FUND STATUS: PAUSED
What We Fund
Overview
AMARA invests in Black-led and Black-centered organizations across Illinois working toward power, liberation and justice.
We support organizations deeply connected and accountable to Black communities and other communities of color shaped by anti-Blackness, systemic racism and long-term underinvestment. Our grantmaking focuses on community power, narrative change, leadership, rest and the infrastructure needed to help this work last.
Our approach begins with abundance. We recognize what Black communities already hold: leadership, wisdom, vision and organizing power. We move resources toward work that is already happening, already essential and long overdue for the full weight of support.
AMARA may be a strong fit for organizations whose work is rooted in achieving racial justice, building community power and maintaining accountability to the communities they serve.
Grantmaking Priorities
AMARA funds work that helps communities organize, tell their own stories, influence public decisions and sustain the people, organizations and relationships that make long-term change possible.
- Community organizing
- Advocacy
- Policy analysis
- Research
- Culture shifting
- Narrative change
- Coalitions and collaborations
- Leadership development
- Rest, reflection and organizational wellness
Questions? Reach out before you apply. We are glad to talk it through.
Our Grantmaking Ethos
AMARA’s approach begins with abundance, repair and relationship.
Funding is one part of how we support racial justice and systems change. We also build trust, listen closely, share influence and stay in relationship with the people and organizations building change over time.
Our grantmaking is shaped by the leadership and lived experience of communities closest to the work. We invest with care and support rest, narrative change and long-term commitment so the people and organizations carrying this work can endure.
AMARA moves resources toward organizations building community influence from the ground up. This includes grassroots organizing, advocacy, integrated voter engagement, policy change and strategic collaboration that help communities shape public choices and hold influence over time.
We support organizations whose leadership and decision-making are shaped by the people most impacted by the issues they address. Their work strengthens relationships, builds movements and helps communities move from being affected by decisions to shaping them.
Before You Apply
AMARA wants organizations to have a clear sense of fit before beginning an application.
In general, AMARA does not fund individuals, political campaigns, religious purposes, government entities or budget shortfalls. Direct service programs may not be a fit unless they are connected to organizing, advocacy, narrative change, leadership development or systems change.
Before applying, review AMARA’s funding priorities and current grant opportunities to confirm that your work aligns with what is being funded.
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Power Building
AMARA invests in community power-building because communities most impacted by racial inequity deserve more than a voice in decisions already made. They deserve the resources, relationships and support to organize their neighbors, shape public choices, change the conditions around them and sustain influence over time.
Through this priority, AMARA supports organizations rooted in community organizing, advocacy, civic participation and coalition-building. These organizations are deeply connected and accountable to the communities they serve. They bring people together, shift what feels possible, influence policy and build the collective capacity to hold power beyond a single campaign, grant period or moment of crisis.
Our Strategic Approach
AMARA moves resources toward organizations building community power from the ground up. This includes grassroots organizing, advocacy, integrated voter engagement, policy change and strategic collaboration.
We support organizations whose leadership and decision-making are shaped by the people most impacted by the issues they address. Their work strengthens relationships, builds movements and helps communities move with greater power and self-determination.
Narrative Justice
AMARA supports narrative change because communities deserve to be seen in the fullness of who they are.
This priority supports work that challenges harmful narratives and lifts up stories of abundance, collective influence, joy, imagination and self-determination. It includes storytelling and culture-shifting work shaped by communities most impacted by anti-Blackness, systemic racism and long-term underinvestment.
This funding area is currently under further research and development with AMARA’s team and grantee partners. Final information, guidelines and grant opportunities will be shared when available.
Grantmaking in Action: Examples of Work We Fund
AMARA provides general operating support to organizations that reflect the following criteria:
Grassroots Organizing
Organizations that bring people together to organize neighbors, develop shared strategies and change the conditions affecting their lives.
Advocacy and Policy Influence
Organizations working to shape public discourse, influence policy decisions and advance racial justice in ways that are accountable to the communities most affected by those decisions.
Integrated Voter Engagement
Organizations using voter engagement as part of a broader strategy for civic participation, community voice and multiracial democracy, so communities can shape choices beyond election cycles.
Strategic Collaboration
Organizations creating and strengthening partnerships, coalitions and networks that align grassroots efforts, build shared strategy and sustain influence across communities.
Pathways to Repair
AMARA supports leaders and organizations carrying racial justice work across Illinois. This includes resources for leadership development, rest, respite and organizational wellness.
Through the Leadership, Rest, and Respite Fund (LRRF), current grantee partners receive $25,000 beyond their existing AMARA grant award to invest in internal leadership development and wellness goals. The LRRF Fund is available by invitation to current grantee partners.
The fund reflects AMARA’s belief that rest is part of the work. Leaders and organizations deserve resources that honor their humanity, support their wellness and help them endure.
Other Supports Beyond Grantmaking
AMARA also connects grantee partners to learning, professional development and other opportunities that support their work. Past offerings have included partnerships with AMPT Chicago in 2023 for cohort-based professional development and The Management Center in 2023 for management training.
These offerings are shaped by what grantee partners name, need and imagine. They reflect AMARA’s commitment to seeing organizations holistically and investing in people beyond the labor required to carry systems change and racial justice work.
