Chinook Fund Grant

Overview

_NOTE: In preparation for the Fall 2025 Grant Cycle, our next live Grant Application workshop will be August 12, 2025 from 2-4pm MT._

Chinook Fund Grants

Chinook Fund seeds community-led, systemic change by mobilizing resources for and trusting in grassroots social justice organizations across Colorado. With 37 years of social impact, Chinook Fund has distributed $5.1 million to over 570 organizations. Honoring our racial justice commitment, 90 percent of grantee groups were led by Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.

We give grantees money, it is true, but also something else. A grant from Chinook Fund draws groups closer to Colorado’s progressive social change movement, via our unique grassroots community-led grantmaking process in which applicants meet each other and meet the grantmakers, who are also working in Colorado’s progressive social change movement.

Chinook funds organizations working to challenge the root causes of oppression, rather than treating the symptoms. Chinook believes the root causes of our most serious social problems include systemic racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism and ageism. We identify effective social change as efforts that strive to include these key elements:

* Constituent-Led: The work is led by the people most impacted by injustice.  Unlike a traditional charity model, we believe that those most affected by the issue have the vision and solutions for their own liberation – and that the development of their leadership, skills, and power should be prioritized. (How does the organization demonstrate their work is driven by the people it affects? Does leadership make-up reflect the people most affected by an issue or oppression holding roles where they can shape the strategies and terms of their own liberation? FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: How is youth voice being incorporated into leadership? Is there a youth advisory board or other decision-making body?)
* Community-Wide: The work reflects all members of the constituency, especially those who experience multiple forms of oppression.  This ensures that change for the community leaves no one behind, especially for those who have less privilege within the community. (Does the organization work towards change that will affect all members of a constituency that are exploited, oppressed, or marginalized – taking into account those that face multiple oppressions? Is the organization working to build a multi-racial, multi-class, multi-gendered social justice movement?)
* Lasting Effect: The work makes change not just for one individual today, but for the community as a whole, and for future generations.  Generally this means organizing collective action to change systems and institutions. (Will the proposed work help build concrete and lasting political power to address the underlying causes of the problems that it addresses? How does this organization define the root cause of the issue they are working to change?)

Types of Funding

Start-Up Grants are available to groups that are younger than 4 years old. Groups must demonstrate a vision and plan for meeting Chinook Fund criteria, but do not need a proven track record of success. Groups can apply multiple times in this category, as long as they are younger than 4 years old. The maximum grant award is $4,000.

Established Grants are available to any group, but the competition for grants is tougher, as it includes organizations that have been working successfully on social justice issues for a number of years. The maximum grant award is $10,000.

Multi-Year Grants are sometimes considered, depending on funding available, for organizations who apply in the Established category and have been funded at least twice during the last three years.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* All successful applicants must:

* Be based in communities facing injustice or oppression, including but not limited to: communities of color, low-income communities, LGBTQ communities, disabilities communities, immigrant communities.
* Have democratic leadership, decision-making and organizing that is led by and accountable to people most directly impacted by the issue or injustice
* Demonstrate that the work can lead to permanent progressive change for their community
* Be engaged in efforts to dismantle privilege and oppression within their organization and community
* Be based in Colorado (with possible exceptions made for regional indigenous groups)
* Have an annual budget of $350,000 or less

* We accept proposals from groups without 501c3 status as long as they have a fiscal sponsor.

Ineligibility

* To comply with IRS regulations, Chinook Fund cannot:

* Fund organizations involved in electoral campaigns;
* Contribute substantially to support lobbying at the federal, state, or local levels; or
* Support private, in contrast to public, interest.