The Changemaker Fund

The Changemaker Fund offers one-year unrestricted awards of twenty-five thousand dollars to BIPOC-led community-based organizations throughout the Capital Region.

The guiding principle behind the Fund is our belief that those most impacted by a problem are in the best position to determine the solutions. Changemakers are organizations whose work addresses wide-ranging systemic inequities, including mental health, women and LGBTQ rights, food security and sovereignty, housing, youth and child success, and economic wellbeing. 

We believe that supporting and strengthening BIPOC leadership is one of the most effective means to create needed social change. We prioritize organizations that are led by and center on the leadership and agency of Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color that approach their work using anti-oppression values: consciously striving to dismantle systems of oppression and the legacies of white supremacy culture in this country while moving toward a more just and equitable society. 

Leadership Cohort

We believe in mutual learning. In addition to an unrestricted financial award, Changemakers are invited to participate in a co-designed facilitated leadership cohort. This includes one-on-one leadership coaching and interactive group coaching, designed to empower, and connect leadership within and across organizations and within communities. 

Collaboration

The Changemaker Fund is an example of collaborative pooled funding designed to increase the impact and scale of giving. By promoting collaboration across the philanthropic sector, Healthy Alliance and United Way are working to address resource gaps and reduce the burden of multiple applications and reporting requirements for awardees, making it possible to target systemic problems more meaningfully.