Advancing Justice & Democracy

Our team has spent decades working as frontline organizers, social justice advocates, and philanthropic professionals. As a result, Proteus Fund combines deep knowledge of complex issues with philanthropy’s resources to effectively channel investments with impact.

Our Work - Proteus Fund

Donor Collaboratives

We believe Proteus Fund’s donor collaboratives—Piper Fund; Rights, Faith, and Democracy Collaborative; and RISE Together Fund—are best-in-class models for bridging responsive philanthropy and cutting-edge social justice movements for deeper impact.

Piper Fund Rights, Faith & Democracy Collaborative RISE Together Fund
Chanukkah Black Lives Matter Action in Brookline, MA (Photo by Jordyn Rozensky)

Fiscal Sponsorship

Our specialized approach to fiscal sponsorship centers partnership while providing excellent administrative, organizational, and governance infrastructure to social-change initiatives—enabling leaders to focus on growing their impact with the support of a trusted operational partner. Our fiscally sponsored projects are:

  • Supporting organizing and advocacy led by and for communities of color and LGBTQ communities;
  • Defending reproductive rights and preventing violence against women and children;
  • Advancing progressive electoral reforms and government accountability;
  • Building progressive narrative power and critical movement messaging; and
  • Engaging impacted communities in the grantmaking decision process and equipping donors with the tools necessary to center justice and equity in their grantmaking.
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People hold placards at a rally in front of the US Supreme Court to call on the Senate to pass the For the People Act (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP)

Evolving Philanthropy

We believe in our model of transformational philanthropy—and work to shape practice across the field of philanthropy in order to enable pivotal wins for justice and democracy. We do that by:

  • Sharing what we learn with funders, activists, nonprofit leaders, and social innovators so philanthropy will continue to evolve and improve;
  • Empowering grassroots-led decision making by putting our faith in those doing the work and removing stilted reporting structures that halt innovation;
  • Encouraging strategic risk taking – recognizing that if grantees are too afraid to fail, they will never truly succeed; and
  • Fostering collaboration among grantees by uniting their work for racial justice, gender justice, queer justice, disability justice, and inclusive democracy.
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Georgia Muslim Voter Project volunteers (Photo by Georgia Muslim Voter Project)

Donor-Advised Funds

Proteus Fund’s Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are dedicated grantmaking funds that act as a streamlined alternative to establishing a private foundation, allowing philanthropists aligned with our vision, mission and values to shape their grantmaking while benefiting from the institutional knowledge and capacity of a trusted partner.

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