Tides Foundation is pleased to announce the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Frontline Justice Fund’s Fall 2022 round of grantmaking. This announcement includes background information regarding the Frontline Justice Fund and important details about the application process.

About the Frontline Justice Fund 

Launched in 2022, the Tides Foundation Frontline Justice Fund (FJF) provides grants to groups representing communities who are living with and fighting against toxic pollution, the fallout from climate disasters, and the looming threat of new and expanding oil pipelines, mines, deadly petrochemical plants, and other dangerous and destructive projects.

In concert with public mobilization, leveraging the power of the law with highly impacted community-based plaintiffs, is by far the most compelling pathway in advancing equitable environmental protections and safeguards.

By directing funding to under-resourced communities who are using legal advocacy to address environmental degradation and injustice, we can help to secure the rights of people and nature and create durable and impactful systemic change so that all can thrive.

About Tides

Tides is a philanthropic partner and nonprofit accelerator dedicated to building a world of shared prosperity and social justice. Our mission is to accelerate the pace of social change, working with innovative partners to solve society’s toughest problems. We work at the nexus of funders, change makers, and policy, bringing together a larger and diverse coalition of mission-aligned actors to amplify our power to scale positive impact.

Tides aims to strengthen the power of groups who face systemic barriers to resources and opportunities – especially BIPOC leaders, their organizations, and communities. We are committed to building capacity and growing resources for those who face barriers to power in order to influence a more equitable social change sector.

Funding Priorities

What we are looking for:

• Groups engaged in, or anticipate engaging in, protracted legal or regulatory actions to advance environmental and climate justice.
• Those who require rapid response or multi-year funding to cover non-legal costs with mounting and sustaining successful legal or regulatory advocacy campaigns. (i.e., organizing,communications, technical expertise, capacity building, etc.)
• Groups representing Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and/or low-income frontline communities most impacted by environmental harm, racism, and injustice.
• Communities where resources will have a direct impact on the frontlines. These are communities most impacted by environmental harms, with broader implications in the fight for environmental and climate justice.

Priority consideration will be given to: 

• Geographic considerations: FJF will invest in chronically underfunded regions, especially the Southeast, Gulf South/TX, and Appalachia/the Ohio River Valley. While groups across the country are encouraged to apply, at least 75% of funding in this round will be allocated to these regions.
• Issue focus: While FJF remains committed to funding across a broad range of environmental justice issues, for this round we are prioritizing support to groups that are engaged in (or anticipate engaging in) legal or regulatory actions designed to fight existing or proposed extractive industry infrastructure projects that threaten the health, safety, and well-being of frontline communities (e.g., pipelines, oil and gas, petrochemicals, mining).
• Grassroots and frontline organizations with climate/environmental program budgets under or close to $2 million.

What the Frontline Justice Fund does not fund: 

• Work or organizations outside of the United States
• Projects inconsistent with a legitimate charitable purpose and applicable law, including any political campaign intervention or impermissible private benefit
• Projects inconsistent with Tides vision, mission and approach, our organizational values, and WE LEAD’s funding priorities
• Groups that currently have an open grant with FJF, are not eligible to apply for thisround. We anticipate another RFP in early 2023.

What is the grant size and overall funding available? 

• The Frontline Justice Fund will grant a total of up to $4M.
• We anticipate grants will fall in the range of $25k-$150k.

At least 30% of the total number of grants will be two-year commitments, paid either in one installment or in two annual installments at the grantee’s discretion.

Application Process and Timeline

The deadline for proposals is November 1, 2022, at 5 pm (PT).  

To streamline our grantmaking processes and make them less burdensome for grant seekers, proposals will be submitted through the JustFund platform using their common proposal.

The Frontline Justice Fund Independent Advisory Committee, composed of movement leaders and funders, will review proposals, and make recommendations for funding using the Frontline Justice Fund’s funding priorities and values in alignment with Tides’ vision, mission, and approach. The advisory committee will review and weigh proposals to make final recommendations to Tides, which holds ultimate discretion over issuing grant awards. Funding decisions will be communicated to applicants by Wednesday, November 30, 2022.  

If you have any questions about the Frontline Justice Fund, the RFP, or need support with your submission, please contact us at [email protected]. And if you need assistance with uploading your proposal, please contact [email protected]

To learn more about the Frontline Justice Fund, visit our website.

Application

JustFund offers a common proposal model designed to save organizations time. For questions about how to submit your proposal, please refer to JustFund’s Help Center or contact [email protected].

JustFund's Common Proposal Narrative Questions (Required)

• Proposal Summary (max 140 characters): Think of this like a tweet. Please tell us about the mission of this proposal in a couple of sentences.
• Proposal Description (recommended 2500 - 3500 characters): Tell us about your proposal.
• Team Description (recommended 1250 - 2500 characters): Tell us about who comprises the team.
• Financial Need (recommended 1250 - 2500 characters): Please describe what you will use the funding for.