We believe in the power of Oakland’s cultural and art organizations to advance understanding and spur collective action on urgent issues—from racial justice, economic development, and displacement to oppressive policing and gun violence. Therefore, we will deepen our support of cultural strategies that help drive policy and structural transformation to combat the criminalization of people of color in Oakland.
Moving forward, we will no longer fund one-time events. In 2019, Akonadi Foundation’s Beloved Community Fund will provide one year of general operating support to a set of cultural and art organizations in Oakland that have received at least two years of support from the Beloved Community Fund.
Application deadline is February 22, 2019. Please see below for a full list of eligibility criteria.
About
In previous years support from the Beloved Community Fund focused on free events in Oakland. In 2019, there will be one application deadline, February 22, 2019, to apply for a general operating support grant. Grant awards can be applied to operating costs including, but not limited to, administrative infrastructure, planning, events, and programs.
“Mapping Small Arts and Culture Organizations of Color in Oakland,” our benchmark report commissioned in partnership with Kenneth Rainin Foundation, found that a primary challenge for Oakland’s small, grassroots organizations is lack of reliable, long-term funding. In light of this finding, Akonadi Foundation has made it a priority to grow the overall base of funding for people of color-led arts and cultural institutions in Oakland through engaging peer institutions and governmental agencies.
What is the grant size?
In January 2019, Akonadi Foundation’s Beloved Community Fund will launch its application to apply for one-year grants up to $20,000 awarded to organizations that employ a cultural strategy to advance racial justice in Oakland. Application deadline is February 22, 2019
Who may apply?
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
- Has received at least two years of support from the Beloved Community Fund
- Oakland-based and Oakland-serving organization
- Demonstrates a track record of racial justice cultural work in Oakland with at least three years of ongoing programming in Oakland
- Demonstrates a history of work with specific communities of color in Oakland and organizational leadership reflects the primary community served
- Does not have an open general support grant from Akonadi
- Organizations with budgets under $550,000 will receive priority
Application Process & Timeline
Timeline
January 22, 2019: Applications Available
February 22, 2019: Applications Due (application link will close at 11:59pm)
February 22 – March 22, 2019: Internal Review of Applications
March 25, 2019: Grant Award Notification Date
To Apply
- Complete the Eligibility Quiz to see if you qualify.
- If you successfully complete the eligibility quiz, you will receive a link to our online application.
- Once you complete and submit the application, you will receive an email confirming your submission.
- Applications are accepted only through Akonadi Foundation’s online grants system.
- If a project was not awarded funds, you will receive a decline notice on the award notification date.
- If you are approved, you will receive your grant award once you return the signed grant contract to us.
Cultural Funding Resource List
The process of finding grants begins with research. Foundations generally give based on priority area and geographic region. A good first step is to look for funders whose interests match your organization’s mission, programs, populations served, and location.
Foundations generally give to nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status. If you don’t have exempt status, consider finding a nonprofit to work with, or to act as your fiscal sponsor.
