Follow-On Funding
Echoing Green provides follow-on funding to help further the growth and power of Fellow-led organizations working to address the many systems that cause or reinforce racial or other identity-based marginalization worldwide.
Sustaining & Growing Racial Equity Work
Follow-on Funding is designed to support Fellow-led organizations’ work that tackles systems of oppression based on racial, ethnic, cultural, caste, or other identity-based basis. Successful applicants will show how you prioritize serving people in your community who belong to one or more marginalized groups and how you seek to change the systems that perpetuate this marginalization.
While all global racial equity work is eligible for funding, we have some additional themed pools of funding to support the intersectionality of racial equity and the following themes:
- Health Equity and Health Justice in the United States
- Criminal Justice in the United States
- Black-led, US-based organizations focused on economic mobility
Funding Types
We are offering two grant types to support work at different levels. We look forward to distributing nearly $3M US in this cycle of Follow-on Funding. Please note that previous Follow-on Funding recipients are encouraged to apply, and you may only apply for the type of funding (i.e. catalytic/transformational) that you have not received in the past.
Catalytic Funding — $25,000
Funds to support testing new and unproven ideas, models, or methods via an initiative, project, or operational investment that will help organizations improve racial or other identity-based equity outcomes to scale their impact.
Past successful Catalytic Grant applications have focused on:
- Leveraging existing learnings to test new and unproven ideas or models that can help an organization reach new populations or operate more efficiently and effectively.
- Running an external evaluation.
- Conducting a feasibility study exploring expansion.
- Hiring a designer to update pitch materials or a website.
Successful applications will:
- Articulate a long-term vision to create a world free from systemic oppression.
- Present a logical short-term plan that moves your organization toward its long-term vision.
- Demonstrate how the proposed project tests new and unproven ideas distinct from your core operating model.
- Present a clear learning agenda for the proposed project and a clear definition of success that aligns with your growth plans.
Transformational Funding — $100,000
Funds designed to take racial or other identity-based equity organizations to the next level of scaled impact.
Echoing Green is providing larger capital amounts to Fellows seeking to expand existing program models to achieve equity outcomes at a greater scale.
Some examples of how successful applicants have sought to utilize transformational funding include:
- Expanding a successful model to different cities and growing a program to reach more community members.
- Identifying additional needs of the communities they serve or additional opportunities to strengthen the racial equity focus of their work.
- Identifying opportunities and strategic initiatives to expand impact to new levels of systemic change, which may require new talent to execute.
Successful applications will:
- Demonstrate traction and evidence that the solution is delivering the intended results.
- Articulate a long-term vision to create a world free from systemic oppression.
- Present a logical short term plan that moves your organization toward its long term vision.
Application Timeline
The application period for Follow-on Funding cycle seven is now closed.
February 12-23
Application Consideration Period
Echoing Green will accept applications through the Follow-on funding application portal.
February 23 - May 1
Applications Reviewed
Echoing Green’s team will review applications.
Late May
Recipients Notified
Fellows selected for grants will be notified and asked to provide a bank account and information to receive funds.
June
Grants Disbursed
Fellows awarded grants will receive funding.
Grant Disbursement Process & Eligibility
Who is eligible to receive Follow- on Funding from Echoing Green?
Catalytic and Transformational Funding are available for Fellows currently employed in (1) a leadership position at their Echoing Green-funded organization (no longer receiving Fellowship stipends from Echoing Green) or (2) a new social impact organization that they have founded. Please note that while previous Follow-on Funding recipients are encouraged to apply, you may only apply for the type of funding (i.e., catalytic or transformational) that you have not received in the past.
Are there funding priorities that you are considering?
Our Follow-on Funding priorities are informed by inequitable access to resources faced by leaders of color and communities of color. Our funding prioritization will go to leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color and organizations serving communities of color.
Who reviews the Follow-on Funding applications?
- All applications for Follow-on Funding are reviewed internally by a team of Echoing Green staff members. Applications for Transformational Funding are additionally reviewed by a group of Echoing Green alumni Fellows.
- Applications are reviewed against other applications requesting the same funding type. For example, applications requesting Catalytic Funding are reviewed with other applications requesting Catalytic Funding.
Who should I contact for questions about follow-on funding?
Fellows should email fellowsupport@echoinggreen.org with any questions about Echoing Green’s Follow-on Funding program.
Financial Considerations
Why do I need an organizational bank account or fiscal sponsor to apply for a grant?
For accounting and auditing purposes, Echoing Green requires that grants be disbursed to organizational bank accounts or fiscal sponsors, not personal bank accounts.
What do Fellows running for-profit organizations need to consider?
These payments will be structured as grants. For Fellows running for-profit organizations, please make sure to familiarize yourself with the tax implications associated with your organization receiving a charitable grant by checking with your lawyer or accountant.
What will Fellows using a fiscal sponsor need to provide to receive funds?
Echoing Green will request documentation of the relationship with the fiscal sponsor for accounting and auditing purposes. In addition to the fiscal sponsor’s bank account information, please be prepared to provide your organization’s agreement or MOU with your fiscal sponsor, as well as the W-9 tax form of your fiscal sponsor.
Grant Obligations
Will Fellows need to report on how they use their grants?
Grant recipients should expect to hear from our team about impact reporting following the grant disbursement period. This will help inform the Follow-on Funding work moving forward as well as provide content and stories for our continued thought leadership and fundraising efforts.
Funders of Follow-on Funding
Who are the funders of follow-on funding grants?
- Allstate
- Bank of America
- Barclays
- BlackRock
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
- Citi Foundation
- Comcast NBCUniversalCorporation
- General Atlantic
- Godley Family Foundation
- Jerome L. Greene Foundation
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- KKRLinde
- MacKenzie Scott
- MetLife
- Moody’s
- Reed Hastings
- Salesforce
- The Skoll Foundation
- Tiger Global Impact Ventures
- T. Rowe Price
- Walmart Foundation
- World Education Services
