Background 

Decolonizing Wealth Project is an Indigenous and Black-led racial justice organization that envisions a world where racial equity has become a societal norm – where new systems ensure everyone can live their best lives, thrive in their cultures, and heal from generations of colonial trauma. Our work aims to disrupt the existing systems of moving and controlling capital by offering truth, reconciliation, and healing from the ails of colonization through education, radical reparative giving, and narrative change.

Last year, through our fund, Liberated Capital, we announced the redistribution of $1.7M to our inaugural cohort of 23 #Case4Reparations grantee partners to support movement-building & advocacy efforts to advance reparations in the U.S. This first-of-its-kind funding initiative aims to fuel and amplify movement building & campaigns efforts to achieve reparations where wealth (money or land) can be redistributed by institutions and/or governments to Black & Native American communities in the U.S. 

#Case4Reparations is a multi-year, multi-million dollar initiative, and we are excited to announce an additional $2 million funding opportunity for both current #Case4Reparations grantee partners and new organizations, supporting systemic and policy change efforts in service of reparations.

What is the #Case4Reparations?

The United States was built on a history and practice of enslavement, genocide, and extraction of and from Indigenous peoples and African descendants – resulting in more than 400 years of policies and procedures that fueled economic extraction and systemic violence in Indigenous and Black communities.

In 2020, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) reintroduced legislation to fund the first commission to study and develop proposals for providing reparations to African Americans. The bill was reintroduced in 2021 (as it has been at every congressional session since 1989) and is gaining traction with national support from leaders. This year, the momentum has continued with the legislation nearing the required House votes to pass through to the Senate and pressure building for President Biden to sign an Executive Order. There are also a number of reparative efforts underway to address the historical and ongoing theft and control of land that has led to the extreme concentration of wealth among a small group of people that exists today.

Because of the effectiveness of social movements over the past few years – coupled with the successful philanthropic organizing of Decolonizing Wealth Project – we are seeing new opportunities to unearth, support, and scale efforts to actualize reparations for Black and Indigenous peoples.

To support this progress, Liberated Capital will provide untethered resources to support organizing and advocacy for community-driven reparations efforts that will help build the case for local, regional, and national policy opportunities that will inform ways wealth can be redistributed by institutions and/or governments.

This funding opportunity aims to source both the spaces and places where reparations campaigns are taking hold, provide vital funding to fuel their efforts, and utilize our platform as a reparations fund and field disruptor to document and share this reparations movement ecosystem with our network of philanthropic institutions and donors. The spirit of reparations is that those who hold the bulk of ill-gotten resources and influence (including philanthropy) must hold responsibility for repairing the harms done.

Eligibility 

• Priority is given to organizations and/or coalitions led by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).  
• We will also prioritize current grantee partners engaged in active reparations campaigns and policy work. 
• Grant dollars must be paid to a 501c3 nonprofit organization or a federally recognized tribe. We accept applications from fiscal sponsors. Individuals are not eligible.
• Applicants must be based in the United States.
• Coalitions and organizations working on advocacy campaigns to shift policies and systems that result in the payback of money or land from governments or institutions in the United States to Black and Indigenous peoples.  This does not include subsidies for direct services, such as affordable housing.  
• Funding must be used for a charitable purpose (no direct lobbying).
• Approximately 25-30 organizations will be selected for funding and grant awards will average $50,000. Proposals will be evaluated by an advisory committee of Black and Indigenous leaders.

How to Apply 

Applications for the 2022 #Case4Reparations Cohort are closed.  We encourage interested organizations to follow us on social media for future funding opportunities.

Advisory Committee

New Advisory Committee Members for 2022:  

• Dr. Amara Enyia – President of Global Black and the Manager of Policy & Research for the Movement for Black Lives
• Jessica Ann Mitchell – Founder of National Black Cultural Information Trust   

The Returning Advisory Committee Members

• Michelle Crentsil – Political Director, New York State Nurses Association
• Kassandra Frederique – Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance 
• Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota /Northern Cheyenne) – Director, LANDBACK Campaign at NDN Collective 
• Kwesi Chappin – Consultant, Chappin Consulting; #Case4Reparations Campaign Advisor 
• Will Cordery – Founder/principal, Freedom Futures
• Edgar Villanueva (Lumbee)- Founder/principal, Decolonizing Wealth Project / Liberated Capital

Second Cohort of #Case4Reparations Grantee Partners (2022 Funding Cycle)

• ACRE Action Center on Race & the Economy
• African American Community Service Agency
• Blackroots Alliance
• DC Justice Lab
• Equity And Transformation (EAT)
• Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance
• Justice for Greenwood
• Marijuana Justice
• N’COBRA
• New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
• Racial Justice Coalition of Asheville
• Restitution Study Group
• Tiwahe Foundation
• Where Is My Land
• Women Engaged
• Black Land and Liberation Initiative
• Conrad Worrill Community Reparations Commission
• Malcolm X Grassroots Movement-NY Chapter
• Reparation Education Project
• Reparations Finance Lab

First Cohort of #Case4Reparations Grantee Partners (2021 Funding Cycle)

ACRE Action Center on Race & the Economy – Chicago, IL

African American Community Service Agency – San Jose, CA

Alaska Community Action on Toxics – Anchorage, AK

Blackroots Alliance – Chicago, IL

DC Justice Lab – Washington, D.C.

Drinking Gourd – Adel, GA

Equity And Transformation (E.A.T.) – Chicago, IL

Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance – East Point, GA

GES Coalition – Denver, CO

Gullah Geechee Group, Inc. – Hallandale Beach, FL

Healing and Reconciliation Institute – Monterey, CA

Justice for Bruce’s Beach – Manhattan Beach, CA

Justice for Greenwood – Tulsa, OK

Kanenhi:io Ionkwaienthos – Nedrow, NY

Marijuana Justice –  Richmond, VA

N’COBRA – Washington, D.C.

New Jersey Institute for Social Justice –  Newark, NJ

Racial Justice Coalition of Asheville – Asheville, NC

RAW (Redistribute Agency & Wealth) Trust –  Baltimore, MD

Restitution Study Group – New York, NY

Taller Salud – Jersey City, NJ

Tiwahe Foundation –  Saint Paul, MN

Women Engaged – Atlanta, GA

READ THE PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING THE FIRST COHORT

What’s Next?

We keep raising money and awareness to support this multi-year campaign.

And the work doesn’t stop with our grants. We’re committed to identifying the best ways to elevate the work of our grantee partners, and other organizations, through field and capacity-building and digital tools that will bolster the collective reparations movement.