To help strengthen the conditions necessary for Black, Indigenous, people of color and low-income communities to build power in place – and organize funders so they shift what and how they fund – The Kresge Foundation’s Health and Arts & Culture programs have together awarded a $2 million grant to the Amplify Fund.

Amplify Fund supports groups working at the intersection of racial justice, power building, and equitable development. As a funder collaborative designed for long-term impact, it distributes resources to organizations and organizes local, regional, and national funders for the work to be supported in the long-term.

Specifically, Amplify supports an ecosystem of 55 community-based organizations, four projects and 16 collaborations in eight locations: Missouri, Nevada, Eastern North Carolina, Western Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and California through its partnership with the Fund for an Inclusive CA.

Local grantees work on a variety of issues including housing, public revenue use, land and environmental justice, Just Recovery, civic engagement, redistricting, policing and incarceration, and corporate interest.

Kresge was one of the founding partners of the Amplify Fund in 2018, along with the Surdna Foundation, Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations.  Since then, Amplify has successfully engaged a wide range of both national, state and local funders, distributing more than $14 million in funding to date.

“Community power is the key driver of just and equitable development,” said Kresge Health Program Senior Fellow Chris Kabel. “What is unique about Amplify is that unlike other pooled funds, movement leaders and frontline advocates have driven local grantmaking strategies in their communities.”

“Amplify demonstrates trust-based philanthropy and exemplifies Kresge’s approach to support local community leaders as the experts who know what is best for their respective communities,” said Kresge Arts & Culture Program Managing Director Regina Smith. “Many organizations funded through Amplify also apply cultural organizing strategies to achieve their priorities utilizing the lens of equitable development to ensure that practices and policies being implemented benefit current residents while enhancing the quality of life for future residents.”

To learn more about the Amplify Fund, visit https://nfg.org/programs/amplify/.