Valiente Fund Grant

Overview

_NOTE: Thank you for your interest in the Valiente Operational Accelerator program.  The Valiente Fund understands that the current stakes could not be higher. Given the unprecedented context, we’ve decided to suspend the 2025 Operational Accelerator. We will be pivoting to a strategy that better meets the moment and addresses the more immediate impact.
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The Challenge

Latine Power is America's Future

Latines represent the largest growing demographic in our country, with nearly 60 million people who identify as Latine or have Hispanic roots accounting for approximately 18% of the total U.S. population. At 32 million eligible voters, Latines were the largest block of voters of color in 2020, and yet, the community is not acting as a decisive bloc in civic, culture, and economic arenas, and their stories and voices continue to be erased from all spheres of influence.

There is a clear and urgent need for funding infrastructure that organizes Latine communities at scale and builds lasting economic, civic, and cultural power. Studies have shown that less than 2% of U.S. philanthropic dollars are directly invested in Latine organizations. This lack of investment raises the risk of these communities being vulnerable to increased engagement by those who do not have the best interest of the Latine community at heart, intent on using racial division and confusion to erode multiracial solidarity and progress.

A Solution

The Valiente Fund

A donor and funder collaborative reimagining a new long-term scale of resources to unleash the beautiful and full potential of Latine change agents. Meeting the diverse expressions of Latinidad, across key geographies, we seek to build thriving infrastructures forging power in civic engagement and cultural shifts. Doing so well, doing it fast and doing it with integrity will be key to shaping the collective future we imagine, need and deserve.

To cultivate the deep bench needed, the first Valiente Accelerator in 2023-2024 supported emerging Latine groups with operational capacity to get them poised to grow while weathering the storms of electoral cycles and changing political landscapes. There’s no “one” solution, but our reflective practice will guide our ongoing strategy.

Housed at Way to Rise, Valiente leverages their expertise and experience in funding organizations agile and bold enough to take on the current day’s political challenges. Together with others, we are building the multi-racial democracy of the future; as if our lives and our planet depended on it, because they do.

What is the Valiente Operational Accelerator

The Valiente Accelerator will include a peer-to-peer learning cohort and other capacity-building support, such as tailored coaching and expert-driven technical assistance. In addition, the organizations will receive a one time, general support grant starting at $25k.

The Accelerator will run from March – October and organizations will set their own operational goal. It is estimated that each of the two staff will devote an average of 1.5 hours per week and commit to three (3) two day in-person convenings to take place in April, July, and October 2025 (dates subject to change).

How do we define power?

The drivers of change and the context dictate their notion of power, but basically the capacity to accomplish your goals and continuously learning and adapting from your efforts. The sources, dimensions and expressions of power can be many, including:

* Base Building
* Leadership Development
* Advancing Issue campaigns
* Building electoral influence
* Long-term narrative and cultural change
* Organizational and community resilience.

Eligibility

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

* Who is an Ideal candidate?
* An emerging group that is working and building membership from the bottom up in AZ, FL, NC, NV, or TX.
* We selected the states to impact both emerging and battleground states, where the infra-structure still has much potential for growth.
* To determine age we will base it on your fiscal year.
* For example, you may have previously had a tenure as a volunteer organization, but are now within the five years of having and managing a budget.
* Impatient for change and hungry for bold action and growth, with an orientation towards ecosystem power-building.
* Latine Leadership and membership committed to indigenous sovereignty, anti-racism and feminist economies, building alliances and movements for all.
* Desire to strengthen the operational aspects in order to pursue your bold vision with dedicated operations and data staff or capacity.
* A dedicated voter engagement strategy and an active campaign.
* Who qualifies as a Latine organization?
* Whether first, second or third generation, Latinhood and Latinidad are as diverse as our ancestral roots transcending language, race or geographies.
* We won’t be single-storied.
* While identity can be a dynamic construction, constantly being shaped by internal and external forces, we would expect the majority of the leadership, whether paid or volunteer and the constituencies to identify within the Latino, Hispanic, Latinx or Latine frame.