Get Up Rise Up Direct Action Fund Grant

The Get Up Rise Up Direct Action Fund, supported by Beautiful Trouble, empowers grassroots activists globally by providing quick funding for creative campaigns and direct actions. With a focus on under-resourced communities, the fund seeks to elevate bold ideas that challenge power dynamics and promote social justice. Applicants can receive financial support for both direct actions and tools essential for successful initiatives. This initiative aims to document best practices and contribute to the broader activist community through shared learning.

NOTE: Applications are accepted on a rolling-basis and reviewed monthly, so please submit your application by the 5th of the month in which to be considered. GURU Fund Applications are reviewed on a first-come first-served basis until monthly funds are depleted.
Troublemakers of the world, apply now!
Do you have a BOLD, creative idea for your campaign—or a daring and urgent direct action—but you need a little tangible boost (i.e. cash) to help it happen?
We are particularly looking to support grassroots mobilizations that disrupt binary framing, use compelling visuals, create many points of entry, consider your audience, have smart action logic, and address meaningful targets.
Purpose
The purpose of the Get Up, Rise Up direct action fund is to support activists globally to shift power through strategic nonviolent direct actions to create a more socially and ecologically just, healthy, and equitable world for all. While doing so the fund also seeks to advance the theories, principles, methods and tactics of strategic nonviolent direct action, building from lessons at the frontlines and add these to our collective world of social movement wisdom.

Eligibility

Grants are open for any and all geographic locations where access to resources are limited and where there are opportunities for specific lessons for the broader movement or activist community. Who Should Apply?This fund is open for established groups (formal or informal), and in some cases individuals, who have been working on a specific issue or cause and are seeking funding for a direct action or a direct action tool (explained below) as part of an ongoing campaign. The fund have a clear focus on under-served, under resourced populations and communities.  We actively seek to support informal movements and understand that it can often be difficult for such groups to have formal and/or legal structures, thus we do not require groups to be formally registered.You must have a campaign strategy.The action or the action tool for which you are seeking funds should be linked to a broader campaign strategy. Applicants should explain their strategic objective, how they envision to achieve this objective, and how the action/tool serves that objective. If you’d like to know more about campaign strategy, feel free to visit the methodology section of the Beautiful Trouble toolkit. We fund direct actions and direct action tools.Request for funding must be for either a:Direct action: At its core, direct action is about power. Smart direct action assesses power dynamics and finds a way to shift them. Read more about direct action here. Direct action tool: a physical (i.e. equipment), digital (i.e. software), or skill-based (i.e. training) tool that is a prerequisite for enabling a successful direct action.Such tools must be unambiguously related to a direct action that will take place within a reasonable timeline from the date of access to such tools.Your action must contribute to the Beautiful Trouble toolkit.We do not require a traditional reporting process. However, we do expect applicants to contribute the lessons, insights, or experiences they acquire from their action/campaign to benefit the broader activist community.Contributions will be added to the Beautiful Trouble toolkit, which seeks to document, analyze, and share social movements’ best practices. It is a platform made for and by activists and social movements from all around the world. Core values:Applicants should be committed to core values, which include strategic nonviolent action, respect and dignity for all life, and promotion of justice, equality, and freedom to all.

Ineligibility

Random or ad-hoc actions that are unrelated to a larger strategy will not be given consideration.