Menu
Menu
Growing Justice Fund: 2024 Grant Opportunity
The Growing Justice Fund is a collaborative effort aimed at advancing equity in the food system by investing in the leadership and solutions of Tribal, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, and immigrant communities. Through grants of $20,000 to $250,000, we support organizations working to strengthen food value chains, build local wealth, and promote good food procurement from locally- and regionally-owned, environmentally sustainable farms, ranches, fisheries, and food businesses.
GROWING JUSTICE aims to invest in efforts to solidify the leadership, dignity and power of Tribal, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian and immigrant people to identify and drive solutions that expand the market for good food from locally or regionally owned, and environmentally and economically sustainable farms, ranches, fisheries and food businesses.
Grant Applications received in the 2023 grant cycle
Million dollars to be distributed in the next 10 years
Organizations selected for grants in 2023
Million dollars to be distributed in 2024
The Growing Justice Fund offers grants ranging from $20,000 to $250,000 to support community-led initiatives that advance equitable food procurement. These grants empower Tribal, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, and immigrant (BIPOC+) communities engaged in food markets to secure institutional contracts and gain economic viability. Through large-scale procurement opportunities with community-serving institutions—such as schools, hospitals, and elder care centers—these grants foster equitable access to food buying revenue and help build wealth in historically marginalized communities.
Planning Grants (up to $20,000) help organizations in the early stages of project development by funding strategic research, stakeholder engagement, partnership building, and project planning. These grants lay the groundwork for future implementation by strengthening leadership and preparing for sustainable initiatives.
Implementation Grants (ranging from $50,000 to $250,000) are designed for fully developed projects ready to scale. These grants focus on building infrastructure for equitable food procurement, supporting BIPOC+ producers, food hubs, cooperatives, and policy advocacy, ensuring that these communities thrive as key players in institutional markets.
Eligible applicants include community-led organizations, community-based organizations, Tribal Nations, or the instrumentalities of Tribal Nations, and other leaders that are:
GROWING JUSTICE seeks to support organizations that have been active in the value-based food supply chain for at least the past two years* and organizations that have existing partnerships or aspire to build partnerships with others in the value-based food supply chain.
*While we encourage applicants with at least two years of engagement in the value-based food supply chain, this eligibility criterion is not required for planning grant applicants. The planning grant will be accessible to smaller organizations, emerging coalitions, and those in the process of movement-building.
GROWING JUSTICE aims to invest in efforts to solidify the leadership, dignity and power of Tribal, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian and immigrant people to identify and drive solutions that expand the market for good food from locally or regionally owned, and environmentally and economically sustainable farms, ranches, fisheries and food businesses.
Support for BIPOC+ good food producers, manufacturers, aggregators, small processors, and distributors to enter the institutional market and/or expand their business with institutions. These entities should be dedicated to specific community-serving institutions.
Support for community coalitions and organizations that build power to engage institutions and governments to pass policy initiatives that include commitments to good food procurement and legal parameters for an institution or jurisdiction’s good food procurement priorities.
Support for community coalitions and organizations that build power to engage institutions and governments to pass policy initiatives that include commitments to good food procurement and legal parameters for an institution or jurisdiction’s good food procurement priorities.
The application period for the Growing Justice Fund begins, and interested organizations can start submitting proposals.
The deadline to submit applications for the Growing Justice Fund closes, and no further submissions will be accepted.
Applications are carefully reviewed by the Growing Justice Fund team to assess alignment with the fund’s priorities and eligibility criteria.
After a thorough evaluation, the selected grantees for the Growing Justice Fund are chosen.
The final grantees are publicly announced, while grantees begin preparations for the project funding and implementation process.
In 2023, GROWING JUSTICE awarded over $3.5 million in grants to 20+ organizations working to transform food systems in their Tribes, regions and communities.
GROWING JUSTICE: The Fund for Equitable Good Food Procurement aims to advance its vision and values by supporting community-led efforts to improve local and regional food value chains.
GROWING JUSTICE seeks to better understand and support aligned efforts that help to strengthen the field of practice for emerging & growing producers, distributors, food hubs, buyers and frontline workers in the value chain; create greater resources and institutional engagement in equitable good food procurement; realize changes to institutional and public policies and systems to support equitable good food procurement sustainability and scale; and promote awareness and examples of equitable good food procurement across regions, fields and sectors.
The food value chain refers to the many people working in partnership to produce, distribute and procure raw or value-added foods, including farmers, ranchers, fishers, suppliers, producers, food hubs, distributors, cooperatives, front line food workers, organizers, advocacy groups and the technical assistance groups that support them. The value chain also includes those engaged in the transportation, technology and marketing sectors related to food procurement and/or distribution. In many communities, elders and others with traditional ecological knowledge also play a critical role in the value chain, helping to preserve cultural traditions related to food.
GROWING JUSTICE seeks to support organizations that have been involved in the food value chain for at least the past two years, and organizations that have existing partnerships in the food value chain or aspire to build partnerships with others in the food value chain.
GROWING JUSTICE seeks to support organizations involved in the food system that are driven by community residents in all aspects of their existence. In these organizations: the majority of staff, directors, and the governing body consists of frontline community members that the organization serves; community members disproportionately impacted by an exploitative food system are intiately involved in identifying, defining and making decisions regarding the organization’s mission, vision, and work; the organization embodies a grassroots, “bottom-up” approach; the organization is committed to building collective power and building the movement alongside frontline communities; and/or the organization’s geographic focus is defined by the community members they serve. To learn more about your organization’s eligibility or to submit questions about eligibility, please complete the Grant Eligibility Quiz.
