Maddox Fund: Participatory Grants

Overview

Our Vision

We seek a world in which people and planet flourish together in regenerative systems free from oppression and threat.

The Maddox Fund tends to its internal culture believing that how we work inside the foundation influences of all of our partnerships. We see ourselves as an organic organization that will evolve over time in response to our environment and changing needs of our community.

Maddox Interest Areas

Youth

The Maddox Fund believes that all human beings are interconnected, not just with one another, but with all of nature – a belief that makes our desire to foster connection and a sense of belonging even more urgent

For young people to flourish, they must be surrounded by a beloved community of teachers, friends, caring adults and relentless advocates. Most of our new youth focus areas seek to connect young people to liberating spaces and people. The Maddox Fund will support direct serves to young people ages 5-25. We will also support systems change work that is creating the conditions for youth to thrive through advocacy and grassroots organizing.

The Maddox Fund will prioritize partners working with BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and immigrant & undocumented youth knowing that our current systems continue to oppress these populations.

* Youth Interest Areas:
* Out-of-School Learning: Out-of-school learning opportunities are important for student thriving. Funding will prioritize afterschool and summer learning, literacy programs, tutoring and academic supports.
* Post-Secondary Access: In the past, Maddox has supported post-secondary programs tied to traditional 4-year institutions. Going forward, we will look at funding programs that increase access to community college programs, professional certifications, and vocational/technical training for young people as well as access to traditional university and college programs with a focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
* Diversifying Education Leadership: Maddox supports programs that prepare leaders for the sacred work of raising our youth in safe and welcoming learning environments. This includes teacher certification programs, teacher retention programs, and ongoing learning for youth workers. We will continue to prioritize organizations that support education leaders that identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
* Youth and Education Advocacy: The education landscape is constantly changing. We know that to make meaningful change we must do so at the systems level. To that end, Maddox will fund organizations advocating for more equitable opportunities for young people and students in Middle Tennessee. We also recognize that the voices of young people have often been historically disregarded, despite being experts regarding their lived reality. We are interested in funding programs that lift the voices of young people and advance our youth and education priorities. These include but are not limited to funding for youth organizing training and for youth-led movements focused on climate change, environmental justice, advocacy for undocumented and immigrant youth and digital literacy.

Natural Environment

The Maddox Fund envisions a world in which people and planet flourish together in regenerative systems free from oppression and threat. Central to this vision is the intertwined relationship between humanity and the world around us. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,” as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed. What threatens nature, threatens humanity. As such, our shared liberation is essential.

During our equity journey, The Maddox Fund reflected on what we learn from nature and how we can weave those lessons into our culture and practices.

* Trees teach us we are stronger together.
* Grasslands show us that diversity feeds us.
* Earth teaches us that seeds grow in fertile ground.
* Water teaches us to bend, adapt and keep moving forward.
* Animal communities teach us how to lead and follow.

Most of our new environmental interest areas seek to connect people and planet and advocate for regenerative policies and practices. We believe this focus honors the legacy of Dan and Margaret who were avid outdoors people and were committed to conservation, including hunting and fishing. Across our focus areas, we are seeking partners with lived commitment to environmental sustainability in policy and practice and a lived commitment to racial justice.

* Environmental Interest Areas:
* Community-Based Nature Programs: People feeling connected to nature is a first step in understanding how the well-being of people and planet are intertwined. The Maddox Fund is interested in funding programs that get young people outdoors and that examine our symbiotic relationship with the earth. Community-based programs emerge from and are led by people with lived experience and, for Maddox, those systemically restricted from accessing nature. Examples of Community-based Nature Programs might include sustainable practices, land as liberation, camping, nature play, water protection, habitat preservation, environmental education and environmental justice.
* Diversifying Environmental Leadership: A common refrain of our environment and conservation partners is that the field has limited diversity and that these limitations are reflected in the composition of their staff and board of directors. The Maddox Fund is interested in funding programs that address this ongoing disparity and the resulting underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as well as those identifying as queer in the field. Examples of Environmental Leadership Pipeline Programs might include paid internships, paid fellowships and other leadership development programs that support racial diversity in environmental circles.
* Hunting & Fishing: Dan and Margaret became conservationists because they observed nature’s beauty while sitting on deer blinds and hiking remote trails. The Maddox Fund will continue supporting hunting and fishing programs that embrace our responsibility to nature. Special attention will be given to programs that advance racial diversity in the next generation of hunters and anglers.
* Environmental Advocacy: Studies show that two-thirds of young people experience some level of eco-anxiety. Maddox believes that youth want a larger voice in the future they will inherit. We are interested in funding: 1) youth-led power building around climate change, environmental justice and sustainable futures; and 2) advocacy efforts that advance our conservation commitment.

Participatory Grants

The Maddox Fund is committed to sharing power with the community. We will have to participatory grant processes — a second cohort of HBCU students and a LGBTQ+ student-led cohort. Each of these groups will be distributing up to $100,000 to local nonprofits.

Grantmaking

* Advocacy: These grants will support youth-led movement/power building and policy change advocacy that advances our focus areas. Strategies may include direct actions, youth organizing training, and issue awareness.
* Direct Services: These grants will support program delivery in our two focus areas.
* Capacity & Care: These grants will support capacity building for organizations as well as staff development and leadership care for organizations working in our focus areas. These grants might include strategic planning, leadership transitions, staff respite/healing, and celebration of organizational milestones.

Eligibility

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

* Eligibility Criteria:
* Determined by the IRS to be a 501(c)(3) organization
* Operates programming or advocacy in Middle Tennessee
* Has been operating for one year or has a fiscal sponsor
* Demonstrates a lived commitment to racial justice
* The Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Fund serves the 41 counties of Middle Tennessee listed below.

* Bedford, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, Dekalb, Dickson, Fentress, Franklin, Giles, Grundy, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Lawrence, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Marshall, Maury, Montgomery, Moore, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Rutherford, Sequatche, Smith, Jackson, Stewart, Sumner, Trousdale, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, White, and Williamson

Ineligibility

* We Don't Fund:
* Organizations that proselytize or evangelize
* Organizations that are 501(c)(4)
* Organizations not operating in Middle Tennessee
* Organizations that regrant funds
* Organizations without significant board diversity
* Individuals
* Local and state government agencies
* Capital requests, endowments, debt reduction, or depreciation efforts
* Ineligible Direct Services:
* Charter and Private Schools
* Mental health counseling
* Daycare
* Sports programs
* Art programs
* Scholarship programs
* Food and clothing programs
* School supplies
* Parenting programs
* Conferences and event sponsorships
* University research
* Ineligible Advocacy Work:
* Direct lobbying that calls for specific action(s)
* Activities that support or oppose a candidate for public office
* Voter registration
* Work that does not impact youth or the natural environment
* Media and journalism
* Policy analysis and research