CONTENTS
- Bay Area Cultural Funding Opportunities
- Artist Service Grants/Professional Development
- Fiscal Sponsorship
- Grant Seeking Resources
- Grassroots Fundraising Resources
1. Bay Area & Statewide Cultural Funding Opportunities
- California Arts Council (Several Grantmaking Programs)
- Cal Humanities (Film, Storytelling)
- City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program (All Disciplines)
- Alameda County Arts Commission (All Disciplines)
- Clorox Arts Mini-Grants
- Grants List Provided by California Arts Council (All Disciplines)
- Sam Mazza Foundation (Art orgs operating 3 years or more)
- Rainin Foundation (Film, Performing Arts, Public Art)
- San Francisco Film Society partnership w/ Rainin Foundation
- Clorox Grants (All Disciplines)
- Walter & Elise Haas Fund (All Disciplines)
- The Fleishhacker Foundation (All Disciplines)
- Documentary Film Funding
- Zellerbach Family Foundation (All Disciplines)
- Creative Work Fund
National Arts Funders
- Ford Foundation-Arts, Culture & Media (Several Grantmaking Programs)
- Rauschenberg Foundation (Artist as Activist)
- Surdna Foundation-Thriving Cultures (Several Grantmaking Programs)
- Creative Capital (Artist focused grants)
- National Endowment for the Arts
Non-Arts Specific Social & Economic Justice Related Projects
- Pollination Fund (Seed funding support for Social Change Projects)
- San Francisco Foundation Rapid Response Movement Building Fund (Timely Projects to Build Community Power and Voice, includes healing after hard event)
- Common Counsel Foundation (Various funds for social and economic justice)
- Mobilize Power Fund (Supports Women & QTIPOC youth (age 35 and younger) gender justice activism and work)
- Cliff Bar Family Foundation (Support project focused on food, health and environment)
- Clorox Grants (Education, Youth Development and Arts Mini Grants)
- Common Counsel Foundation (Social Justice projects)
- Groundswell Fund (Reproductive Justice projects)
- San Francisco Foundation
- Third Wave Fund (Reproductive Justice, LGBT Rights, Trans Visibility)
2. ARTIST SERVICE GRANTS/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Alliance for California Traditional Arts
The Alliance for California Traditional Arts is dedicated to supporting and sustaining folk and traditional arts at the statewide level.
Administered by Northern California Grantmakers, the Arts Loan Fund provides quick-turnaround, low-cost financial assistance to arts organizations located in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma counties, and to individual artists located in the cities of Oakland and San Francisco.
The Bay Area Video Coalition inspires social change by empowering media makers to develop and share diverse stories through art, education, and technology.
Center for Cultural Innovation
The Center for Cultural Innovation promotes knowledge sharing, networking, and financial independence for individual artists and creative entrepreneurs.
Administered by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Creative Work Fund is a commissioning program for individual artists and nonprofit organizations in Northern California to create new works through collaboration.
Dancers’ Group is the primary dance service organization of the San Francisco Bay Area, serving artists, the dance community, and audiences through programs and services.
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
The Djerassi Resident Artists Program supports individual artists through residencies to provide uninterrupted time for work, reflection, and collegial interaction in a setting of great natural beauty.
The East Bay Community Foundation mobilizes financial resources and community leadership to transform the lives of people in the East Bay with pressing needs.
Emerging Arts Professionals/San Francisco Bay Area
Emerging Arts Professionals/San Francisco Bay Area is a regional network focused on empowerment, leadership, and growth of next generation arts and culture workers through knowledge sharing, learning opportunities, and partnerships.
Frameline supports independent LGBT filmmakers through grants, awards, and training, which help ensure that new LGBT films make it to the screen.
genARTS Silicon Valley, a program of Silicon Valley Creates, is dedicated to supporting a network of emerging leaders; preparing and developing its members; and advocating on behalf of tomorrow’s arts leadership community locally, regionally, and nationally.
The Headlands Center for the Arts is a multidisciplinary, international arts center that supports artists, the creative process, and the development of innovative ideas and artwork through artist residencies and other programs.
The Horizons Foundation is an LBGT community foundation that provides grants to nonprofit organizations in nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Montalvo Arts Center is a multidisciplinary arts center that engages people in the creative process. Its Lucas Artists Residency Program offers local, national, and international artists time and space to develop their practices.
Administered by the Humboldt Area Foundation, the Native Cultures Fund supports the renaissance of California Native American arts, culture, sacred sites, and cultural transmission between generations through grants to artists and organizations.
Northern California Community Loan Fund
Northern California Community Loan Fund provides affordable loans, technical assistance, and training programs to nonprofit organizations in Northern California. It specializes in assisting organizations that are seeking to acquire affordable program or office space.