‘BIPOC’ is an acronym referring to a wide range of racially, ethnically and culturally diverse people and communities who identify as Black, Indigenous, Tribal, and/or People of Color, such as people of Latinx, Asian or Pacific Islander descent. These groups typically represent the nondominant culture in the United States, with some groups experiencing the effects of colonization, chattel slavery and/or systematic institutionalized exclusion throughout our collective history.
GROWING JUSTICE is prioritizing support in this round of grantmaking for BIPOC-led organizations [e.g., organizations with at least 50% BIPOC representation in the organization’s leadership] and BIPOC -allied organizations [e.g., organizations actively working against racism].
GROWING JUSTICE considers BIPOC-led organizations to be those organizations with at least 50% BIPOC representation in the organization’s leadership (e.g., board, c-suite), and BIPOC -allied organizations to be those actively working against racism.
Organizations that do not qualify as BIPOC-led can demonstrate that they are BIPOC-allied organizations by describing / providing examples in their application of: (1) how they apply a racial equity lens in their work, (2) how they approach issues of antiracism, and/or (3) how their work has helped to build power for BIPOC communities in the past 2 years.
GROWING JUSTICE is prioritizing support in this round of grantmaking for US-based BIPOC-led and BIPOC-allied community-based organizations that have been in working in the food value chain for at least two years and that share a vision of US food systems transformation. This includes Tribal governments and their instrumentalities.
Organizations and efforts that do not match all of these criteria are important and valued and should consider ways to connect or partner with organizations that do meet these eligibility criteria, both for this grant opportunity, and for other efforts and initiatives.
GROWING JUSTICE aims to catalyze food systems transformation by opening up markets to leaders of color in the food value chain.
Leaders of color in the food value chain who run small businesses are strongly encouraged to partner with community-based organizations, agencies, and/or fiscal sponsors to apply for funding.
GROWING JUSTICE provides limited technical support to these organizations – to learn more, please complete the Eligibility Quiz in English or en espanol. Basic educational materials are also available on this FAQ page.
Eligible grantseekers may need fiscal sponsorship to apply. GROWING JUSTICE has compiled the following resources about the process of finding and selecting an appropriate fiscal sponsor.
DIRECTORIES
HOW-TO
Eligible grantseekers may seek additional assistance by contacting the GROWING JUSTICE Support Team.
All eligible grantseekers are considered a “good fit” for GROWING JUSTICE grantmaking and are encouraged to apply.
Grantseekers must complete the Eligibility Quiz to determine eligibility and receive an invitation to apply. Grantseekers are encouraged to complete the Eligibility Quiz by March 1, 2023 to allow ample time to receive an invitation to apply, and to submit the application. Grantseekers who have specific questions about their eligibility may submit their questions through the Eligibility Quiz and will receive a response within 1-2 business days.
Eligible grantseekers who receive an invitation to apply are encouraged to review the GROWING JUSTICE vision and values and focus to strengthen their applications. A list of supported projects has been provided to inspire ideas. Please note that an invitation to apply does not guarantee funding.
An informational webinar will be held for grantseekers on February 24, 2023 at 10:30am PT. The webinar will discuss eligibility criteria and how to submit a complete and effective application aligned with the vision, values and purpose of GROWING JUSTICE using the JustFund platform. A recording of the webinar will be available to all registrants. Click here to register.
Eligible grantseekers who receive an invitation to apply may obtain support as follows:
Questions about eligibility and invitations to apply may be answered through the Eligibility Quiz. Grantseekers are encouraged to complete the Eligibility Quiz by March 1, 2023 to ensure there is ample time to be invited to apply and to complete the application. Answers to common questions are also available in the FAQ section online.
Questions about the JustFund application portal may be answered via JustFund’s Knowledge Base page. The JustFund team will also provide direct support for:
GROWING JUSTICE will host an informational webinar for grantseekers on February 24, 2023 at 10:30am PT. The webinar will discuss eligibility criteria and how to submit a complete and effective application aligned with the vision, values and purpose of GROWING JUSTICE using the JustFund platform. A recording of the webinar will be available to all registrants. Click here to register.
The limits for GROWING JUSTICE funds are guided by the limits to philanthropic funding of tax-exempt organizations, such as 501c3 organizations. GROWING JUSTICE aims to support community-defined needs and has not imposed additional restrictions at this time. Applicants are encouraged to include information about how proposed activities will support equitable good food procurement in service to the vision and values of GROWING JUSTICE.
Applications are due March 16 at 5pm PT/8pm ET. Grantseekers are strongly encouraged to complete the Eligibility Quiz by March 1 to allow ample time to receive an invitation and submit an application. GROWING JUSTICE aims to announce decisions by May 16.
GROWING JUSTICE grants can be issued for a term of 1-3 years. No grant, regardless of duration, will be awarded for more than $250,000. Applicants should specify the requested time duration in their proposals.
Many grantseekers will work together with partners across the food value chain to submit proposals to advance equitable good food procurement together. We applaud these efforts! These grantseekers should ensure that the project lead meets all of the eligibility criteria and that the partners are all listed as part of the “team” in the application.
GROWING JUSTICE encourages all grantseekers to review the vision, values and focus of the fund when preparing their submissions.
Submissions must be complete and meet character and/or video length requirements specified in the application.
Detailed line-item budgets are not required, but information should show how the amounts requested are appropriate for the scale of the work proposed.
Message goes here about reaching out with further questions, directing users to use the contact us form below or apply now today
GROWING JUSTICE: The Fund for Equitable Good Food Procurement is a project of the Amalgamated Foundation
GROWING JUSTICE: The Fund for Equitable Good Food Procurement is a project of the Amalgamated Foundation