Borealis is made up of nine funds that work collaboratively to enhance our collective impact within movements across the country. Collaborative funds offer funders an opportunity to work together on central issues and combine our resources, energy, attention, and expertise to exponentially increase the impact of our work together. Our donor collaboratives 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 more. We support grassroots organizing and movement building led by those most impacted by the issues they are working on.
The Black-Led Movement Fund supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and other politically aligned organizations so that it can better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power. The Fund provides a dedicated vehicle for funders to support the ecosystem of grassroots, Black-led power building organizations working towards community safety, justice, and liberation.
The Communities Transforming Policing Fund resources local communities impacted by deadly and discriminatory policing practices to build power, increase police accountability and transparency, and redefine safety by advocating for investment in community-based programs and services as alternatives to police, jails, and prisons.
The Disability Inclusion Fund supports U.S. groups run by and for people with disabilities to lead transformational change. The Fund is supported by the Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion, which committed $20 million over the next five years to support disability inclusion as part of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion within philanthropy.
The Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund* supports the role that young trans and queer leaders play to support pro-LGBTQ, racial justice movements in becoming more connected, inclusive, and thus more powerful. The Fund invests in leaders and organizations who understand that the issues like community safety, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and others do not exist in isolation from each other, and who approach liberation work from a place of inclusion. These leaders envision and implement organizing strategies that address how these issues intersect.
*Formerly the Transforming Movements Fund
The Fund for Trans Generations invests in trans-led organizing to support a future where transgender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people live with freedom, safety, and self-determination.
The Racial Equity to Accelerate Change Fund is expanding the capacity of racial equity consultants to work with nonprofit organizations. The Fund invests in practitioners to develop and scale tools and strategies for the benefit of the nonprofit sector.
The Racial Equity in Journalism Fund invests in news organizations led by and for people of color. The Fund bolsters a strong, diverse, and independent media sector that increases civic engagement for communities of color by reaching them with vital, relevant information.
The Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund invests in philanthropy- serving organizations to inform, educate, and equip funders to integrate racial equity policies and practices into their grantmaking and programs. The Fund seeks to normalize grantmaking strategies that prioritize structural change, with the ultimate aim of ending racial disparities.
The Spark Justice Fund resources grassroots organizing groups that are ending money bail and unjust pretrial detention policies. Grantees’ longer-term goals are to significantly reduce jail populations, decriminalize poverty, and reduce disparities for low-income communities of color, including for women of color and other marginalized people.