Trans Justice Funding Project Sign Up Information

Hello friends, family, and community,

At the heart of the grassroots trans justice groups we fund, there is always love. Love for our community is the ground in which our work is rooted.

As we've all been adjusting to a wildly different 2020 from what any of us imagined, here at TJFP we're lucky to have witnessed this love in action, in each application that was submitted this year, and in the rigor displayed by each of our fellows throughout this grantmaking process.

Love in action can appear in countless ways, but if we had to put a number on it, there's over 300 ways we can point to right now that awe and inspire us, between the groups that have received funding through our new ReUp process or that have applied for funding in 2020.

Love in action is rapidly moving support groups online, stocking food pantries and sending deliveries, and turning resource-sharing events into virtual hubs. It's continuing to advocate for the release of trans people in detention, sending letters to oppose anti-trans legislation, and collecting the stories of trans people grappling with the effects of this time. It's expanding our networks to grow the landscape of trans justice, cultivating coalitions to better share resources and strategies, and so much more than you and I can imagine! None of this would be possible without the fierce and thoughtful leaders guiding and growing their groups, stepping up to meet needs and reenvisioning care, when existing systems fall through, or in many cases don't even exist for our communities.

And one way we'd like to invite you into Love in Action is a personal invitation to help make sure these groups get what they need to sustain this radical, visionary, trans-led justice work.

Donate to help us meet our goal of moving $850,000 to trans justice groups turning love into action!

Changing our Grantmaking from Analog to Digital!

Every year around this time in May, TJFP staff and our phenomenal support team of facilitators and coordinators eagerly await the wheels of planes touching down and trains rolling into New York City, with great anticipation! Everything we've worked on leads up to this very full weekend when our esteemed Fellows join us to engage in hours of thorough conversation to thoughtfully select grantees and their award amounts. 

As you might imagine, the pivot from hosting in person meetings to a virtual format was not something we had anticipated doing this year, let alone with only six weeks to prepare and practice.  But we didn't let that hold us back either!  The staff, support team, and facilitators gathered for hours of virtual training, strategizing, and creative reimagining. And after a lot of consideration, we've turned our three day long meeting into a more spacious five day long virtual process. Even in the middle of a global crisis, our Fellows and support team have moved forward right along with us because we know we have to. If we know one thing right now, it's that we have to keep going so we can move money to our people immediately. 

The first gathering of our grantmaking panel happened last weekend, kicking off a process continuing through this week to move more than $850,000 to grassroots trans-led groups around the country. When we realized we would have to move our grantmaking panel to a virtual format, we thought long and hard about how to make sure the magic of community grantmaking could still persist even while we're not physically together. We know there is a power and beauty to being in a room full of other trans people, in person, to build community over the course of a weekend. 

Yet even without an in person meeting, that magic could absolutely be felt through the screen as our fellows blew us away with the warmth and thoughtfulness they brought to the first meeting. They brought stories about their ancestors, their families both blood and chosen. They brought the strength of those they've served in this work and grief for those we've lost. They brought a deep-rooted care and gratitude for each other, knowing that even states and time zones apart, their work grows together as part of this trans justice movement. They brought visions of what they want this process to look like: transparent, genuine, direct, respectful, full of humility and love. 

It starts with love, and with the help and resources of our community we can move it into action.

This year, we received over 300 applications from groups far and wide and this weekend, our community grantmaking panel of trans justice leaders will be making some tough decisions and will be moving money to grassroots trans-led groups around the country who live their lives for justice and liberation. 

But we need your help-we''re $25,550 dollars away from reaching our goal of $80,000. 

This Friday is the deadline to meet our goal of raising $80,000--help us get there! No amount donated is too small. Please join us this year in showing up for trans justice by resourcing our leaders and communities today!

We couldn''t do this work without you, so wherever you are, however much you give or support, thank you for being part of the magic and brilliance of our trans justice movements.

With love and care,
The TJFP team

Young, Gifted, and Black: We Fight Back!

Beloved Community, Family, and Friends, 

It would be impossible for us as grantmakers to ignore what's happening in the United States right now. There is no way to overstate how vital Black trans lives have been to the Trans Justice Funding Project, to the grassroots trans organizers we serve, to the trans justice movement as a whole. Unequivocally, absolutely, Black Lives Matter!

TJFP is a Black, Brown, and Indigenous-led organization that has continuously prioritized moving resources across the country to support Black trans groups and organizations, while centering their experiences and leadership. It is an honor and a moral duty to do so.

It's notable that over the past several days there have been endless conversations and messaging discrediting activists and protestors, which avoids addressing the real conversation at hand, state sanctioned anti-black violence carried out by police. This is a tactic to sway us away from focusing on accountability and it is unacceptable. The systems that are literally killing us must be dismantled. And they must be defunded.

At TJFP we believe there is no world in which trans liberation can occur without racial justice. There cannot be Pride for a few when there is violence, repression, and injustice for so many. Some of us owe our very existence to the visions, strategies, and radical courage of organizers of the past and today. 

