Fund for Belonging: Legal & Policy Information Grant

The Fund for Belonging, initiated by Community Foundation Sonoma County, aims to address the needs of immigrant communities through targeted grantmaking and civic leadership. This program is designed collaboratively with insights from over 80 local leaders and focuses on legal and policy information. The goal is to provide accessible updates that are culturally sensitive and widely disseminated, ensuring that communities receive crucial information in multiple languages. The initiative emphasizes the importance of partnerships and aims to foster long-term community engagement.

Note: The grantmaking process for the Fund for Belonging begins with an open call for letters of interest (presented above as Letter of Inquiry (LOI)).
Community Foundation Sonoma County
Community Foundation Sonoma County helps people give back to the place they love. With over 40 years of experience and deep roots in the region, we partner with donors, nonprofits, and local leaders to strengthen giving, grow impact, and support the people and organizations driving change in Sonoma County.
We work alongside donors and nonprofits alike —making philanthropy easy and meaningful through trusted guidance and personalized support, and helping organizations grow stronger through grants, capacity-building, and collaborative initiatives.
We’ve granted more than $300 million to local organizations and now steward over $214 million in charitable assets across 450 charitable funds created by individuals, families, businesses, and community groups.
CFSC’s Fund for Belonging addresses the intersecting challenges facing immigrant communities through targeted grantmaking, strategic collaboration, and responsive civic leadership. The design of the 2025 grant program is a culmination of the input and wisdom of more than 80 local leaders across immigrant communities, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy. This program brings together aligned funds at CFSC to respond to the results of this community engagement process.
Contingent on additional resources, we aim for the Fund for Belonging to remain responsive and collaborative as we grow to encompass new areas of focus and invest in even deeper community leadership in 2026 and beyond.
Funding Areas
The 2025 grant program will accept letters of interest related to the following four funding areas: Legal & Policy Information; Trusted Messenger Network; Income Generation and Safe Spaces & Wellbeing.
To create and maintain a centralized source of accurate, accessible, timely, culturally sensitive, and easily understood updates related to legal and policy information that will be widely disseminated across Sonoma County through trusted messenger organizations. The awarded organization should plan to provide regular updates related to legal and policy information that are a) written in plain language by a communications specialist; b) written and/or reviewed by an attorney; c) translated into multiple key languages; and d) shared through a network of trusted messenger organizations covering all of Sonoma County (see Trusted Messenger Network funding area). This grantee will also map and safely disseminate information on legal and policy trainings offered in Sonoma County. Because this is a pilot program, using consultants for the above tasks is welcome.

Eligibility

The following evaluation criteria will be used to review letters of interest for all funding areas:501c3 Status – Organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or an organization fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with offices and services based in Sonoma County.Funding Area Alignment – Program demonstrates alignment with the objectives in one or more of the funding areas.Designing to the Margins – Program is designed by and for immigrants living on the margins in Sonoma County (see FAQs for more details). In our selection process, we will consider the diversity of immigrant communities in Sonoma County.Organizational Connection & Capacity – Organization provides evidence of current/past impact in immigrant communities and the likelihood of sustained commitment in this area.Partnerships – Organization engages in strong partnerships and includes plans for collaboration using grant program funds.Geographic Focus – Organization has a strong physical presence in one or more of Sonoma County’s regions (North, South, Central, East, or West), such as a dedicated building for service provision or consistent services with physically present staff (i.e. a regular mobile unit route or office hours).Trusted Messenger – Organization documents that it is a trusted messenger among immigrant communities and is willing to support the dissemination of information as needed.