A Meditation
We’ve gathered the reflections on this site as an opportunity to pause and think deliberately about who we are and who we’re becoming. Our collective work to resource movements has never been more crucial.
Free our Future San Diego action organized by Mijente
OUR APPROACH
Directly affected communities are the essential creative force in the larger arc of social change, and we’ve built Borealis Philanthropy from the ground up as a vehicle to resource these communities.
Borealis Philanthropy directs resources to people building powerful, thriving communities that serve all of us, with those most impacted by injustice leading the way. We invest in leaders, organizations, and movements using diverse and innovative strategies to pursue transformational change, and we work with donors to support movements in ways they may not be able to do on their own. Through our work with both funders and grantee partners, we aim to shift power and invest in communities.
OUR FUNDS
Borealis is made up of nine funds that work collaboratively to enhance our collective impact within movements across the country.
OUR IMPACT
From Black-led movement-building, to queer and trans liberation, to disability justice and inclusion, community organizers are working every day to bring about transformational change. We’re here to listen to, invest in, and support them.
*All 2022 financials are unaudited.
OUR MODEL
Our grantmaking centers the wisdom and experiences of those who are most impacted by injustice and gives them the support and space to bring innovation, creativity, and impact on the issues they’re working to change. We strive to give multi-year, unrestricted funding, provide capacity building support, and rapid response funding.
My Sistah’s House
OUR TEAM
Our staff brings real-life experience and awareness of the work, and we always aim to hold ourselves accountable to and prioritize the interests of the people on the ground. Because we find power in the diversity of our experiences, we are able to make effective and strategic grantmaking that directly responds to the needs of communities we serve and create solutions that aim to end all systems of harm.
NEWS & UPDATES
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The Presence of Justice: How Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Ethos Must Impact Our Philanthropic Decisionmaking
[Photo Source.] “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. Article Revised: January 3, 2024 In April of 1963, as he sat in a...
The Communities Transforming Policing Fund Announces Request for Proposals
The Communities Transforming Policing Fund (CTPF) has launched a request for proposals to support rapid response and emerging learning opportunities for organizations addressing police violence, and criminalization, campaigns to invest in communities and divest from...
As Roe v Wade is Threatened, Philanthropy Must Invest in a Future Led by Trans, Queer, and BIPOC Reproductive Justice Organizers
We must act now. The Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. The Court’s decision will not be a weakening or dismantling; it is a complete obliteration of the protective legislation. While drafted, the Court has...
Beyond Dragonhood: Funding Liberated Futures through Participatory Grantmaking
In a 1979 radio interview, Audre Lorde offers an elegant meditation on the dual goals of organizers for liberation: “While we’re surviving in the mouth of this dragon, we also need to be feeding our vision … devising a future where we will live someplace other...
Justice on the Line: Responding to Georgia’s Cash Bail Expansion and Championing Bail Funds
In February 2024, the Georgia legislative body approved a state bill criminalizing charitable bail funds. As similar anti-bail-fund bills have been introduced by state legislatures in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, it is crucial that philanthropy grasp the...
Borealis Philanthropy’s Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund Announces $6 Million in Sunset Grants
Last Fall, Borealis Philanthropy announced our decision to sunset our Racial Equity in Philanthropy (REP) Fund. Today, we are pleased to announce that $6 million was awarded to all 25 of the Fund’s grantee partners, each of which is working in creative and manifold...