New England Grassroots Environment Fund

The Grassroots Fund is uniquely set up to support innovation at the local-level along with our strategic partners. They directly support nimble and efficient volunteer efforts across New England. 60-65% of our applicant groups do not have formal tax-exempt status, nor have they gone through the intensive work to secure a fiscal sponsor. Where much of dominant philanthropy sees this as a deficit and chooses to exclude these types of groups from their programs, the Grassroots Fund sees this flexible group structure as a strength that allows organizers to flip & reverse quickly and adapt as they learn from their experiments.

These innovative ad hoc groups often find it nearly impossible to secure financial support outside of the Grassroots Fund's grant programs. With well over 300 applications annually - over 2,500 grantee groups since 1996 - the Fund is in a unique position to ensure examples from across the region are amplified and serve to inspire reflection and replication. While building a community of practice of grassroots leaders, our deep grassroots grantmaking and capacity building resources serve as an effective way to extend the reach of our funding partners, helping to diffuse dollars and resources to vetted, impactful local projects, not easily supported (or even discovered) through dominant funding structures.