability inclusion and justice, uplifting the dignity and respect of queer and trans communities, and invest in leaders, organizations, and movements using diverse and innovative strategies to pursue transformational change.

The Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF) supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and other politically aligned organizations to better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power.

In 2024, the BLMF had one of its biggest years in grantmaking yet. In the midst of a funding cliff, with Black-led grassroots organizations impacted by the philanthropic sector shifting strategy and dollars away from racial justice work, the BLMF remained steadfast and resolute on its priority to support Black wisdom and solutions. The Fund moved nearly $7.46 million in general operating and rapid response grants to 121 Black-led grantee partners. BLMF grantees are organizing across a range of intersectional areas—food systems, arts and culture, prison industrial complex abolition, sex worker decriminalization, workers’ rights, electoral, environmental, disability, and gender justice work, and so much more.

For the second year in a row, the Fund’s grantmaking cycle was guided by the wisdom and leadership of a participatory grantmaking committee comprised of Black artists, organizers, educators, and advocates from across the country. The BLMF also prioritized intersectional and anti-ableist grantmaking, and worked in partnership with the Disability Inclusion Fund to launch the Black Disabled Liberation Project, a $1 million co-funding initiative to resource at the overlapping gap and intersections of disability and Blackness.

The Communities Transforming Policing Fund (CTPF) supports small and emerging grassroots organizing groups led by people most impacted by policing to create collective narrative and energy to shift power and resources from police to communities and create safety for all.

Last year, the CTPF furthered this commitment by moving nearly $5.16 million in general operating grants and rapid response grants to 61 groups working to end criminalization, increase police accountability, reimagine transformative public safety strategies, and build healthy, healed communities. For a third consecutive year, the CTPF leaned on the leadership of its participatory grantmaking committee members—11 advocates, organizers, and storytellers representing BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities that have been impacted by policing and the criminal justice system.

In August, the CTPF team joined hundreds of activists, community members, and family members in Ferguson, MO to commemorate the life and legacy of Michael Brown Jr, on the 10-year anniversary of his death. Shortly thereafter the team hosted Healing Towards the Future, a conversation on the promise, pain, and healing associated with collective organizing to end state violence. The Fund also continued its collaborative work with the Black-Led Movement Fund to redefine philanthropic impact and evaluation processes through the Movement-Defined Learning Project. The CTPF also continues to push back against the criminalization and political prosecution of protesters and movement groups through supporting the long-term legal defense of organizers and fortifying movement groups against safety and security threats.

The Disability Inclusion Fund (DIF) supports U.S. groups led by people with disabilities to achieve disability justice, inclusion, and rights. Its principles and practices are drawn from disabled-led movements to build power and a society that is free of ableism and other discriminatory barriers.

Last year, the DIF announced $5.25 million in awards to 75 disabled-led organizations and visionaries who are advancing disability justice, rights, and innovative technologies to build joyful futures free of ableism. The DIF continued support for returning grantees and welcomed 15 new organizations, focused in the areas of climate justice, media and storytelling, and economic empowerment, reflecting the DIF’s commitment to long-term power building and nurturing emerging leaders. 2024’s awards also included $700,000 to nine organizations through the DIF x Tech Fund, a partnership with the Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation to bring about transformational change at the intersections of disability rights, justice, and technology.

The DIF also continues to prioritize intersectional giving through the Black Disabled Project, a $1 million co-funding initiative with the Black-Led Movement Fund. The Fund also prioritized bringing all of its grantees together in the first ever Disability Inclusion Fund Grantee Convening in May in Chicago.

The Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund (ELLC) supports the bridging role that young LGBTQ leaders play to support movements in becoming more connected, inclusive, and thus more powerful. The Fund invests in organizations and movement leaders who understand that issues like community safety, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and others do not exist in isolation from each other, and who carry out organizing that addresses how injustice intersects.

In 2024, the ELLC Fund announced $2.73 million in grants to 49 leaders and organizations developing innovative and transformative approaches to organizing for queer and trans liberation, racial justice and bodily sovereignty, and other vital freedoms. ELLC Fund grantee partners are working toward the creation of comprehensive guidance for healthcare practitioners and funders on expanding abortion access across sanctuary states, year-long organizing efforts to support the Stop Cop City movement, the creation of policy and advocacy training offerings to expand the reach of LGBTQ movement-led initiatives in advance of the upcoming election cycle, and more.

With the onslaught and continued rise of anti-trans legislation, the ELLC Fund prioritized investment in its Young Trans Women of Color (YTWOC) leadership programming, which aims to mobilize resources to support trans women of color organizing across issues and movements. In 2024 the Fund welcomed 16 YTWOC leaders, its largest cohort to date. With the need to respond to multiple crises, the Fund also had its largest rapid response grantmaking funding to date, moving $371,000 in response to escalating needs including Hurricane Helene, the rollback of reproductive justice access, and civic engagement organizing in anticipation of the 2024 election season.

The Fund for Trans Generations (FTG) invests in trans-led organizing to support a future where transgender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people live with freedom, safety, and self-determination.

In 2024, the Fund for Trans Generations awarded nearly $2.94 million in flexible, general operating and rapid response support to 109 trans-led organizations, fueling their transformative work that is paving the way for a more inclusive and beautiful future for us all. FTG grantees are BIPOC trans organizers and directly impacted individuals at the forefront of responding to emergent crises, building power, and uplifting one another every step of the way. Because BIPOC trans communities have never been able to rely on the State to meet their needs, these organizations are helping to build vibrant, resilient, and transformative networks of care, even under harsh and hostile conditions.

