Successful Implementation of a Small Grants Outreach Program
Published on March 29, 2011
In 2009, with generous support from the Ford Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and the Open Society Institute, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) started a small grants program for grassroots community organizations working to encourage participation in the 2010 Census. In developing this program, SCSJ recognized that many small community groups are not able to receive the attention and support of national funders, but that these groups needed funding to actively engage in census participation campaigns. Finally, recognizing the redistricting and voting rights implications of an accurate census count, SCSJ hoped that groups that had the funds to build an effective and long-term advocacy infrastructure might be more likely to engage in the redistricting process that follows a decennial census.
The purpose of this report is to document for funders, past and future, and for grassroots community organizations the benefits of this method of outreach funding.