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Original Publication

December 10, 2025

Updated

December 12, 2025

At Borealis Philanthropy, we know movements and democracy itself are strongest when resources flow to the organizers, storytellers, healers, and ecosystem-builders working at the intersections of racial, gender, disability, and justice. In the final quarter of 2025, five of our funds moved more than $21 million to over 200 frontline organizations advancing collective liberation and strengthening the foundations of a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy.

  • Borealis’ Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund awarded $2 million to organizations and leaders strengthening safety, power, and self-determination for BIPOC queer and trans folks. These groups are increasing access to gender-affirming, fighting against the criminalization of migrants, nurturing trans and queer leadership, and organizing for policy change that protects all peoples’ freedom and autonomy.At Borealis Philanthropy, we know movements and democracy itself are strongest when resources flow to the organizers, storytellers, healers, and ecosystem-builders working at the intersections of racial, gender, disability, and economic justice. In the final quarter of 2025, six of our funds moved more than $21 million to over 200 frontline organizations advancing collective liberation and strengthening the foundations of a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy.
  • Through the Racial Equity in Journalism (REJ) Fund, Borealis awarded $4.33 million in unrestricted grants to news organizations serving Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and Southwest Asia and North Africa communities across the U.S. These media partners play a critical role in protecting democracy by providing accurate, community-rooted information and countering the mis- and disinformation that threatens public trust, civic participation, and the safety of multiracial communities.
  • Through the Disability Inclusion Fund (DIF), Borealis awarded $5 million in core grants to organizations and visionaries cultivating joyful futures free of ableism, alongside $1.95 million in collaborative grants to 13 cross-movement partnerships spanning community organizing, legal advocacy, arts and culture, mutual aid, education, and policy. DIF and the Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF) also jointly awarded $1 million in Joy Grants to groups at the nexus of Blackness and disability, resourcing rest, healing, and creativity as essential practices for sustaining democratic participation and community power.
  • Borealis’ Spark Justice Fund (SJF), Borealis awarded $466,500 in unrestricted grants to grassroots organizations advancing pretrial justice reforms, ending money bail, closing jails, and redirecting public investments toward the communities most harmed by criminalization and incarceration. Their work expands community-rooted visions of safety, belonging, and self-determination, cornerstones of a healthy democracy.
  • Borealis’ Racial Equity to Accelerate Change (REACH) Fund awarded $700k million to organizations and leaders in its first-ever round of participatory grantmaking (PGM). These field builders, network weavers, memory activists, land stewards, somatic practitioners, healers, strategists, litigators, and more support the movement ecosystem to pursue inclusive governance, transcend the limits of the existing nonprofit model, and advance democratic, community-led solutions.

As Black, disabled, queer, trans, immigrant, and other multiple marginalized communities continue to face escalating attacks, we remain steadfast in our commitment to resourcing wholeness, power-building, and the long-term movement infrastructure needed to protect and expand multiracial democracy.

Borealis 2.0

Recognizing the need to organize our work in ways that reflect its interconnected reality, Borealis Philanthropy will transition in 2026 to a unified structure built around five core pillars:

  • Race, Gender, and Disability Justice
  • Community Safety and Justice
  • Economic Justice and Inclusion
  • Media, Journalism, and Narrative Change
  • Movement Infrastructure

As part of this shift, the Black-Led Movement Fund, Communities Transforming Policing Fund, Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund, Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund, and Spark Justice Fund will sunset in 2026—not as an end, but as an expansion of their work through these pillars.

The Disability Inclusion Fund and Fund for Trans Generations will move under Race, Gender, and Disability Justice, and the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund will transition into Media, Journalism, and Narrative Change.

Together, these pillars more accurately reflect the collaborative, cross-issue strategies that have always guided our work—and they mark our belief in a blueprint for a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy. In a moment defined by escalating threats to public safety, renewed attacks on civil rights, narrowing freedom of expression, and widening economic inequity, we believe philanthropy must meet the moment with clarity, courage, and coordinated commitment.

Borealis Philanthropy is deeply grateful for the donors and partners whose support makes this work possible. We invite funders to join the Borealis community to pool and move resources to the frontlines of grassroots democracy and justice movements. To learn more about partnering with us, please connect with us at development@borealisphilanthropy.org.