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Original Publication

June 30, 2026

We are thrilled to announce the first round of grantmaking for the newly launched Just Futures Initiative at Borealis Philanthropy.

This opportunity builds on Borealis’ longstanding investments in community safety and justice to resource frontline power-building organizations, emergent formations, and coalitions advancing community safety, democracy protection, and belonging in communities most impacted by criminalization. Our investments will support  strategies that transform the systems that entrap people through rising criminalization and exclusion.

The Just Futures Initiative is currently accepting applications on a rolling basis while funding remains available. Interested organizations should first complete the Just Futures Eligibility Quiz here. Organizations that meet the eligibility requirements will receive access to the Letter of Interest form, and selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

About Borealis Philanthropy

Borealis Philanthropy is a movement-rooted philanthropic intermediary dedicated to building a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy where everyone belongs and lives with dignity, safety, and full humanity. We focus on a range of social justice issues, including community safety and justice, and invest in leaders, organizations, and movements using diverse and innovative strategies to pursue transformational change. 

About the Just Futures Initiative

The Just Futures Initiative builds on Borealis’ long-standing investment in community safety, decarceration, protest defense, and community-rooted alternatives to punishment. Housed within the Community Safety & Justice pillar, this initiative supports organizations building the conditions for safety without state violence, freedom from criminalization, protection of civil and human rights, and deeper civic belonging. We believe the communities closest to harm are the architects of our most promising solutions—and this opportunity is designed to move resources in alignment with that truth.

About the Opportunity

Across the country, rising criminalization, attacks on protest and civil rights, and deep instability continue to threaten the conditions that make safety, belonging, and democracy possible. Yet communities most impacted by these systems are already building the alternatives that hold: community-defined safety strategies, protest defense infrastructure, rapid response formations, and the local ecosystems that make democracy protection materially possible.

We are in a moment that calls us to be clear, creative, and courageous. The Just Futures Initiative is designed to do just that by moving flexible resources to the organizations, emergent formations, and coalitions  proving that safety grows from care, protection, and community power, not punishment. By investing in the leaders and local infrastructure closest to harm, we aim to strengthen the long-term safety and democracy infrastructure our communities need now.

What We Fund

We invite proposals from organizations, coalitions, and collaborative formations whose work is rooted in community trust and clear proximity to the conditions they seek to change. Strong fits are strategies that strengthen the local infrastructure for safety, protect democratic participation, and expand the conditions for belonging—especially in places where criminalization, exclusion, and attacks on civil and human rights are most acute. If your organization’s work aligns with one of the three Just Futures funding lanes below, you may be a strong fit for this opportunity.

Priority Funding Lanes
  1. Movement Defense + Protection of Civil and Human Rights: Strategies that defend protest, dissent, civil liberties, and the safety of communities facing heightened criminalization, surveillance, or state repression.
  2. Community-Defined Safety + Innovative Alternatives to Criminalization: Community-rooted models that reduce reliance on policing, detention, and punishment through care-based safety infrastructure, crisis response, local policy or system shifts, and place-based safety models.
  3. Local Democracy Protection + Belonging Infrastructure: Place-based strategies that strengthen local democratic participation, defend civic inclusion, and build the connective tissue that allows communities under threat to organize, belong, and govern together.
Level of Support

This inaugural funding opportunity will provide 12-month general operating grants to organizations and collaborative formations advancing the goals of the Just Futures Initiative.

  • Standard grants: $50,000–$100,000
  • Strategic collaborative grants: Up to $200,000 with strong justification
  • Typical awards: Most grants are expected to fall within the $50,000–$75,000 range, with a smaller number of larger collaborative or ecosystem grants up to $200,000

As a general guideline, grant requests should not exceed 30% of an organization’s total committed annual budget, unless there is a compelling rationale tied to collaborative strategy, rapid response, or ecosystem-level coordination.

