Being a Movement Partner
Funders like East Bay Community Foundation play an important role in the movement ecosystem. We recognize that community organizations and movement leaders are the driving force for change. Our responsibility as a funder is to be a partner and ally to them.
As a movement partner, it is our responsibility to address systemic power imbalances in philanthropy; utilize our influence to champion and advance the work of grantee partners; increase funding and support for them with donors and peers; be accountable; and align our funding, strategy, and goals with racial justice organizing and power building.
Core Grantees
Our core grantee partners are leaders in one or more of our core program strategies. Our grantmaking prioritizes organizations led by and in service of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI), South & Southwest Asian and North African (SSWANA) communities, and those impacted by multiple, intersectional systems of oppression.
ABEN assists children and youth in reaching their full potential by facilitating academic and cultural excellence by using culturally informed research and providing teacher professional development workshops, technology, visionary parent education, and networking.
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Contra Costa chapter works on tenant rights and housing advocacy through base-building and coalition-building in Contra Costa County cities and statewide.
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Oakland chapter engages in member-led campaigns focused on tenant rights and housing advocacy in Oakland and statewide.
The African American Art & Culture Complex is one of the premier Black arts and cultural institutions in the San Francisco Bay Area. They provide a wide variety of art and cultural programming for youth, adults, and families.
APEB seeks to provide culturally sensitive, non-judgmental, and effective services to all persons and communities in Alameda County living with and at risk for HIV.
APEN is an environmental justice organization building power with California’s Asian immigrant and refugee communities. Since 1993, they have built a membership base of Laotian refugees in Richmond and Chinese immigrants in Oakland.
Bay Area Plan is a social justice organization that develops leadership and builds the power of parents to transform schools so that all students achieve success. They work primarily with students of color and their parents in all nine counties of the Greater Bay Area.
Bay Rising is a growing alliance of community-led organizations across the Bay Area. They organize working-class people and people of color as voters year-round.
BOP builds Black community power and develops leaders in Oakland and across the Bay Area. BOP continues to be a central leader in reimagining public safety by working directly with impacted youth and their families.
Building Blocks for Kids (BBK) amplifies the voices of Black, Latinx and other parents and caregivers of color. BBK realizes its goals through healing centered care, leadership development, and parent-led advocacy.
CJJC builds grassroots power and leadership to create strong, equitable communities. They work toward housing and racial justice for African Americans and Latinos through rights-based services, policy campaigns, civic engagement, and direct action.
CBE builds people’s power in California’s communities of color and low-income communities to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution and building green, healthy and sustainable communities and environments.
CHDC provides affordable housing opportunities and services to enable low- and moderate-income residents to gain better housing and financial stability. Their approach to community development engages residents and ensures that the whole neighborhood benefits from the affordable housing and neighborhood services provided.
The East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) addresses the root causes of economic injustice by developing strategic alliances among community, labor, and people of faith to build power and create change with low-income workers and communities of color.
EOYDC works to develop youth’s social and leadership capacities so that they achieve excellence in education, career, and service to their communities. EOYDC works with youth and young adults ages 6 to 24.
The Ensuring Opportunity Campaign is a collaborative effort of diverse stakeholders working to end poverty and improve economic security in Contra Costa County by addressing structural causes at the policy level.
FIAEB is committed to faith-based organizing and leadership development on issues connected to immigration, community safety/anti-violence, anti-displacement, economic justice, and other member-identified campaigns. They work in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
FAJ builds a strong and empowered Filipino community by organizing constituents, developing leaders, providing services, and advocating for policies that promote social and economic justice and equity. FAJ serves Filipinos who call the East Bay home through its offices in Oakland’s Chinatown and Union City.
The First 5 Contra Costa’s Community Engagement and Advocacy Program aims to build power and advocacy among underrepresented families with young children for a healthy, safe, and equitable Contra Costa. Their base of parents and residents are empowered to shape public decisions on a range of issues that impact young children and their communities.
The Jakara Movement is a grassroots community-building organization working to empower, educate, and organize Punjabi Sikhs and other marginalized communities by advancing their health, education, and economic, social, and political power.
Lift Up Contra Costa Action is a coalition of grassroots community organizing, advocacy, and labor organizations that build political power, fight for policies, and hold local elected officials accountable. They work directly with Contra Costa County residents.
Monument Impact is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to building skills, resources, and power towards economic prosperity with immigrants, refugees, and low-income residents in Concord and surrounding communities.
MUA is a member-led organization that utilizes healing justice in its approach to power building. MUA has local, statewide, and national influence through its campaigns led largely by undocumented Latinx domestic workers.
My Eden Voice partners with community members to advocate for services and protections from Alameda County in the unincorporated areas of San Lorenzo, Ashland, Cherryland, and Hayward Acres.
Oakland Rising educates and mobilizes voters in the flatlands to speak up for and take charge of the issues impacting their lives. Oakland Rising is highly engaged in coalitional efforts related to redistricting and anti-displacement work in East and West Oakland neighborhoods.
Parent Voices Oakland (PVO) is a parent-led grassroots organization that advocates for affordable, accessible, quality child care. PVO organizes and empowers families with the highest need to build effective campaigns toward economic and educational justice.
Power California leads voter and civic engagement with youth throughout the state, focusing on cities with large youth populations in Contra Costa County.
Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) the Bay works to improve restaurant workers’ lives by building worker power and uniting workers of various backgrounds around shared goals and values. They are a food-service workers’ rights organization building a future with higher wages, better working conditions, and greater equity in the Bay Area.
Restore Oakland serves as a movement incubator where communities most harmed by racial inequities have opportunities to heal, build strategies for solidarity, and create a shared vision for community safety and economic empowerment in their neighborhood. Restore Oakland is based in Oakland’s Fruitvale District.
Roots Community Health Center aims to uplift those impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. They accomplish this through medical and behavioral health care, health navigation, workforce enterprises, housing, outreach, and advocacy. Services are provided in Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, and San Jose.
RYSE envisions a movement led by young people that ensures dignity for youth, their families, and their communities. Their programs focus on equity within education and justice systems, youth organizing and leadership development, community health and healing, and expressive media, arts, and culture. Services are provided in Richmond.
Safe Return Project is invested in building a powerful base of formerly incarcerated persons at the political, social, and economic levels across the state of California to address the root causes of poverty and the impacts of the criminal justice system on Black people and communities of color.
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people through rematriation, cultural revitalization, land restoration, public education and coalition-building.
The Hannah Project Partnership for Academic Achievement is a community-based education and cultural organization. The Hannah Project seeks to build community and promote the value of achievement among low-income Black and brown youth and their families.
The Hidden Genius Project trains and mentors Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities. Services are provided in Oakland.
Stories from the Front Lines
Women’s Catalytic Fund: A Collective Approach to Funding Grassroots Gender Justice Movements
The Women’s Catalytic Fund supports East Bay organizations promoting gender equity, prioritizing BIPOC and female/non-binary-led groups, empowering grassroots movements.
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Building People Power in the East Bay
Grantee partners of the Community Organizing, Power Building, and Movement Building program strategy shared common concerns and goals at a recent convening.
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Community Advocate Uplifts West Oakland Nonprofits
Learn more about how a local community advocate uses a donor-advised fund to deliver equity to grassroots organizations in West Oakland.
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