Amidst the collective chaos of 2020, HEAL piloted a Rapid Response Fund to support our members addressing urgent needs in their communities, such as securing PPE for farm workers, distributing fresh food, and providing community members with rent and utilities support. In that first year, we raised and distributed $40,000 across 10 member organizations. As climate, economic, and political crises intensified and continued to burden our communities, we did it again, devoting our 2021 end-of-year fundraising campaign to replenish the Fund. In six weeks, our community raised $52,000 in mutual aid, $30,000 in 2022, and $50,000 in 2023. All of this has gone directly to support member organizations working on the frontlines, enabling access to more of the resources needed to continue to meet the moment.
Support HEAL's Rapid Response Fund
$122K
Distributed to frontline organizations
15
Organizations Supported
3
Over 3 years
Mutual Aid to Meet the Moment
Our Rationale
Together We Thrive!
HEAL’s Rapid Response Fund aligns with one of our core functions: to organize resources for a BIPOC-led movement for change. At HEAL, we are growing pooled funding and infrastructure for collective, participatory resource-mobilization and have made a commitment to redistribute 15-20 percent of our annual budget. We do this in a number of ways, including the Rapid Response Fund. Through the Fund, we prioritize base-building efforts and less resourced organizations, and recipients can use the funding for any urgent need related to civil response to COVID-19, climate chaos, and/or political conditions.
Our Impact
From the beginning, the Rapid Response Fund has had a tremendous impact. From 2021-2023, we distributed $122,000 to 15 of our member organizations, and another $50,000 will be distributed in the spring of 2024. Dig into what the Fund has meant to our members and their communities in our Impact Reports.
The Ongoing Need
How You Can Contribute
Requests from member organizations exceed the funds we have raised. To support our members’ work on the frontlines, you can contribute to the Rapid Response Fund through a donation today. We are grateful to our past and future individual donors.
When we are all in for all of us, we can create a world in which every one of us can thrive.
When we are all in for all of us, we can create a world in which every one of us can thrive.