General Rapid Response Funds
San Francisco Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building
The Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building provides quick-turnaround funds to frontline social justice organizations that are strengthening the voice and power of low-income residents and people of color. The fund offers grassroots organizations small, one-time grants within 30 days of receiving a funding request.
Due to the San Francisco Foundation’s fiscal year ending on June 30, 2024, and the need to set up for another year of grantmaking, the Rapid Response Fund will pause in reviewing applications between June 15, 2024, through August 15, 2024. Applications can still be submitted at this time although applicants will not be notified of decision until late August.
Go to ResourceUrgent Action Fund Rapid Response Fund
Urgent Action Fund’s Rapid Response Grants for Security and Opportunity support the resilience of women’s and trans* movements by providing flexible and responsive support to women’s and trans* human rights defenders who face immediate threats and by supporting advocacy when unanticipated opportunities emerge to set new legal or policy precedents.
Go to ResourceThe Emergent Fund
Emergent Fund is a rolling, monthly rapid response and emergent organizing grant for movement and frontline communities responding to urgent and specific unanticipated crises or opportunities to build power.
Grant deadline: Every 3rd Thursday Each Month at 5:00 P.M. PST / 8:00 P.M. EST.
Go to ResourceThe Pollination Project
The Daily Grant Program makes make micro-grants 365 days a year to grassroots global change agents who seek to spread compassion in their communities and in the world for the benefit of all. All qualified applicants in any funding area are considered within the guidelines of this program, click this link to learn more.
Go to ResourceThird Wave Fund Mobilize Power Fund
A rapid response fund for direct action, community mobilizing, and healing justice.
Please click the link for more information and stay tuned for updates on further upcoming deadlines.
Go to ResourceBay Area Racial Justice & Movement Building
The California Wellness Foundation: Advancing Wellness Grantmaking
Click the link to find out more information about the California Wellness Foundations area of support including community well-being, equity in access, economic security and dignity, and leading for power and change.
Go to ResourceWalter and Elise Haas Fund
The first step in applying for a grant from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund is to make sure your organization or project fits with the Fund’s priorities — both generally and in terms of the specific program area you’re applying to.
Go to ResourceOakland Black Business Fund
Oakland Black Business Fund – In response to heightened awareness of economic injustice and the devastating disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the Black community, Oakland Black Business Fund (OBFF) provides capital and technical assistance to empower Black entrepreneurs to catalyze the revitalization of the local economy.
Go to ResourceThe Worker Lab Innovation Fund
The Worker Lab Innovation Fund is closed for it’s 2024 cycle. Click the link below for more information on funding for the next cycle. Up to six fellows will be selected from the application pool to participate in a four-month program designed to provide training, mentorship, and customized support that brings their idea to life and sets them up for larger-scale investment. Fellows will receive a stipend of $5,000 per month and will participate in programming for 8-10 hours per month. At the end of the four-month fellowship, at least one and up to three final Innovation Fund winners will be selected to receive a larger investment of up to $200,000 in their idea, as well as another full year of mentorship and support.
Click this link for more information on how to apply.
San Francisco Foundation
Rapid Fund for Movement Building Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are one-time grants of $3,000–$15,000 for discrete projects.
Sign up here for more updates.
Go to ResourceAwards & Fellowships
Artist Opportunities with upcoming deadlines
Each month, Creative Capital compiles a list of residencies, grants, and open calls for artists working in all disciplines.
Click here for the complete list of opportunities.
Go to ResourceCultural Funding
FILM: California Documentary Project Research and Development and Production Grants
California Documentary Project Research and Development Grants and Production Grants The next application deadline is November 4, 2024 (grant period April 1, 2025-March 31, 2028).
The California Documentary Project (CDP) is a competitive grant program that supports the research and development and production stages of film, audio, and digital media projects that seek to document California in all its complexity. Projects should use the humanities to provide context, depth and perspective and reach and engage broad audiences through multiple means, including but not limited to radio and television broadcasts, podcasts, online distribution and interactive media, community screenings and discussions, in classrooms and libraries, at cultural centers, film festivals, and beyond. Funding is available in three categories:
- Research and Development Grants up to $15,000
- Production Grants up to $50,000
- CDP NextGen Grants up to $15,000
American Documentary
American Documentary has compiled a robust list of opportunities for filmmakers. Click the link to find out more information about upcoming opportunities.
Go to ResourceCenter for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant
The Quick Grant program awards reimbursement funds up to $600 to California artists, creatives, cultural practitioners, and cultural producers, and San Francisco/San Jose nonprofit arts administrators to participate in professional development activities that build administrative capacity, hone business skills, and strengthen the financial sustainability of the grantee’s practice, area of cultural production, or arts organization.