Who Should Apply

Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Be a U.S.-based or U.S. territory-based 501(c)(3) organization or fiscally sponsored project
  • Have an annual operating budget generally under $2 million, based on the most recently completed fiscal year or projected 2026 budget
  • Be a grassroots organization or coalition rooted in and accountable to communities most impacted by criminalization, policing, incarceration, detention, surveillance, or state violence
  • Demonstrate experience or knowledge in advancing community safety, anti-criminalization, protest defense, democracy protection, community accountability, or non-carceral local safety strategies
  • Include a clear power-building, organizing, and community mobilization strategy that centers those most directly impacted
  • Priority consideration will be given to organizations rooted in underfunded Southern, rural, and high-threat geographies, as well as those led by communities most impacted by criminalization
Our Approach & What We’re Looking to Support

Our grantmaking approach is rooted in trust, proximity, and partnership. We prioritize organizations and collaborative formations that are accountable to the communities most impacted and positioned to advance durable safety, democracy protection, and belonging. We recognize that movement conditions shift and that effective strategy requires responsiveness. Grantees will have flexibility to adapt tactics over the grant period in alignment with their stated goals, changing community needs, and emergent opportunities.

We are looking for proposals that clearly identify the condition or threat being addressed, the strategy proposed, the core activities planned over the 12-month grant period, and the outcomes the work is positioned to advance. Applicants should also describe the organizational or collaborative experience, community relationships, and leadership accountability that position the work for success.

In reviewing proposals, we will prioritize strategic alignment with the Just Futures vision, the strength and feasibility of the proposed approach, potential for meaningful impact, demonstrated trust and accountability to impacted communities, organizational or coalition capacity, and the thoughtful use of flexible general operating support.

What We Hope to Learn Together

This first round of grantmaking is an opportunity to learn alongside organizations and collaboratives building the future of safety and democracy in real time. We are especially interested in how local and regional strategies strengthen coordination, protect communities under heightened threat, and build durable infrastructure in under-resourced geographies.

Selected grantees may also be invited into peer learning spaces, ecosystem conversations, and opportunities to help shape the future direction of the Just Futures Initiative.

How to Apply

The Just Futures application process includes two stages:

Stage 1: Letter of Interest (LOI)

Applicants will first complete a short online Letter of Interest form through the application link. The form includes a series of guided questions designed to help us understand:

  • the condition, threat, or opportunity being addressed
  • the strategy proposed
  • expected outcomes
  • organizational or coalition readiness
  • collaborative partners, where relevant

Selected applicants will then be invited to submit a full proposal.

Stage 2: Invited Full Proposal

Invited applicants will receive a link to a second-stage form requesting:

  • a more detailed proposal narrative
  • grant and organizational budgets
  • leadership and organizational background
  • optional supporting materials
Grantmaking Timeline

The Just Futures application process will move through two Letter of Interest cohorts, followed by invited full proposals and rolling award notifications. Applications will be considered across both cohorts while grant funds remain available.

Just Futures LOI Questions

1) What condition, threat, or opportunity is your work responding to?

Maximum 250 words In your response, consider including the local context, why this work is urgent now, who is most impacted, and any geographic or political conditions shaping the moment.

2) What strategy are you proposing over the 12-month grant period?

Maximum 350 words Please describe the strategy you plan to advance over the grant period. This may include your organizing model, coalition approach, power-building strategy, timeline, and how this funding will strengthen or expand existing work.

3) What outcomes do you expect this work to advance, and how will this contribute to creating just futures?

Maximum 200 words Share the outcomes, shifts, or changes this work is intended to make possible. This may include community safety outcomes, democracy protection gains, coalition strength, local wins, or organizational capacity.

4) What community relationships, leadership, or coalition experience position this work for success?

Maximum 250 words Please describe the community trust, leadership, lived experience, partnerships, or prior work that position your organization or collaborative to carry this strategy forward successfully.

5) If collaborative, who are your core partners and how will the work be coordinated?

Maximum 150 words List your core partners and briefly describe how the work will be coordinated, including any shared leadership, or decision-making structures.

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As a philanthropic intermediary, Borealis Philanthropy exists to bridge philanthropy to the frontlines of movements for justice. To learn more about partnering with us to invest in the organizations building the safety, belonging, and infrastructure that strengthen our democracy, connect with us.