Partnership Priorities
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color led organizations
- LGBTQ+ led organizations that engage in intersectional/race analysis
- Organizations with budgets under $5,000,000
- Organizations and projects with a lived commitment to racial justice
- Organizations with a lived commitment to environmental sustainability in policy and practice
- Organizations with a liberation and justice approach to serving historically exploited communities
These priorities do not guarantee funding to organizations led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, nor do they preclude white led organizations from receiving funding. All applications will be reviewed with an eye toward how they advance Maddox focus areas and reflect our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Liberation and an anti-racism approach.
While the Maddox Fund supports executive and board diversity, we are aware of the possible unintended consequence of performative inclusion and tokenization. The Maddox Fund seeks partners with a lived commitment to justice and liberation that goes beyond mere board and executive demographics.
Organizations not fitting into our priorities can still apply for funding if they have a lived commitment to racial justice demonstrated, in part, by having a board of directors of at least 30% Black, Indigenous, and People of Color or an actionable plan in place to diversify the board while creating a just and equitable culture where all people are celebrated and belong.
BIPOC led organizations will receive priority for multi-year grants.
Defining BIPOC Led
Maddox will prioritize organizations led by Black, Indigenous and People of Color in our grantmaking. For us, a BIPOC-led organization meets the following criteria:
- CEO or Executive Director is BIPOC
- At least 33% of the Board is BIPOC
- Organization primarily serves BIPOC communities
We recognize that an organization’s work and composition don’t always neatly fall into numbers like this and we view this demographic data contextually.
What does an actionable plan look like?
An actionable plan may include:
- Engaged executive leadership that has attended anti-racist training and has made a personal and professional commitment to leading beyond comfort into transformational change. Leadership should anticipate backlash.
- Analyzed how white supremacy is embodied in the institutions and the ways in which it is resistant to change.
- Identified board champions with board time devoted to learning and change.
- Identified budget investment to move the organization forward (The Maddox Fund used one consultant in year 4 of our journey).
- Developed a leadership pipeline plan to make diversity and equity progress in the next 2 to 3-years.
- Reduced pay gap within the organization.
- Committed to continued learning and vigilance to resist sliding back into old patterns and practices (white supremacy is cunning and relentless).