The Playwrights Foundation is a new play development center that supports writers at all levels through multiple free or low-cost programs.
The Queer Cultural Center is a multiracial community-building organization that fosters the artistic, economic and cultural development of the Bay Area’s LGBT community by offering support services and commissioning opportunities to queer artists.
San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music
San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music supports Bay Area performers, composers, and presenters of early music, chamber music, jazz, new music, and creative music.
Theatre Bay Area is the region’s service organization, dedicated to promoting the visibility and viability of theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation
The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation’s Special Awards in the Arts is a commissioning grants program for new works by individual artists in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Zellerbach Family Foundation’s Community Arts Fund supports individual artists and small budget organization in San Francisco, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, in the fields of dance, theater, visual arts, music, festivals, poetry, literature, and publications.
3. FISCAL SPONSORSHIP
4. GRANT SEEKING RESOURCES
Foundation Center West (San Francisco)
312 Sutter Street, Suite 606
San Francisco, CA 94108-4314
Tel: (415) 397-0902
Foundation Center West Affiliate Location in Oakland: Oakland Public Library
125 14Th St
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 238-3850
oaklandlibrary.org/blogs/from-main-library/get-grant
GrantSpace, a service of Foundation Center, Training Resources
5. GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING RESOURCES
Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT)
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 808
Oakland CA 94612
Phone: (510) 452-4520
Invests in efforts that use art and culture to build voice, power, and self determination in communities of color.
Supports programs in Oakland that affirm and celebrate the collective memory, shared histories, social identities, and cultures of Oakland's communities of color.
Supports movements to mobilize toward the goal of ending the criminalization of people of color in Oakland.
Please contact info@akonadi.org with any questions you may have.
Since 2012, the Beloved Community Fund has given $2,319,825 to 196 organizations to support free public art and cultural events for communities of color in Oakland.
2018 Beloved Community Fund Grant Awards
In 2018, the average grant size was 7,800 with a total of $500,000 awarded to 64 projects.
Organization Name |
Grant Name |
Application Month |
Amount |
| Las Hociconas Lab Theatre Arts Residency 2018 | Las Hociconas Performance Showcases -Working Title | January | 10,000 |
| The Oakland Film Society | The Oakland International Film Festival | January | 6,500 |
| BoomShake Music | Drumluck: An Ancestral Gathering | January | 8,500 |
| Oakland Peace Center | Disrupting Displacement through Accessible Arts | January | 8,500 |
| Ubuntu Theater Project, Inc. | Dance of the Holy Ghosts by Marcus Gardley | January | 7,500 |
| BrujaLyfe | Brujalyfe Fest | March | 5,000 |
| Abundant Beginnings | Young Activists for May Day- 2018 | March | 6,500 |
| Oakland LGBTQ Community Center | Fifth Annual Oakland People’s Pride Wellness Expo | March | 5,000 |
| Betti Ono | The Fire Next Time Project | March | 15,000 |
| Omnira Institute | The 5th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival (BEPF) | March | 10,000 |
| S.H.A.D.E Movement | Empowerment Project: 9th Annual Youth Open Mic | March | 5,000 |
| The Pasifika Center | Reclaiming the Sacred | March | 7,000 |
| MISSSEY, Inc. | Black Girls Dreaming Magic: Rituals & Performance | March | 7,000 |
| American Friends Service Committee | Nuestras Historias: Healing through ARTivism | March | 15,000 |
| Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) | Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo 2018 | March | 7,500 |
| Urban Peace Movement | 510 Day | March | 5,000 |
