August 2018 - Solidaire

Movement R&D: FAQs

Solidaire’s 2018 Movement R&D Cycle is underway! The first step in the process is to fill out an eligibility survey to determine if your proposal meets the basic eligibility requirements. The survey must be completed by August 8, 2018. If your project is eligible, you will be sent the request for proposal (RFP). For additional questions related to the Movement R&D 2018 grant cycle, please see the frequently asked questions below.

Movement R&D 2018 FAQs

What is the focus of Movement R&D Fund?
Since our founding, Solidaire has worked with the concept of Movement Research and Development (R&D). “Research and Development” is intended to convey an openness to taking risks by supporting movement leaders to explore, iterate, and test new ideas and tactics with flexible funding that doesn’t require or anticipate specific answers, deliverables, or outcomes.

What is the grant-making committee really interested in funding?
While all bold, new, and experimental approaches to resisting oppression that are led by those most directly impacted will be considered, this cycle the Movement R&D committee is paying particular attention to the following areas:

Immigrant Justice
Justice for Muslim Communities
Black and Native Land Justice: Reclaiming Ties and Relationship to Land
Making Movements More Strategic and Imaginative

For more information on these priority areas as well as the basic eligibility requirements, please see the descriptions below.

Who is on the grant making committee?
This cycle we are honored to have the following folks on our grant making team:

Allen Kwabena Frimpong, Movement Net Lab
Brooke Lehman, Solidaire member
Judith LeBlanc, Native Organizers Alliance
Laura Flynn, Solidaire member
Maggie Heraty, Solidaire member
Marlena Sonn, Solidaire member
Monique Verdin, United Huma Nation Tribal Council / Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative
Richard Graves, Solidaire member
Soffiyah Elijah, Alliance of Families for Justice
Yasmin Yonis, Movement Net Lab

Why did the eligibility survey cut me off when I was filling it out?
This cycle the Movement R&D process will begin with a survey that potential applicants must complete in full in order to determine eligibility to apply for grants. The eligibility survey consists of four questions that must be completed in full. The survey is set to disqualify applicants that do not meet the basic eligibility requirements of the Movement R&D Fund.

What if I make a mistake when filling out the survey?
We ask that you be careful while filling out your survey. Please complete all fields. The survey should generally take 10-15 minutes to complete. If you by chance make an error while completing the survey please contact us at [email protected].

What if my work does not fit into this cycle’s priorities? Can I still apply?
If your group/project work meets the basic eligibility criteria, you are encouraged to apply. While the grant making committee has decided to give particular focus to some areas, all efforts that are seeking innovative solutions to the issues facing communities on the front lines will be fully considered

If my project budget is under $500,000 but my organizational budget is over $500,000 could I still be eligible to apply?
Your application will be considered if your project budget is under $500,000, even if you organizational budget is over $500,000.

Can we apply as a coalition or as multiple groups?
Yes, coalitions and multiple groups working on the same project may apply. Please keep in mind that you should apply with the project budget, not the combined budgets of the organizations within your coalition/project.

Additional questions?
If you have any additional questions, please reach out to our Program Director, Janis Rosheuvel, at [email protected].

Basic Eligibility Criteria

The Movement R&D Fund seeks proposals from organizations and projects that meet the following basic eligibility criteria:

Focused on Organizing for Change
Must be rooted in, emerging from, or in direct relationship to organizing efforts (i.e., building leaders and people power in pursuit of transformative structural change).

Leadership from Marginalized Communities
Must include the leadership of communities most impacted by injustice, including, but not limited to: people of color, Indigenous peoples, migrants, Muslims, low income people, women, youth, queer, trans, or gender nonconforming people, and people with disabilities.

Bold New Ideas or Experiments
The Movement R&D Fund seeks to support new attempts to explore solutions or problems that face movements – which could come from either existing or new organizations, leaders, or projects. The Movement R&D Grant is not intended to support the general operations of organizations.

Wide Impact
Projects should have an eye towards movement-wide impact. This could mean projects are potentially replicable and the learnings will be shared, or it could mean that the project is an attempt to organize at a massive scale. We are looking for big potential to advance entire fields of work.

Has Not Received a Movement R&D Grant in the Last Two Years
Only applicants who have not received a grant from the Movement R&D Fund in the last two years will be considered.

Movement R&D 2018 Priorities

The Movement R&D Committee has selected the following as issues as priorities for the 2018 cycle:

Immigrant Justice
We affirm the urgent needs currently facing immigrant communities around the nation. We see the current levels of mass criminalization and deportation of migrants as being part of a long history of xenophobia and racialized immigration policy and practice in the United States. The Movement R&D Fund seeks proposals that reflect innovative, bold and experimental immigrant justice organizing that is working to resist the root causes of migrant criminalization.

Justice for Muslim Communities
We know that Muslim communities face ever-increasing violent and normalized structural and institutional Islamophobia that includes mass surveillance, the Muslim Ban, hate crimes, the carceral state, and the erosion of civil and human rights. The Movement R&D fund seeks proposals that foster innovative Muslim community power-building to resist state violence especially by those in the margins who push forward an intersectional lens in their work.

Black and Native Land Justice: Reclaiming Ties and Relationship to Land
It is critical for us to change the way our society envisions land, ownership, housing rights, and sanctuary. From unjust borders to rapid gentrification across U.S. cities to the promise of 40 acres and a mule to the stealing of Native land, our movements and lives are tied together by the basic human right to home, safety, community, and things that physically and spiritually tie us to place. As members of the family of living creatures on this earth, we also have the responsibility of caring for the land, providing a healthy home for all, and producing sustenance for ourselves. The Movement R&D Fund seeks proposals that aim to reclaim, repair, or reimagine our ties to land and boldly move the needle towards Native sovereignty, reparations, affordable housing, sanctuary, environmental justice, cooperatives, and community stewardship.

Making Movements More Strategic and Imaginative
Every movement moment presents new challenges and learning opportunities. New and long-time organizers are adapting, experimenting, and thinking in new ways about how to organize, mobilize, and win. The Movement R&D Fund seeks proposals that show the potential to train and support leaders from across movements to expand their imaginations, strategize in new ways, and apply new organizing tactics to their work.

2018 Movement R&D Fund Timeline

JULY 10: Movement leaders and public are notified of upcoming application period

JULY 20 – AUG 8: Applicants complete short pre-application eligibility survey that will be posted online

AUG 9: Request For Proposals (RFP) is sent to those invited to apply

SEPT 10: RFP closes

SEPT 10 – NOV 16: Proposals reviewed

NOV 27: Selection of final slate of grantees

DEC 10: Funds disbursed to grantees