In this first open call for submissions, the Legal Empowerment Fund will consider grant proposals from grassroots organizations doing legal empowerment work for up to 24 months of general support (core funding).
What is legal empowerment?
Legal empowerment combines law with organizing to build power among people affected by injustice. When people are able to know, use, and shape the law, they can access justice. With the law on their side, people are able seek peaceful solutions, protect the lands and resources they depend on, and hold their governments and other perpetrators of justice to account.
Funding Information
The LEF will provide general support (core funding) grants in the amount of $10,000–$100,000 in annual funding for a period of up to two years.
Priorities
In this funding cycle, the LEF seeks to support:
- Grassroots organizations with limited access to flexible, core funding.
- Organizations that have experience learning with or working in formal or informal partnership with other legal empowerment organizations, social justice movements, and collectives.
- Organizations that combine law and organizing to build power in communities. They help people to know, use, and shape the law as a pathway for transformative change.
- Organizations using legal empowerment strategies that advance systemic change beyond individual cases. Legal empowerment methods include raising awareness of rights and laws, aiding people in navigating legal and administrative processes, or mobilizing community members to engage in law and policy reform, among many other strategies.
- Organizations that contribute toward building the legal empowerment movement, learning and partnerships.
- Organizations that demonstrate an ability to execute legal empowerment strategies, learn from their mistakes, and adapt to challenges.
- Organizations that can articulate a vision for the future. This may involve steps to reinforce or strengthen existing efforts or experimenting with ways to expand or evolve legal empowerment work.
- These will serve as primary scoring criteria in the evaluation of proposals.