Solidarity Economy
Funding Library
Let’s open the black box of funding, investing, & fiscal sponsorship…
…and organize funders toward more cooperative, transparent, and reparative practices.
What is the Solidarity Economy Funding Library?
It’s a resource for people to find funding, investing, and fiscal sponsorship opportunities, as well as detail relationships between movement organizations and funders.
NEC’s membership has long-recognized a need in our movement to unlock more trust-based, regionally-rooted flows of capital between projects and funders. The Solidarity Economy Funding Library is a response to that call.
In the future, the Library will also be a tool of accountability—to put funders and other capital power-holders on notice by having a democratically-controlled utility that enables organizers to share detailed insights on their experiences with the funding ecosystem.
Who is included in the library?
Currently, the library includes information on the following types of opportunities:
- Foundations—public, private, community, and family
- Fiscal sponsors
- City, county, state (and some federal) agencies and community and economic development corporations and/or other public/private partnerships
- Investors, including non-extractive investors, community loans, impact investors, angel investors, and some collaborative/integrated funds
- Banks—mostly community banks, including CDFIs, credit unions, financial cooperatives, and other lending institutions
- Financial services organizations
In the future, we hope to incorporate other types of less traditional (e.g. donor-advised funds, fellowships, awards, accelerators, incubators) and more community-governed (e.g. giving circles, membership dues, etc.) funding opportunities.
How were organizations selected for the library?
Organizations included in the Library reflect a commitment to the following in their funding priorities:
- the emergence and cultivation of solidarity economies; and
- investing directly in specific neighborhoods and communities in alignment with NEC’s strategy to better resource regional solidarity economy ecosystems.
Inclusion in this library does not indicate affiliation or association with the New Economy Coalition. Organizations are intended as referrals only. Information in this library has been pulled from publicly available data.
How do I use the Library?
To learn how to use the Library, please watch this short instructional video.
Art in background slide by Amir Khadar
THE FUNDING LIBRARY
Are you a Library user with feedback to share with NEC? Fill out this AirTable Form.
Do you have an organization or funding entity you’d like to recommend to be added? Fill out this Airtable form.
Inclusion in this library does not indicate affiliation or association with the New Economy Coalition and are intended as referrals only. Information in this library has been pulled from publicly available data. If you are a representative of one of these funding entities and would like to change your information or have it removed, or if you are a funding entity that would like to add your organization to this database, please contact zac@neweconomy.net for more information.
MORE RESOURCES ON:
Grassroots Fundraising, Dues, & Donor Organizing
- Grassroots Fundraising Journal, from Nonprofit Quarterly (Articles)
- “From The Bottom Up: Strategies and Practices for Membership‐Based Organizations”, from Sylvia Rivera Law Project
- The Community-Centric Fundraising Aligned Actions List
- Cesar Chavez on Money & Organizing
- “What is Donor Organizing, Anyway?”, from Thousand Currents
- “Is it Time to Hire a Grassroots fundraiser?”, from Grassroots Fundraising Journal
- “Organizing & Fundraising: Sisters in the Struggle”, from Grassroots Fundraising Journal
- “Donor organizing in organizations & movements”, from CompassPoint
Fiscal Sponsorship
- Fiscal Sponsorship: A Balanced Overview, from Nonprofit Quarterly
- How to Receive Grants and Donations through a Fiscal Sponsor, from Sustainable Economies Law Center
- “Funding Economic Democracy: A Legal Toolkit”, from Sustainable Economies Law Center
- Guidelines for Comprehensive Fiscal Sponsorship, from National Network of Fiscal Sponsors
- Fiscal Sponsor Resources, from Allied Media Projects
- FiscalSponsorDirectory.org
Philanthropy & Funder Organizing
- “Philanthropy & Organizing”, issue from The Forge
- Four Ways to Move Money to the Grassroots, from REO Collaborative
- It Takes Roots Challenge to Philanthropy
- Just Transition for Philanthropy spectrum, from Justice Funders
- Climate Justice Dialogue Series and Resources for Funders, from Climate Justice Alliance
- Participatory Grantmaking framework, from Candid.
- Trust-Based Philanthropy Project
- Funder Manifesto, from RUNWAY
- “The Price of Civil Rights: Black Lives, White Funding, and Movement Capture”, from Megan Ming Francis
Many more resources can be found in NEC’s Philanthro-Solidarity Compendium.
Funding Mutual Aid
- Money-Handling and Taxes for Mutual Aid Groups, from Barnard Center for Research on Women
- Mutual Aid: Handling Money & Taxes, from Big Door Brigade
- Legal Issues In Mutual Aid Operations: A Preliminary Guide, from Michael Haber
- Protecting Solidarity: Countering Attacks on Mutual Aid Funds, from Julian Rose & Zac Chapman
Funding Worker Cooperatives
- Finance Options for Worker Cooperatives, from U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
- “How Can You Accept Donations And Grants As A Cooperative?”, from Mica Fisher
- “Funding Economic Democracy: A Legal Toolkit”, from Sustainable Economies Law Center
Non-Extractive Finance
- Social Movement Investing, from Center for Economic Democracy
- Just Transition Investment Framework, from Justice Funders
- Transformative Investment Principles, from Resource Generation
- Approach to Non-Extractive Finance, from Seed Commons
OUR APPROACH
The Funding Library is a project born out of NEC’s Movement Resourcing Working Group, which also created the below document ‘Resourcing Agreements for NEC Members & Funders’. These agreements were co-written by NEC members, staff, and board members participating in the Working Group between 2022-2023. They were also inspired by the work of peer funder organizers in the movement.
Want more resources? ⤵️
Sign up for our monthly Funding Solidarity Roundup for more resources on funding/investing in the Solidarity Economy, including updates to the Solidarity Economy Funding Library!