Movement Building and Systems Change (MBSC) Grant

Purpose:

The Movement Building and Systems Change (MBSC) Grant Program supports nonprofits and community-based organizations that engage in organizing, power building, advocacy and structural change initiatives to transform power and resource distribution systems to advance equitable, vibrant, safe, and thriving communities.

This grant program explicitly seeks to fund organizations engaging in organizing, power building, policy, and advocacy efforts that address the issue areas of educational equity, arts education access and funding, community safety, and criminal justice reform. Because we recognize that these issues may not always be addressed in a siloed fashion, we encourage organizations to seek funding who are working to address them through an intersectional approach or in conjunction with other community-identified goals.

Goals:

The goal of the MBSC grant program is to partner with organizations that utilize the methods below directly or through a combination of direct activities and partnerships to advance systems change through efforts that involve:

• Community-driven and asset-based engagement, solution development, and problem solving.
• Power building through a combination of healing practices, trainings, base and community building activities, including civic and leadership development opportunities.
• In-depth political, issue, and systems analysis to address the direct issues and underlying historical, racial and systemic inequities.
• Collective action including public accountability and civic engagement.
• Unifying and collaborative efforts through coalitions, partnerships and strategic alliances within and across issue areas and sectors.
• Expanding beyond traditional movement building approaches to include social media, the arts, narrative change work and alternative system development and planning.
• Measuring progress and implications for impact at the individual, community, cultural, and systems levels with opportunities for routine reflection, redirection, and adaptation as needed to meet the evolving community and political landscape.

Through these integrated movement building approaches, organizational partners will be able to demonstrate the potential or proven ability to influence and foster change at the individual, community, cultural, and systems levels that leads to greater resource allocation and equitable and community-driven policy and systemic reforms in education, arts education, community safety, and criminal justice.

Grant Amounts and Terms

This is a three-year grant. Its annual renewal will be based on activities taken during the previous 12 months, completion of terms in the grant agreement, and availability of funds.

Annual grant amounts per organization can go up to $50,000 per year.

Eligibility

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

• We fund registered 501(c)(3) organizations in good standing or groups fiscally sponsored by a registered 501 (c)(3) organization.
  • We fund organizations of various sizes, but we want to ensure that grassroots community-centered organizations are represented in our portfolio.
• We fund organizations serving Chicago, Boston, and Boston’s gateway cities
  • The Lohengrin Foundation follows the definition of gateway cities from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (under Chapter 23A Section 3A).
  • The gateway cities include:
  • Attleboro
  • Barnstable
  • Brockton
  • Chelsea
  • Chicopee
  • Everett
  • Fall River
  • Fitchburg
  • Haverhill
  • Holyoke
  • Lawrence
  • Leominster
  • Lowell
  • Lynn
  • Malden
  • Methuen
  • New Bedford
  • Peabody
  • Pittsfield
  • Quincy
  • Revere
  • Salem
  • Springfield
  • Taunton
  • Westfield
  • Worcester
• We seek to support organizations who build and mobilize communities of those most impacted or with direct proximity to the challenges and issue areas they are working to address.
• The MBSC grant program seeks to partner with organizations that incorporate those most impacted by their issue area in organizational leadership and decision-making.
  • The Lohengrin Foundation understands that BIPOC-led organizations are less likely to be funded by foundations and seeks to address this in our grantmaking.
  • Grantmaking does not exclude non-BIPOC-led organizations from applying to our programs or being selected for funding.
• We seek organizations that measure progress and implications for impact at the individual, community, cultural, and systems levels with opportunities for routine reflection, redirection, and adaptation as needed to meet the evolving community and political landscape.
• Can I apply if I have already received a grant from the Lohengrin Foundation?
  • The Lohengrin Foundation only makes one grant per organization per 12- month period, so you can apply, but only one grant will be given during the 12 months.
• Do you support immigration efforts with the MBSC grant program?
  • The MBSC grant program is focused on organizing, power-building, policy, and advocacy in the listed issue areas.
  • We welcome groups working with immigrant communities to apply for this grant.

Ineligibility

• If organizations specifically seek resources for policy advocacy, legal support, or deportation support, we recommend that groups look into our Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Justice grant program, which will open in the fall of 2025.