We must honor this legacy and support Black trans leaders to lead, to organize, to envision, as they build a better tomorrow for us all. So many of the groups we fund are made up of trans people of color working within their local communities, providing direct services and resources to cover gaps or repair harms inflicted by state systems like the police. Trans justice looks like transformative justice, like gender justice, like prison abolition and anti-policing work, like disability justice, like economic justice, like solidarity with racial justice organizations, like Black trans leadership leading the way. 

We protect us. These systems were not designed with the intention of our freedom. And protection was never meant for us, not in a nation built on the oppression of Black people on stolen land. We see the need, year after year, read it in application after application, the impact of militarization, surveillance, and policing on Black bodies, on Black trans bodies, on trans bodies of color across the nation. Tony McDade. Nina Pop. Layleen Polanco Xtravaganza. And countless others, casualties of a system that values property and "business as usual" over justice, dignity, and human life.

To the Black leaders who are doing this work, thank you. Thank you for your time and your energy, your brilliance and your strength, your anger and your love. Thank you for being Black excellence in all the ways you may not even realize. Please survive this in any way you can.  To the rest of our TJFP family, we encourage you to find Black-led organizations in your area to consider funding them directly. Our interactive map and our lists of grantees can tell you more about trans-led organizations in your area to aid you in your research.

In love and solidarity, 

The staff at TJFP 

Dear friends, family, and community,

TJFP is holding you, our community, and family in our minds and hearts during this particularly challenging moment.  

These are indeed scary times, as the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a screeching halt.  The world looks very different today than it did even a week ago. 

For many of our grantees, applicants, and community, there has never been a busier time. 

Many of us are grappling with how to keep going and providing answers and solutions with urgency. Our communities--which often include those we consider family--are in great need of support, connection, healing, shelter, mutual aid and resources. The deep sense of worry is real. 

TJFP is also concerned about the well being and livelihood of individuals, organizations and those most marginalized and isolated.

There is so much we are all holding collectively and there is so much we do not yet know. 

But here's something we do know...

While the phrase "We're all in this together" has quickly become a popular hashtag and is a sentiment shared widely in the media, knowing the value of caring for our communities has been a commitment, a practice and a way of life for our communities for a long, long time.  "We're all in this together" is a politic many of us have been forced to commit to or have chosen to believe in before COVID-19.  Some of us are experts in surviving so much, that it's been passed on to us by our ancestors and remains alive in our very own DNA. 

Grassroots organizing, and the individuals that make them what they are, show up constantly to fill the gaps and failures our systems have left us with. Below, we've provided important links to efforts organized and supported by TJFP's 2019 grantees. As much as they need us to show up for them, we need them for our collective survival.  Grassroots movements are essential.  

TJFP will remain committed to showing up for our folks without burdening them.  

We will continue to move money directly to grassroots, trans-led groups across the US, with as few strings attached as possible, as we have always done.  

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we will be moving more money in 2020 to trans justice groups than originally planned, while also supplying our TJFP community-led grantmaking fellow alumni with an emergency fund. 

TJFP has also joined an emergency response effort with the Third Wave Fund, Borealis's Fund for Trans Generations, Funders for LGBT Issues's Grantmakers United for Trans Community, and Wellspring. More information about that fund will be released early next week. 

It is with great hope that you will be patient, kind, and generous with each other during these tender times. The load will be heavy and the loss will be significant and yet we will find a way. For those of you wondering how you can help, we ask you to please support grassroots efforts however possible.   

Friends, family, and beloved community, we have the skills, the spirit and experience to survive this. For those of you who can, please check in on your people.  Extending love, grace, appreciation and authentic support is what will get us through. 

With gratitude and great care,

Welcoming a new year and 2021 grant applications open!

Dear community, 
 
As we continue to move through and reflect on the turbulent moments of 2020 and welcome in a new year, we'd like to thank you for showing up in the many ways that you did for trans justice this year. Together we have reached another year and we are grateful to continue our stand for trans justice with you at the forefront. We want to send our gratitude to all our trans justice communities who show up for us everyday-you are visionary and beautiful and powerful in the work and support you give. At the same time, we'd like to honor and send love to all our transancestors that we've lost this year. Your life and memory shall fuel the trans justice work that continues today, and for decades to come.  
 
As our communities continue to face unprecedented challenges, we remain ready as trans justice funders to move money with as few restrictions as possible to communities who are fortifying our movements and taking care of our people. Applications are now open for 2021 TJFP grants! 

Please review the eligibility criteria and apply! Please share widely and get your application in!

As we move into our 9th year of grantmaking, we feel grateful for all of the support from our amazing community. Over the years we''ve received 1425 applications, given away 1166 grants through our community-led process, and distributed more than 4.5 million dollars to trans/GNC/NB leadership around the country.  In 2020, TJFP gave 1.6 million dollars to 261 trans-led grassroots groups across the country, and we plan to do it again in 2021. TJFP has been able to exist because of you and everyone one who pitched in whatever they could to support a new world and a new way for us all. For those of you who can, we ask you to please help us continue to make this work happen by donating.  
 
