Community Organizing Grants Program

PDF’s community organizing grants provide small general operating grants to organizations in the US, Mexico, and Haiti that are organizing for social, economic, and/or environmental justice. There are three funds within our community organizing grant program: the Seeding the Movement Fund, Western Mass Transformation Fund , and The Braiding New Worlds Fund. Eligible organizations can apply to one of these funds using our online grant portal. Click on the “Community Organizing Grants” application and then select the appropriate fund.  

Any organization that fits PDF’s guidelines is eligible to apply for a grant. Eligible organizations must:  

  • Have an annual budget of $250,000 USD or less, based on your last completed fiscal year 
  • Be based in the US, Mexico, or Haiti  
  • Have a valid 501(c)3 or a US-based fiscal sponsor (Note: Organizations in Mexico or Haiti must have a US-based fiscal sponsor.)  
  • Have a clear and concrete connection to community organizing 

We ask organizations that have received three consecutive years of funding from us to take a two year pause on applying for grants. You will be eligible for funding again after two grant cycles.  

Apply Today!

Each year PDF receives hundreds of proposals from grassroots community organizations seeking funding. Our evaluation process includes input from community reviewers who are current or former grantees. PDF selects those organizations that exemplify our four pillars of community organizing.

Questions? email: jessa[at]peacefund.org.

To view a recording of the grants information session hosted by our Program Manager in 2024, click here. To view the slides from this presentation, click here

Take a look at the questions on the application by clicking here.

Grant Eligibility

Please read our Grant Guidelines

We fund small organizations that engage in or directly support community organizing. Community organizing builds power in communities impacted by injustice. It can look like many different things, but usually includes the following: building relationships, developing leaders, creating a shared analysis of problems, and running campaigns that use collective action.  

Our Four Pillars of Community Organizing (explained below) guides our next level of application review. All our partners deeply embody each of the four pillars. Funds may have additional strategic priorities depending on their stated purpose or analysis of the current social, political, and economic moment.  

PDF’s Four Pillars of Community Organizing 

  • Shift Power – Your organization brings people together to take coordinated action that changes institutional practices. The institution could be a government, hospitals, corporations, schools, or any powerful group that is causing inequity. You should be led by a base that is most impacted by the systemic issue the group is organizing around.   
  • Build a Movement – Your organization takes meaningful action to expand membership without compromising your vision. You build capacity and leadership within your organization and among your local ally organizations. PDF believes organizational sustainability is key to building a movement, too. Your organization may have specific infrastructure or practices of care that ensure your people are around for the long haul.   
  • Dismantle Oppression – Your organization challenges institutional structures that result in unequal experiences for certain people. You have an array of loving internal practices or policies that work to end racism, classism, ageism, sexism, ableism, and all other harmful power dynamics within your organization.   
  • Create New Structures – Your organization practices new ways of doing things that are liberating, equitable, democratic, and sustainable. You have a clear understanding of how your new structures break away from old systems of oppression. Your vision is unafraid of fundamentally transforming political, social, and/or economic systems. 

What We Do Not Fund: 

  • Programs with a primary geographic focus outside of the United States, U.S. Territories, Mexico and Haiti.  If an organization is U.S.-based but works mostly outside of these areas, it should consider filling out an LOI for a Donor Advised Fund grant, which are reviewed on a rolling basis. 
  • Organizations not directly engaged in community organizing. 
  • Social services that are not linked to a clear organizing strategy. 
  • Individuals, or organizations with strong leadership from only one individual. 
  • Conferences, trainings, and other one-time events. 
  • Audio-visual productions and distribution – TV, radio, publications, films, etc. (PDF does fund media work or audio-visual production as part of the general expenses of groups engaged in grassroots organizing). 
  • Research that is not directly linked to an organizing strategy (PDF does fund research as part of the general expenses of groups engaged in grassroots organizing). 
  • Academic institutions and scholarships. 
  • Other grantmaking organizations (unless they are your fiscal sponsor). 
  • Organizations with budgets larger than $250,000. 
  • Lobbying activities. 

Application Dates & Deadlines

Applications open for PDF’s 2025 Community Organizing Grants on November 1, 2025 and close on January 31, 2026. To apply, create an account on our grants portal (or log in to your existing account) and click on the “Community Organizing Grants 2026” application. All applicants must take an eligibility quiz in order to access the application. All three community organizing funds use the same application. You will be asked to choose which fund you are applying for in the application.  

To view a PDF of the application questions, click here

Questions? You can email us or call 413-256-8306.