Download HEAL’s 2024 Rapid Response Fund Report
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A fruitful and abundant garden depends on the many interconnected parts of its ecosystem – energy from the sun, water from the sky, nutrients from the earth, and even other plants’ components – to thrive. Launched amidst the chaos of 2020, HEAL’s Rapid Response Fund is one way we nourish our ecosystem. Since establishing the fund, we have distributed $172,000 to 31 of our member organizations to address urgent needs in their communities.
HEAL’s Rapid Response Fund is part of our commitment to organizing resources for a BIPOC-led movement for change. In 2020, HEAL co-wrote an Open Letter to Philanthropy, challenging the problematic trend of prioritizing funding for white-led organizations over BIPOC-led nonprofits. This led to the formation of LIFE (Liberating Investment for the Food and Farm Ecosystem), which moves more funding to BIPOC-led, values-aligned organizations. HEAL’s Rapid Response Fund is entirely dependent on individuals who donate during our End of Year giving campaign.
While we invite all HEAL member organizations – and their members – to apply to the Rapid Response Fund, we encourage organizations focused on basebuilding and/or from less resourced regions to apply, with priority given to those with a budget under $1 million. Recipients can use the funding for any urgent need related to civil response to COVID-19, climate chaos, and/or political conditions.
2024 Rapid Response Fund
For our 2024 Fund, we raised $50,000 from 80 generous individual donors! However, this year brought our highest demand: twenty organizations applied to the fund, collectively requesting $138,000. With only $50,000 available, we had to reduce grant amounts compared to previous years to distribute funds to 15 organizations. HEAL’s Steering Council representatives carefully reviewed each application and determined funding based on our established priority criteria.