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Guidelines

Building the Capacity of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Organizations
 
The NSHR Pooled Fund does not accept unsolicited proposals.
 Please read the grantmaking guidelines below carefully prior to contacting The Fund regarding potential funding.
 
2010 GRANTMAKING GUIDELINES
 

The NSHR Pooled Fund seeks to restore civil liberties and human rights lost in the name of the “war on terror” through grantmaking aimed at: building the national security and human rights field by supporting grassroots advocacy and increasing collaboration among affected constituencies and their allies; building collaborative communications capacity within the field; and responding to emerging opportunities and threats with rapid response grantmaking.  
 
Of particular concern to the National Security and Human Rights Campaign and the Pooled Fund is the dramatic increase in profiling, discrimination and hate crimes targeted at Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities and individuals following the 9/11 attacks. The funding described in this Request for Proposals will be directed toward organizations working in these affected communities and will aim to build their organizational capacity to act as community advocates for the restoration of civil liberties, human rights and the rule of law in the post-9/11 climate.   The Pooled Fund supports organizations that are working towards the restoration of human rights and civil liberties, and promote human rights principles and values across all programmatic areas.
 
The Pooled Fund will consider applicants for three categories of grants:
 
1) Organizational capacity building support. The Pooled Fund will provide a limited number of organizational capacity building support grants to help build an organization’s core skills and capabilities so that it can better achieve its mission and work on the Campaign’s substantive areas of focus (described above, in the first paragraph of this RFP). This support may help organizations increase their communications capacity, engage in strategic planning, undertake a range of technical development and training opportunities, or facilitate deeper collaboration and engagement with other organizations. Proposals for capacity building grants should describe how the strengthened capacity will help achieve goals of the Campaign.
 
Capacity building grants will be awarded to organizations that demonstrate a strong potential for long-term organizational capacity and growth. Indications of such potential may include having engaged in a strategic planning process and leadership development and planning, having long-term goals, having a stable membership base, and a track record of winning significant campaign goals and providing support to other organizations.
 
2) National security and human rights project support. The Pooled Fund will consider requests from individual organizations for specific projects that address the Campaign’s substantive areas of focus: torture, detention, and rendition; surveillance and dissent; profiling and discrimination; and government secrecy and accountability.
 
3) Collaboration support. The Pooled Fund is also interested in supporting collaborations of more than one organization for specific projects that address the Campaign’s substantive areas of focus. 
 
Some examples of the individual or collaborative projects the Pooled Fund would consider include, but are not limited to:
  • Developing legal, political and networking resources to help grassroots groups and communities respond effectively to targeting by law enforcement based on ethnicity and religion, hate speech, and other discriminatory actions; and
  • Efforts that work to tie together or integrate Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities and issues into larger policy discussions and build bridges to other communities in order to engage in collective advocacy.

Deadline:

Proposals received by August 2, 2010 will be considered at the fall meeting and applicants will receive decisions on their grants by mid-November 2010.
 
Applicants must contact the Program Officer to discuss proposals in advance of application. Please direct questions to Dimple Abichandani, Program Officer at: dabichandani@proteusfund.org.
 
Grants and Award Range:
The Pooled Fund grants are in the range of $25,000 to $75,000 per year. 
 
Eligibility:
The Pooled Fund only makes grants to organizations with §501(c)(3) tax status or to organizations that apply through a fiscal sponsor that has §501(c)(3) tax status.  
 
This RFP will support only organizations that serve the Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities in the United States. Organizations that serve these communities outside of the United States are eligible for funding through this program.