Promising Revenue Generation Practices in Community Organizing

About this grant

For the most part, community organizing is supported by a combination of three types of funding: foundation and corporate grants, membership fees, and grassroots fundraising. Grants are the largest and fastest growing source of funding, but leave organizations open to changing portfolio assets and grantmaking priorities. Fundraising, on the other hand, involves taking time away from the organizing work and leadership development.This project will identify current funding patterns and sources and determine strategies for developing a more diversified revenue base for community organizing groups, including ways to increase revenues from the traditional and less traditional sources of funding. A research team will document present revenue patterns, evidence of changing patterns of reliance on foundations, and "best practices" and "best thinking" in the field on alternative revenue sources and strategies.The Center for Community Change works to help low-income people develop the power and capacity to improve their communities and change policies and institutions that affect their lives.