| Kua`aina Associates, Inc. | Mālama Honua Kaleponi | March | 8,000 |
| All African Peoples Revolutionary Party | African Liberation Day: Justice, Art & Community | March | 8,500 |
| AYPAL: Building API Community Power | AYPAL 20th Annual May Arts Festival | March | 7,000 |
| One Fam | One Fam Art and Culture Program (OFAC) | March | 15,000 |
| Eastside Arts Alliance | Malcolm X Jazz and Arts Festival (MXJAF) | March | 11,000 |
| Increase the Piece Music Manifestival | Increase the Piece Music Manifestival | May | 3,000 |
| The Unity Council | Annual Fruitvale Día de los Muertos Festival | May | 5,000 |
| Friends of Lincoln Square | Lincoln Summer Nights – Oakland Chinatown | May | 4,000 |
| Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) | OACC Art Exhibits that Engage, Enliven, and Endure | May | 6,500 |
| dNaga | The GIRL Project: Shine On! | May | 7,000 |
| Chiapas Support Committee | CompArte 2018 : Tiempo de los Pueblos | May | 2,000 |
| Mam Cultural Festival | Mam Cultural Festival | May | 4,000 |
| The House of Malico | Elements Festival | May | 7,500 |
| The Umoja Festival | The Umoja Festival | May | 10,000 |
| Adamika Village, Inc. | 2018 Youngins Art Festival “Peace In The Street “ | May | 6,000 |
| DelinaDream Productions | “Africa in Oakland” Dance Zone | May | 5,000 |
| Joyce Gordon Foundation of the Arts | Oakland Youth Art Explosion | May | 10,000 |
| Afrocentric Oakland | Pan African Reunion (PAR) | May | 11,000 |
| BH Brilliant MInds Project Inc. | 11th Anniversary Oakland CA Juneteenth Festival | May | 9,000 |
| Intertribal Friendship House | Rooted in Traditions: Cultural Knowledge & Sharing | May | 8,000 |
| Fist Up Film Festival | The 9th Annual Fist Up Film Festival (FUFF) | May | 6,000 |
| United Roots | 4th Annual: Black & Brown Unity Film Festival | May | 7,500 |
| Hamere Multimedia Inc. | Ethiopian Cultural Gathering: GETA TEJ BET | May | 7,500 |
| Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice | Oakland’s Black Cultural Innovators | July | 7,000 |
| BAMBD Community Devlopment Corp. of Oakland | BAMBDFEST 2019 | July | 11,000 |
| Afro Urban Society | Nisa’ Raqs- Women’s Fall Gathering | July | 11,000 |
| Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company | Rasanble! Haitian Arts & Culture Festival 2018 | July | 6,000 |
| Black August Organizing Committee | Liberate Our Minds – Black August 40th Year | July | 6,000 |
| Dimensions Dance Theater | You Never Know – Community Offerings | July | 8,000 |
| Lower Bottom Playaz | Iwa Pele, Path and Destination | July | 10,500 |
| The Black Woman is God Project | The Black Woman Is God(TBWIG): Assembly of Gods | July | 11,000 |
| I’M POP (intelligentMinds Positive On Purpose) | Afro Literacy Conference (AFRO LIT) | September | 7,000 |
| Attitudinal Healing Connection | Durant Mini-Park Arts Festival | September | 8,000 |
| Oakland Pacific Islander Network | Oakland Pacific Islander Celebration | September | 2,500 |
| Oscar Grant Foundation | The 10th Annual Oscar Grant Vigil | September | 15,000 |
| HipHop Scholastics | Take Back the Town | September | 6,000 |
| American Indian Child Resource Center | Uplifted: Building upon our Foundation | September | 6,300 |
| HipHopForChange,Inc | Femme Fresh: Female Leadership in Oakland | September | 7,000 |
| Alena Museum | Alena Pop-Up Village | November | 10,000 |
| Street Level Health Project | Sanando las heridas con medicina cultural | November | 8,500 |
| Embodiment Project | Inside/Outside (working title) | November | 6,000 |
| Native American Health Center | Our Existence is our Resistance | November | 10,000 |
| Liberated Lens Film Collective | BLACK: 400 Years in America Film Series | November | 7,500 |
| Trust Your Struggle Collective | The Struggle Continues: Fifteen Years of Artivism | November | 7,000 |
| Studio Grand | Tenets of Humanity | November | 8,500 |
| The Beat Within | The Beat Within Oakland Public Library | November | 8,000 |
| Spearitwurx | Experience Sankofa Project | November | 7,500 |
| Bushwick Book Club Oakland | Bushwick Book Club: Oakland Chapter | November | 7,200 |
2017 Beloved Community Fund Grant Awards
In 2017, the average grant size was $7,700 with a total of $500,000 awarded to 65 projects.
