WHAT IS
MOVEMENT
BUILDING?
BWF supports community-led grassroots movements that build collective power to advance racial, economic, social, and gender justice.
Movement building starts with a shared vision focused on systems change where a collective addresses concerns and creates opportunities that no person, organization, or institution can alone.
NOW OPEN: 2025 MOVEMENT BUILDING GRANTS
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With the leadership of the Allocations Committee, Boston Women’s Fund will award three grassroots organizations in Greater Boston with a one-year, unrestricted $25,000 grant to support their immigrant justice work. Movement Building grants provide general operating support to grassroots organizations.
To remove the application burden from organization leaders, we rely on nominations from community members. However, Boston Women's Fund welcomes self-nominations from leaders or members of an organization interested in Movement Building grants.
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BWF welcomes organizations serving any and all immigrant communities in Greater Boston to nominate themselves for funding. However, given the current national attacks on the rights and belonging of Haitian and Hispanic communities in the United States and the impact on our local communities in Greater Boston, BWF strongly encourages organizations supporting Haitian and Hispanic communities in Greater Boston to submit a nomination form.
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Timeline
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February 28, 2025: Nominations close
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March - May 2025: Allocations Committee interviews and selects grant recipients
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June 2025: Grantee partners notified
Funding Priorities
This year, BWF and its Allocations Committee will prioritize organizations that are doing immigrant justice work.
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BWF looks to the expertise of organizations doing immigrant justice work in their communities and at larger-scales. Immigration Justice Campaign defines immigrant justice work as "protecting and advocating for the human rights and dignity of immigrants, migrants, and refugees and addressing the inequities of the immigration system."
BWF also believes immigrant justice work includes, but is not limited to
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ensuring human rights protections for families and community members
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building power among local immigrant and refugee communities
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working to dismantle systems of exploitation of refugee, migrant, and immigrant workers
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providing legal, social, and/or economic resources to immigrants and refugees
Eligibility
To be eligible for BWF’s 2025 Movement Building grants:
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Organizations must have a 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status or a fiscal agent with that status.
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Organizations must have a general operating budget less than or equal to $500,000.
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Organizations must be directed and run by and for women, girls, and/or gender-expansive communities.
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Organizations must be located in and serve the Greater Boston Area.
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Organization’s board of directors must be at least 60% women, girls, and/or gender-expansive.
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Organization’s leadership (board and staff) and decision-makers of the organization or project must be reflective of the groups (race, age, class, and/or sexual orientation) most affected by their work.
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Organizations must be doing immigrant justice work.
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BWF is prioritizing early-stage grassroots organizations for our 2025 Movement Building grants. We define an “early-stage” organization as one that is still in the process of establishing its core strategy and/or methods of sustainability. Some examples include:
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An organization with a founder who has identified a community need and has program ideas, but is just beginning to establish a funding stream.
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An organization that has been around for a few years, but is primarily volunteer-run and still building a staffing structure.
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Although we support organizations with an operating budget equal to or less than $500,000, “early-stage” does not refer to an organization's specific age or financial size.
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Accessibility
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Nomination forms are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Kreyol. BWF will also conduct multilingual social media outreach throughout the nomination process and work with multilingual Allocations Committee members and interpreters throughout the interview and selection process.
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Submit a Nomination
