Funders Helping Grassroots & BIPOC Nonprofits Elevate Impact

About the initiative

Launched in 2022, Elevate has grown into a community of over 50 grantmakers dedicated to centering the voices and expertise of BIPOC-led and serving grassroots organizations. We partner with funders who trust their grantees to know what resources they need, and support their access to those resources where and when they need it. 

How do funders benefit from being a part of Elevate?

 

Join funders shifting practice towards equitable capacity-building access

Funders in Elevate are meeting the specific needs of BIPOC-led/serving grassroots nonprofits through access to a combination of self-directed support, 1:1 coaching, and peer to peer learning. Elevate partners are meeting changemakers where they are while strengthening their own ability to be responsive and equitable in practice. 

Inform grant-making through real-time data sharing

Elevate partners receive regular insights on how Resilia’s tools are being used to build nonprofit infrastructure capacity. These insights can, in turn, be used to inform grant-making strategy, facilitate conversations, and shift practice. Nonprofit data use is anonymized and aggregated to protect our users’ privacy and balance power dynamics.

Peer to Peer Exchange

Curated learning experiences and facilitated discussions on timely issues that impact the field. Past sessions include: Re-imagining Capacity Building with Grantmakers for Effective Philanthropy, the impact of the Roe V Wade Supreme Court Decision on philanthropy’s response, and more. Prefer a personal approach? We offer dedicated 1x1 time, too.

Dedicated Resource Page and Funder Community

Our online community is a space to share learnings and resources and to keep conversations going long after sessions and meetings.

Eligibility Criteria

 

✅ Stated Focus on Marginalized, BIPOC Led and Serving Communities

Participating funders must have an alignment with empowering historically marginalized communities. This may look like targeted program support, the funder’s overall mission, or a new RFP to support such communities.

✅ Parallel Program Cycle with Grantees

Participating funders need to be on the same launch cycle with their Resilia nonprofit cohorts. This allows us to pair data insights and learnings with your timeline accordingly.

Join leading funders from across the United States with Elevate

 Frequently Asked Questions

 
  • There is no fee associated with Elevate. We only require that participating funders commit to sharing their cohort’s insights and broader expertise with other participating funders for collective impact.

  • Elevate members include many types of institutions that make grants. This includes Community Foundations, Private/Family Foundations, Public Charities, Municipal and State Governments, and more. For a full list of our current partner list, see above.

  • Elevate is focused on translating intention and ideas into application. To that end, we have a bias towards learning and action, and are less event-focused. We build networking opportunities virtually and, as our community grows, explore opportunities to bring us together more intentionally in person.

  • We recognize that time is a finite resource, so we have multiple ways for you to plug in. Whether you are only able to join us for quarterly Learning Sessions, connect periodically 1x1, or have the opportunity to join us for all of our monthly programming and Resilia Community activity, we have multiple options.

  • All participating Elevate funders receive regular reports on the capacity needs of their Resilia cohort of nonprofits, as part of regular programming. However, aggregate data insights and workshop learning will happen quarterly. These reports and recordings will also be readily available to Elevate partners who are unable to attend learning sessions.

  • Our data insights capabilities are ever-evolving based on the needs of Elevate funders and the field. Currently, we capture real-time Resilia tool and resource use, capacity building needs trends, outline stories of impact, challenges and opportunities. This data is shared in aggregate and can be leveraged to inform funder strategic direction, equity-focused initiatives, expansion of existing capacity building efforts, and collaborative grantmaking opportunities. Our goal is to help strengthen trust-based principles and complement funder-grantee relationships.

  • Elevate funders have a wide breadth of diversity and experience. From large national funders to local place-based grantmakers and government agencies, all of our partners are dedicated to sharing their expertise, ideas, and learnings. Where applicable, we can facilitate small-group conversations based on a shared challenge or curate a workshop. In the coming months, we will launch enhancements, such as micro-learning and a real-time data dashboard, to complement and strengthen your role as a grantmaker.

  • There is no restriction in terms of the number of staff members who can be invited. However, we recommend prioritizing staff connected to equity-driven, social justice, grassroots and/or BIPOC centered initiatives in your institution. This can also include Investment and Grant Management roles. We believe that building a culture of trust-based responsive grantmaking is everyone’s role. Typically, Elevate Funders have provided access to 3-5 members.

  • In the spirit of sharing as much as we can to inform the field, we will plan to share partial recordings of our quarterly learning sessions which include broad learning insights. We also hold Peer to Peer webinars that are open to the public. However, to protect the integrity and safety of space for our funder partners, Elevate is not open to funders outside of the Elevate network.

  • Elevate launched in 2022 and we are entering our second year now, in 2023. We’ve learned so much and have so much in store for this network. In the coming months, we’ll post key learnings and enhancements on this page.

 Want to learn more?

You can also reach out to us by emailing elevate@resilia.com!