From $1 to $50,000, there truly is no donation too big or too small. Please join TJFP in continuing to invest in grassroots trans leadership!

We close this year with hopes and visions for a world filled with wellness in any and all forms. TJFP looks forward to being with you in the next year to make even more monumental strides towards justice and joy! 


With so much love and gratitude,

Gabriel Foster
 

TJFP is a community-led funding initiative founded in 2012 to support grassroots, trans justice groups run by and for trans people. We make grants annually by bringing together a panel of six trans justice activists from around the country to carefully review every application we receive.

Go to www.transjusticefundingproject.org/apply to apply online.

Is Your Group Eligible for a TJFP Grant? 

• Are you a grassroots, trans justice group run by and for trans people?
• Is your group's total budget less than $250,000?
• Are you located in the United States or any of the U.S. territories?
• Are you centering the leadership of trans people organizing around their experiences with racism, economic injustice, transmisogyny, ableism, immigration, incarceration, and other intersecting oppressions?
• Are you meeting the needs of different local communities and using organizing and/or providing services to help bring people together?
• Do you see your work as part of a bigger picture of trans-led work that seeks dignity and justice for all people?
• TJFP does not fund individuals.

You do not need to be a 501c3 non-profit or have a fiscal sponsor to apply!

Deadline

The deadline to apply is February 15th, 2021 by midnight Eastern Standard Time. Decisions will be made at the end of May 2021, so you can expect to hear back from us by early June 2021.

Translation & Accessibility

The application is currently available in English and Spanish. But please email us at admin@transjusticefundingproject.org by January 15th if you need a translated version in another language or an audio version of the application.

We aim to make this process as accessible as possible, so please let us know about any other needs you have and we will do our best to meet them.

A Few Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, as long as your own independent group's budget is less than $250,000.

No. We do not fund programs at larger organizations. We fund independent trans-led groups.

Yes! You might want to share how you used your grant this year in your application. But you don't have to-we do not require reporting.

?Las solicitudes ya est?n disponibles para las subvenciones del 2021 del Proyecto de Financiamiento de Justicia Trans (TJFP)!

El TJFP es una iniciativa comunitaria de financiamiento fundada en 2012 para apoyar grupos comunitarias de justicia trans dirigidos por y para personas trans. Hacemos becas anualmente por organizar un comit? de seis activistas de justicia trans de todo el pa?s para revisar cuidadosamente cada solicitud que recibimos.

Haga clic a www.transjusticefundingproject.org/solicitor para solicitar online.

Es elegible tu grupo para una beca TJFP?

• ?Es grupo comunitario de justicia trans dirigido por y para personas trans?
• ?Es menos de $250,000 el presupuesto total de tu grupo?
• ?Est? ubicado en los Estados Unidos o en U.S. territories?
• ?Centran ustedes el liderazgo de personas trans organizando alrededor de sus experiencias con racismo, injusticia econ?mica, trans-misoginia, capacitismo, inmigraci?n, encarcelamiento, y otras opresiones que se cruzan?
• ?Satisfacen las necesidades de comunidades locales diferentes y usan la organizaci?n y/o proveer servicios para ayudar a unirse personas?
• ?Consideran su trabajo como una parte de una panorama general de trabajo dirigido por las personas trans que busca dignidad y justicia para todas personas?

El PFJT no otorga subvenciones para individuos.

?No necesitas estatus sin ?nimo de lucro 501c3, ni necesitas patrocinio fiscal tampoco para solicitar!

Fecha l?mite

La fecha l?mite para solicitar es la 15 de febrero de 2021 por la medianoche EST. Decidiremos a temprano de Mayo 2021. Entonces, planea tener la respuesta de para junio 2021.

Traducci?n y accesibilidad

La solicitud est? disponible actualmente en ingl?s y espa?ol.

Por favor nos envia un e-mail a admin@transjusticefundingproject.org para la 15 de enero si necesites una versi?n traducida en otro idioma o una versi?n de audio.

Pretendemos hacer este proceso tan accesible como sea posible, entonces por favos haznos saber sobre cualquieras otras necesidades que tienes y haremos lo posible para satisfacerlas.

Unas preguntas frecuentes

S?, en tanto que el presupuesto de tu propio grupo independiente sea menos que $250,000.

?Puedes solicitar si tu organizaci?n tiene un programa de justicia trans con un presupuesto menos que $250,000, pero el presupuesto total de la organizaci?n es m?s que eso?

No. No financiamos programas a organizaciones m?s grandes. Financiamos grupos independientes dirigidos por personas trans.

?Puedes solicitar otra vez si recibiste una beca antes?

?Otras preguntas?

Simplemente envia un e-mail a admin@transjusticefundingproject.org sobre todas preguntas. ?Vamos a contestar a ti tan pronto como podemos!