Organization Name |
Grant Name |
Application Month |
Amount |
| Deep Waters Dance Theater | Episode : “Black Women Dreaming” A Ritual Rest | January | $10,000.00 |
| Higher Gliffs / Community Rejuvenation Project | Alice Street Film Symposium | January | $6,000.00 |
| Movement Generation | The North Pole: Political Comedy for The People Community Screenings | January | $12,000.00 |
| One Fam | Bringing Back the Blues to 7th Street 2017! | January | $9,500.00 |
| OneLife Institute | Transformative Visions Community Arts Event | January | $9,000.00 |
| Afro Urban Society | Nisa’ Raqus, Women Dance: Circle and Gathering | February | $11,260.00 |
| East Oakland Boxing Association | EOBA Unity Art Showcase: How We Come Together | February | $7,500.00 |
| Fist Up Film Festival | 8th Annual Fist Up Film Festival | February | $6,000.00 |
| Fua Dia Congo | Fua Is Forever: Community Town Hall Series | February | $3,600.00 |
| Qulture Collective | You’re the Most Beautiful Thing Exhibition and Reading | February | $6,000.00 |
| Rara Tou Limen Haitian Dance Company | Rasanble! Haitian Arts & Culture Festival | February | $5,000.00 |
| All African Peoples Revolutionary Party | African Liberation Day Culture & Community Event | March | $7,277.00 |
| Art Responders | ANTIVIRAL: Countdown to Restorative Justice Exhibition | March | $5,000.00 |
| Attitudinal Healing Connection | ArtEsteem Annual Exhibition | March | $6,000.00 |
| Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) | 4th Annual Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo | March | $8,020.00 |
| Forward Together | Trans Life & Liberation: Celebrating Trans & Gende | March | $15,000.00 |
| Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park | Day Laborers of Fruitvale Tell Their Stories | March | $15,000.00 |
| HipHopForChange,Inc | Bay Area POC Environmental Summit and Showcase | March | $7,500.00 |
| Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) | OACC ExhibitIons – Art to Inspire, Inform, and Transform | March | $10,500.00 |
| Que Siga La Fiesta | Que Siga La Fiesta Art Exhibition | March | $7,500.00 |
| The Umoja Festival | The Umoja Festival | March | $10,000.00 |
| Uppity Edutainment | Father’s Day Celebration | March | $7,500.00 |
| Zawaya | Communities of Color: Resistance and Affirmation | March | $15,000.00 |
| Alphabet Rockers | Rise Shine #Woke: Children’s Music Project | April | $10,000.00 |
| American Friends Service Committee | 67 Sueños: Hatred No, Solidarity Yes! Mural Project | April | $12,000.00 |
| AYPAL: Building API Community Power | 19th Annual May Arts Festival “Rooted In Culture” | April | $10,000.00 |
| BH Brilliant Minds Project Inc. | Oakland’s Juneteenth Festival 10th Year Anniversary | April | $9,000.00 |
| BrujaLyfe | Sudada: to sweat, to release, to cleanse | April | $5,000.00 |
| Chiapas Support Committee | CompARTE 2017 Zapatista Solidarity Festival | April | $6,500.00 |
| DelinaDream Productions | Africa in Oakland Dance Zone | April | $6,100.00 |
| Eastside Arts Alliance | 17th Annual Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival | April | $7,000.00 |
| Embodiment Project | Exploring Restorative Justice through the Arts | April | $12,500.00 |
| Free Me Fast | Free Me Fast/Liberame: Poetry and Clothing Design Workshops & an All Ages Hip Hop Show for Oakland Youth of Color | April | $7,500.00 |
