Equity and Social Justice Grants: Protect Basic Needs

The Pittsburgh Foundation's Equity and Social Justice Grants: Protect Basic Needs program aims to support grassroots initiatives that help low-income residents in Allegheny County meet their basic needs. By prioritizing funding for organizations that address systemic injustices, the foundation seeks to empower communities through civic participation and community organizing. Grants range from $10,000 to $75,000 for one year, with a maximum of $150,000 for two years, fostering equitable access to essential resources.

Foundation-Directed Grantmaking
The Pittsburgh Foundation is committed to helping the communities we serve become equitable and vibrant places where everyone can thrive. We align our grantmaking with resident’s dreams for themselves, their families and their communities and prioritize support in the five focus areas: Basic Needs; Equity and Social Justice; Environmental Action; Arts and Culture; and Economic Mobility.
Duration: Generally, grants will be awarded for no more than two years due to limited availability of funds.
Amounts: One-year grants generally range from $10,000 to $75,000. Two-year grants will generally not exceed $150,000. Actual grant amounts are determined based on staff review of each individual application and consideration of the funding available at the time the application is received.
We seek to support civic participation and community organizing to achieve policy changes.
While programmatic interventions can improve outcomes for individuals, equitable access to opportunity will only be possible at scale when systemic policies, practices and cultural messages that perpetuate injustice are eliminated.
Our equity and social justice grantmaking places strong emphasis on leadership by individuals who have been directly impacted by systemic injustice, as we believe that they are best positioned to propose solutions that remove barriers that impeded their ability to thrive.
While it is imperative to address the immediate needs of low-income residents through food pantries and free health clinics, individual level responses are not enough. We recognize access to economic opportunity must be expanded to reduce inequities that hamper people’s ability to meet their basic needs.
Specifically, we are interested in supporting grassroots organizations and resident-informed initiatives to address the barriers that prevent families from being able to meet their basic needs and thrive.
Because this is an emergent area of work for our foundation and we are committed to learning with and from communities most impacted, we do not have additional criteria for funding at this time. We intend for our grantmaking to be responsive to the needs of the community for the next several years.
Where appropriate, we will convene organizations that have received grants to understand the ecosystem of organizations working on similar issues; share learnings; and develop recommendations for future investments.

Eligibility

To qualify for a grant, your nonprofit organization must be:
Located within Allegheny County and/or primarily serve Allegheny County residents (unless otherwise specified in the grant criteria).Designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. (If your organization does not have 501(c)(3) status, you may apply utilizing a fiscal sponsor.)

Ineligibility

What We Do Not Fund
The Pittsburgh Foundation does not make grants to any organization not listed in Internal Revenue Code Section 170(b)(1)(A), including private non-operating foundations or any “disqualified supporting organizations” as defined in Internal Revenue Code Section 4966(d) (4).Organizational start-up support.Statewide or national organizations, unless they have an established local office or chapter that meets the above eligibility criteria and priorities.Projects that expressly advocate for or endorse a specific candidate for elected office.Annual appeals or event sponsorships.Episodic and/or one-time programs and events.Capital expenses and/or campaigns.Direct funding for individuals (except individual artists).Payments on organizational debt.Costs and activities that are completed before a requested grant has received a decision from our board.University overhead costs.Single-disease support organizations.Educational scholarships. Academic research.