Capacity Building Support

Geographic Scope: Nationwide, United States

Focus Areas:
Capacity-building support for organizations conducting year-round electoral organizing, focused on:

• Data, digital, and technology infrastructure
• Media amplification
• Political education
• Legal compliance and 501(c)(4) strategy
• Electoral planning and long-term strategy development
• Leadership lifting for women of color, transgender, and gender-expansive people of color

Program Description:
Groundswell Action Fund stands in the gap for organizations by providing robust infrastructure support to build their capacity. The funder recognizes that year-round organizing creates stress on organizational staff and infrastructure, and thus provides optional capacity-building offerings. All capacity-building offerings are voluntary and not mandatory for grantee partners—there are no one-size-fits-all approaches.

Services Provided:

• Data, legal, and compliance coaching
• Communications training
• Digital security training
• Ballot issue campaign strategy
• 501(c)(4) startup infrastructure support

Historical Context:

• 2020: $1.5 million distributed as unanticipated income to ensure all grantees received renewal funding and additional capacity-building support
• 2021: $400,000 dedicated to capacity-building support to grantees

Blueprint Goals (2020-2025):

• Provide $5 million in direct capacity-building support to the field
• Support 15 WOC grantee leaders in developing advanced data and analytics expertise
• Ensure 30 organizational leaders have advanced legal understanding of 501(c)(4) strategies

Eligibility:

• Groundswell Action Fund grantee organizations
• 501(c)(4) organizations led by or centering women of color and transgender/gender-expansive people of color

Contact Information:

• Phone: 510.444.5900
• Email: info@groundswellactionfund.org
• Mailing Address: 548 Market Street #49734, San Francisco, California 94104