Are We a Match?
Should You Apply for Funding?
Start by reviewing all of the information below...
Consider our view of Who We Are and What We Do. (See
our Newsletter for more)
Our Board has collectively reviewed hundreds of applications for funding.
Here are some basic principles that you should keep in mind:
1. We do not look to whether or not your organization is “doing good
work” but whether or not the work you are doing falls within our Mission
Statement of fundamentally changing society. We do not fund
service-oriented projects. For example, if your organization
primarily is dedicated to feeding homeless people, we will not fund
you. However if your project seeks to educate and organize homeless
people to picket the Department of Agriculture and protest governmental
policies of destruction of food, we will fund you!
2. We do not give grants for general support.
3. The most basic question we ask when reviewing funding applications
is: what is the specific project? The most common reason
why our Board rejects applications is a confusion between a general
mission statement (“training a generation of leaders”) and a “specific
project” (an eight week program for 15 interns with a theoretical approach
set forth in a curriculum and a practical approach set forth in placement
in specific organizations – all of this accompanied by dates, times,
budgets, etc.).
4. We absolutely look for specific outcomes and how
they will be measured. We simply won’t give you money to “end poverty
and racism." You need to tell us what you are going to do with
the grant proceeds over a six or twelve month period and how our Board
will know at the end of that period whether or not you have been successful.
We do require an Interim Report after six months and a Final Report
after twelve months.
5. We award grants for "strategic thinking and planning".
We want our grantee organizations to not only have a long-term plan
for their own organization but also understand the role their organization
plays in the context of the struggle to achieve economic and social
justice. Be specific. For example, if you
want to have a retreat, what is the date, agenda, purpose, etc.
6. We encourage capacity building with definite goals.
We want progressive forces to use media and publicity to get out a message.
7. We do not have geographical limitations but we rarely fund international
projects.
A specific requirement of our grantees is that they attend two DMF
sponsored conferences each year for the purpose of leveraging the grant,
networking, and collaborative planning. If you are not based in Southern
California you should have a liaison that will attend our conferences
and share information about your organization.
We look favorably on projects that support labor education/labor studies
(particularly directed at the large population that currently does not
belong to a union).
8. You may submit more than one application for funding in the same
cycle if you have different projects.
9. We encourage collaborative requests for funding (requests from more
than one organization that wish to work together).
10. We tend to fund organizations that fundamentally challenge the
current economic and political system. If you are a mainstream organization
(like the Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA) we likely will not fund you
because we believe funding is available to you from other sources.
Funding Priorities
1. General range: $1,000.00 to $5,000.00
2. Focus: those working for fundamental change through projects addressing
community and labor organizing, civil rights and civil liberties, labor
education, training a new generation of leaders, and sustainable economic
alternatives
3. Types of Support: specific projects with definite outcomes; program
development, demonstration projects (we do not award grants for equipment
or for service oriented projects)
4. Geographic Limitations: We do not have geographical limitations
but we rarely fund international projects.
How to Apply
Our grant application is a “screening” application. We want a very
brief thumbnail sketch of the project for which you are requesting
funding to see if it meets our threshold requirements.
For that reason, our grant application (which we call a Letter of Inquiry,"
below) is very brief.
We ask you only seven questions. We request that you limit
your answers to three sentences per question.
If you make the first cut, a Board Member will be assigned as your
liaison with our Foundation. We will then ask you for additional information
and may even want to meet with you.
We request that all Letters of Inquiry be submitted via e-mail only.
Download and Print our Letter
of Inquiry. (They are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If needed,
you can download the free Acrobat reader HERE.)
Thank you.
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2008 SCHEDULE
September 9 - Letters of Inquiry due
October - Board Retreat
October 31 – Grants announced
November 15- Grant proceeds mailed out
