Seed Your Vision with Our Fund

In order to continue to build the field of practice of community-driven planning and evolve tools, models, and approaches, we need more on-the-ground examples and stories from  across the country. We also recognize the immense personal energy it takes for individuals organizing and facilitating community-driven processes and the need for support for their sustainability in this work.

To help meet these needs, the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners (NACRP) is launching a Community-Driven Planning Fund  Spring 2024 which will support community-driven planning processes that are governed by community-driven planners and facilitators. Each quarter, NACRP members will be able to submit proposals for funding for up to $30,000 in order to resource communities and/or facilitators accountable to frontline communities to advance a community-driven planning process.

People’s Climate Innovation Center (CI) coordinates and administers the Fund and NACRP members, functioning as Fund Advisors,  govern the Fund grantee selection process.

Our vision is that the Fund will seed and raise visibility of emergent efforts, contribute to the dissemination of community-led “people plans,” facilitative leadership, and community power-building.

Eligibility

NACRP members (both organizational and individual members) are eligible to apply for the Fund.  There are two tracks of application which include:

Track 1: Individuals facilitating community-driven planning process seeking up to $5000 for professional development, personal growth or basic needs

Track 2: Organizations seeking up to $30,000 to advance a community-driven planning process

The fund will support:

• NACRP members playing a direct role in the community-driven planning processes
• Advancement of a community-driven planning process to the next phase, a milestone, or address a critical timely opportunity
• Investments in needed organizational capacity to access long-term infrastructure and funding
• Leadership support including personal wellness practices and professional development

Examples of what the fund will support:

Participation/Accessibility‍

• Childcare, food, transportation to conferences or meetings
• Community healing spaces (ie cultural grief work, healing gardens)
• Language Justice/Translation
• Outreach to and work with Indigenous Peoples, Tribal Communities, Native Nations

Leadership Support

• Training and professional development 
• Wellness practices (leadership retreats, reflection, writing)
• Coaching

Data and Technical Support

• Participatory Action Research
• Mapping
• Meeting Tech (AV, video, translation services)

Lesson/Story Capture‍

• Story-telling
• Resource sharing strategies

Financial Sustainability

• Support with budgeting, grant writing or financial/administrative infrastructure
• Financial planning to support the implementation of a community-driven planning process or solutions

Training and Facilitation

• Intergenerational organizing
• Brave or 'radical' spaces changing workspaces to be regenerative spaces
• Access to training to facilitate or organizing that isn't outcome dependent
• Conflict resolution / finding alignment through conflict

Goals

Our goals of the Fund include:

• Meeting the need for community-driven planning, in communities working to address the pandemic, economic crises, ecological crises, climate impacts, institutional racism, and other threats to community health and well-being.
• Building our collective capacity to replace top-down planning models that replicate the power dynamics that resulted in the problems our communities are facing.
• Cultivating local facilitation capacity to ensure rootedness and accountability to frontline communities, as opposed to bringing in outside facilitators or corporate firms.
• Sharing the stories of impact from communities reclaiming our power to advance our own solutions to current crises.
• Strengthening the community of practice among facilitators to grow and deepen our shared practice.

How to Apply

The NACRP Fund application will launch March 1, 2024 with review and decisions on a quarterly rolling basis. Approximately 2-5 proposals will be funded per quarter. Anyone interested in applying should schedule a meeting with NACRP staff. This is an invite only application process. To schedule a meeting please email nacrp@climateinnovation.net with your name and “NACRP Fund” in the subject line.

2024 Proposal Deadlines

Q1 Application Deadline: April 19, 2024‍

Q2 Application Deadline: July 12, 2024‍

Q3 Application Deadline: October 11, 2024