Core Grantmaking: Public Policy Advocacy Criteria

The Public Policy Advocacy program area seeks to support organizations that influence public discourse and policy decisions to advance racial equity and/or racial justice.

Public policy advocacy is comprised of a continuum of activities that aim to inform decisions within the public sector and may include the following: educating the public and policymakers; influencing legislation, referendum, budgeting, and rule-making; monitoring policy implementation; and taking legal actions.

We support organizations that:

  • Operate within metropolitan Chicago (city proper with some consideration of other cities in Cook County)

    • We prioritize supporting organizations that work within, and with, communities of color and marginalized populations

  • Center a racial equity lens (required)

    • Have an understanding of disparities and the reasons they exist

    • Look at structural root causes of problems

    • Name race explicitly when talking about problems

    • Propose redistribution as a primary solution

  • Center a racial justice lens (preferred)

    • Understand and acknowledge the historical centrality of race in the US

    • Create a shared affirmative vision of a fair and inclusive society

    • Focus explicitly on building civic, cultural, and political power by those most impacted

    • Propose a broader based set of solutions that includes, but is not limited to, equity

    • Emphasize transformative solutions that impact multiple systems

  • Have 51% people of color on the executive leadership of the organization and its Board of Directors

    • We prioritize supporting BIPOC-led and BIPOC-centered/BIPOC-serving organizations

  • Partner with community groups to advance campaigns and legislation

    • Partner with community groups so that impacted individuals are included in the design, advancement & implementation of a policy

    • Support community groups to understand and engage in the legislative process (trainings, resources, tools) o Mutually develop clarity of roles between organizations

  • Participate in strategic partnerships and/or collaborations, including coalition & coalition-building

  • Size of organization

    • We prioritize supporting small and grassroots organizations

      • Grassroots - < $1M

      • Small - $1M - $3M

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