Upcoming Application Deadline: August 15, 2024, at 12 p.m. (Noon) PT — activities must start on September 16, 2024, or after.
Applications are due on the 15th of the month at 12 p.m. (Noon) PT with a one-month turnaround.
Go to ResourceITVS: Open Call Fund for Documentary Films
Open Call gives independent producers up to $350,000 to complete production for a standalone broadcast length documentary to air on public television. The documentary can be on any subject, viewpoint or style as long as it is in active production already, as evidenced via a ten to fifteen minute work in progress sample.
Click the link for more information and to find out when the next submissions are due.
Go to ResourceZellerbach Family Foundation | Community Arts
This year, through a quarterly open application process, Community Arts will award approximately $1 million in grants to individual artists and nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the Bay Area. Grants will be awarded in $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 amounts.
Submission and notification dates for 2024 are as follows;
- July 22, 2024 – for notification on October 4, 2024
- October 14, 2024 – for notification on January 6, 2025
- January 14, 2025 – for notification on April 4, 2025
For more information click the link.
Go to ResourceNCG Arts Loan Fund
The Arts Loan Fund (ALF), managed by Northern California Grantmakers, has loaned over $23 million in the past thirty years as a way to boost the sustainability and growth of non-profit art and cultural organizations.
While businesses and larger non-profits are able to rely on commercial banking for cash-flow needs, small to mid-sized arts organizations have a harder time accessing capital. The Arts Loan Fund was created by funders to meet this need and alleviate short term cash-flow crunches.
Loan applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. To learn more about the criteria to apply, visit the eligibility page. Have questions about where to start? Contact Margaret Southerland at margaret at padmaconsulting.com or 415-567-5494.
Go to ResourceFunding Research and Tools
Foundation Research
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 make grants 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.
GuideStar is a database comprised of more than 2.6 million current and historic tax-exempt organizations’ profiles as well as data directly from IRS sources including 990 forms.
Fiscal Sponsorship
Many foundations require applicants to have a fiscal sponsor if they do not have 501(c)3 status. The below organizations provide fiscal sponsorship and various levels of support and service to organizations and individuals seeking grants.
SocialGood has a broad social mission: to promote and cultivate positive influences for individuals, communities, and the environment. What does this mean for you? It means that, no matter the purpose of your project (social change, public art, environmental justice, etc.), as long as it brings a benefit to others and is non-commercial (i.e., exclusively for-profit), we can sponsor you. Moreover, we will sponsor you quickly.
Intersection for the Arts- Fiscal Sponsorship
Membership at Intersection includes fiscal sponsorship, discounts on workshops, arts coaching, coworking space, and staff support. Plus, you join a dynamic community of people making art happen in the Bay Area.
Go to ResourceNEO Philanthropy Fiscal Sponsorship
As a fiscal sponsor, NEO acts as an umbrella organization for an individual or project’s charitable work, and accepts and administers funds on its behalf. Fiscal sponsorship at NEO gives groups a non-profit “home” and allows them to focus on their programmatic work while NEO manages the financial, HR and legal elements, giving the projects the room they need to make a significant impact on the world.
Go to Resource
Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity
Evidence for Action prioritizes research to evaluate specific interventions (e.g., policies, programs, practices) that have the potential to counteract the harms of structural and systemic racism and improve health, well-being, and equity outcomes.
This funding is geared toward studies about “upstream” causes of health inequities, such as the systems, structures, laws, policies, norms, and practices that determine the distribution of resources and opportunities, which in turn influence individuals’ options and behaviors. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, for more information click the link.
Go to ResourceCovid-19 related resources
City of Oakland COVID-19 testing
City of Oakland – The City of Oakland is partnering with Brown and Toland Physicians Group, CORE, Verily, and Roots Community Health Center to provide free COVID-19 testing to people who live or work in Alameda County regardless of insurance or immigration status.
Go to ResourceRoots Clinic COVID-19 testing
Alameda County residents who don’t have insurance can contact the testing sites below:
Free COVID-19 Testing for the Whole Community
Click here for more information on testing in Oakland (Thurs and Fri 1-4pm)
Go to ResourceCOVID-19 Drive Thru Testing at Allen Temple
Tues, Weds + Thurs 10am-4pm
Pre-registration recommended, testing is free. Click this link for more information and to pre register.
Go to ResourceCounty of Alameda COVID-19 Food Distribution, Testing, & Services Map
This map assists people in locating food distribution sites, COVID-19 testing sites, and other services during the COVID-19 shelter in place order
Go to Resource