| Joyce Gordon Foundation of the Arts | Oakland Youth Arts Explosion “OYAE!” | April | $10,000.00 |
| Omi Gallery at Impact Hub Oakland | 2017 Breaking the Silence Townhall for Girls & Women of Color | April | $5,000.00 |
| Omnira Institute | 4th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival | April | $9,000.00 |
| SambaFunk! | Oakland Carnival & Community Wellness Festival | April | $9,000.00 |
| Sones en el Olvido | Sones en el Olvido: Son Jarocho Community Workshops & Fandangos | April | $7,500.00 |
| Time Piece: Simultaneous Contemplations on the Femme Frequency for a Lost and Fertile Planet | Time Piece: Simultaneous Contemplations on the Femme Frequency for a Lost and Fertile Planet, Exhibition, Community Artmaking, and Mural with queer femme artist Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski | April | $7,500.00 |
| TuBeNu Cultural Gatherers | “Stop the Violence” Music & Spoken Word Events | April | $7,500.00 |
| United Roots | 3rd Annual Black & Brown Unity Film Festival | April | $7,500.00 |
| Urban Peace Movement | Bursting the School to Prison Pipeline, a Cultural Event for Oakland Youth | April | $5,000.00 |
| BANTEAY SREI | Restoring the Youthful Heart: Oakland Teen Sangha | June | $8,000.00 |
| BoomShake Music | The Streets Are Free | June | $9,000.00 |
| Friends of Lincoln Square | Lincoln Summer Nights | June | $7,000.00 |
| La Mezcla, A Bay Area Chicanx Dance Company | Bruja, An event exploring Chicana history | June | $2,100.00 |
| Lower Bottom Playaz | Behind and Beyond BARS: Story Circles | June | $9,000.00 |
| MATATU | Matatu Festival of Stories | June | $5,000.00 |
| Pan African Reunion | Pan African Reunion | June | $7,000.00 |
| The Beat Within | The Beat Within Oakland Public Library | June | $7,500.00 |
| Cunamacué | Diablos en las Calles de Oakland | August | $9,500.00 |
| LoveLife Foundation | Hands Across the Lake Cultural Community Gathering | August | $2,500.00 |
| Oakland Public Conservatory of Music | ArtsJam Soul Salons | August | $8,500.00 |
| Oakland Technology and Education Center | AfroComicCon Youth Community Day | August | $7,500.00 |
| Peacock Rebellion | Peacock Trans POC Dance and Music Festival | August | $6,500.00 |
| American Indian Child Resource Center | Celebrating Education Warriors 19th Annual Pow Wow | October | $8,500.00 |
| Bay Area Black Worker Center | Jazz & Arts Cultural Series | October | $6,000.00 |
| Community Theater’s Community Of The Spirit | Community Of The Spirit Multigenerational Concert with Jacqueline Hairston | October | $5,000.00 |
| Lincoln Child Center | Kwanzaa Day the Oakland Freedom Schools Way | October | $6,000.00 |
| Oakland Mind | The Summer Solstice Festival | October | $5,000.00 |
| Qilombo Community Center | Revolutionary Kwanzaa | October | $5,000.00 |
| Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice | Evolutionary Blues… West Oakland’s Music Legacy Film Screening | October | $5,000.00 |
| Seventh Native American Generation | SNAG Magazine Release Event at Intertribal Friendship House | October | $3,500.00 |
| Studio Grand | Under Oakland Skies Public Concert Series | October | $8,500.00 |
| TIGRA: Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action | Sweet Taste of Freedom Youth Arts Workshops & Community Exhibition | October | $4,643.00 |