FTG continued to build the capacity of grantee partners through one-on-one coaching and monthly group coaching sessions. The Fund also prioritized up-and-coming Black trans women leaders with the Flower Crown Project, an initiative to nurture the wisdom and leadership of Black trans femmes; curate a sacred and healing space for these leaders to exist in fellowship; and bolster and align Black trans femme strategies for our collective liberation.

The REACH Fund (REACH) invests in capacity builders, organizational strategists, field builders, and other variations of racial equity practitioners whose work supports the movement ecosystem to practice inclusive governance, transcend the limits of the existing nonprofit model, and arrive at more equitable outcomes for all.

The Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund deepened its commitment to practitioner-led organizing—an essential part of the racial justice ecosystem, moving $1.915 million to 20 grantee partners. REACH supports those whom communities trust at critical junctures such as the one we are living in. This includes the capacity builders, healers, strategists, political educators, field builders, cultural workers, peacemakers, and more. The folks tend to our movements, weave our futures together, and accelerate change. REACH honors these guides who help all our communities and movements unlearn, build, and move forward together.

In 2024, REACH prioritized strengthening community-driven learning and collaboration by relaunching a Community of Practice. This is a space for grantee partners to exchange wisdom, and build trust and support through honest dialogue, collaboration, and embodied practices that deepen their engagement with their collective work. The Fund also expanded its support to the Deep Equity Practitioners Network, helping them organize a pivotal pre-convening and strategy session at the national Facing Race conference.

Racial Equity in Journalism Fund (REJ) invests in news organizations led by and for people of color. The Fund bolsters a strong, diverse, and independent local media sector that increases civic engagement for communities of color by reaching them with vital, relevant information.

In 2024, the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund awarded $3.99 million in grants to 41 news organizations serving communities of color across the country. This grantmaking aims to ensure Black, Indigenous, Latine, and SWANA people have the news and information they need to navigate today’s geographies and social systems. These organizations exist as creative, innovative alternatives to a mainstream status quo that, for too long, has muted, distorted, and ignored the stories, information needs, and economic needs of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Last year, REJ convened forty-one people from media organizations, social movement organizations, and philanthropic institutions in Austin, Texas. Additionally, the Fund is developing two new fellowships, each with a unique focus. The first, in partnership with ZEAL Co-Op, i aims to fill the void in media policy advocacy, focusing on BIPOC communities. The second is centered on revenue sustainability. Both fellowships are designed to address crucial gaps in the media landscape and support long-term financial resilience for organizations.

Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund (REP) invests in philanthropy-serving organizations to inform, educate, and equip funders to integrate racial equity policies and practices into their grantmaking and programs.

A Fund Farewell:
Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund

In 2025, Borealis will formally sunset our Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund (REP)—created and buoyed by the Ford and W.K. Kellogg Foundations—which has invested in philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs) to inform, educate, and equip funders to integrate racial equity policies and practices into their grantmaking programs since 2018.

While we still believe that this is incredibly vital work, we also believe that it is no longer Borealis’ to hold. Given the level of political retrenchment since the global uprisings of 2020, the volatility of today’s sociopolitical landscape, and the impact of both on philanthropic giving, REP Fund grantee partners no longer need—nor can they afford—for Borealis to stand in or unintentionally widen the gap. In closing this portfolio, we’re calling for a new level of commitment and investment to meet this critical moment—one that includes long-term and direct funding necessary for Borealis and sector PSOs to scale and, with greater independence, further shift the funding landscape towards support of transformational racial justice movements.

We are grateful to have partnered with the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Raikes Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Conrad Hilton Foundation over the past several years. In 2025, its final year, the Fund will release a series of learning materials to guide and inspire philanthropic entities to move into deeper alignment with their stated visions and intentions, and ensure continued funding for vital philanthropic infrastructure in their funding strategies.

The Spark Justice Fund (SJF) supports efforts to end the correctional control of people of color and the harms inflicted by the criminal legal system on families and communities in the United States.

In 2024, the Spark Justice Fund awarded $1.68 million to 55 grantee partners. Spark grantee partners are organizations led by folks who are BIPOC, disabled, queer, trans gender-nonconforming, and/or directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Recognizing the heightened challenges for all community organizers in an election year, the Fund also launched a Safety and Security Rapid Response Fund to bolster the efforts of organizations that are prioritizing the tools, knowledge, and resources needed to safeguard themselves and their people from harm and to effectively navigate crises. Through this rapid response fund, it awarded $410,000 to bolster the efforts of 36 organizations to safeguard their organization and their people from harm and to effectively navigate escalating crises.

The Fund launched a Collective Care Program to equip directly impacted organizers and leaders with the tools, knowledge, practices and resources to center healing and wellness. Healthy and supported leaders create healthy and supportive organizations, and in turn healthier communities and movements. It also spent the year preparing for the 2025 launch of the BlackPrint Fellowship, a radical, unapologetic commitment to valuing directly impacted Black leaders through wellness, community, and self-determined resources.

THIS MOMENT IS URGENT.
IT’S TIME TO ACT. TOGETHER.

RESOURCES