*Thriving Resilient Communities Funding Circle sunset in August 2020. Our grantees continue to do amazing and critical work in the field.**
Our Mission
Think globally, act locally, collaborate regionally. The Thriving Resilient Communities funding circle (TRC) funds U.S.-based organizations strengthening local and regional resilience in climate, economy, justice, and collaborative networks. We address root causes by focussing on solutions based in natural systems and social justice. Complex issues like climate and justice need a "whole community" approach that can link across regions to create massive culture and behavior shift. Locally- linked work has crucial global impact because resilience from the grassroots up is moving faster than at the international scale.
Our collaborative funding process is a philanthropic innovation and a primary focus. Our decision-making TRC Council has a majority of community-based resilience leaders (including grantees) along with funder representatives. The Council shifts conventional philanthropic power structures to a deep democracy model where people who are affected by funding decisions make those decisions. How we decide together is as important as what we decide together. We work with our community partner Thriving Resilient Communities Collaboratory and other funders to continually improve the effectiveness of our work and to engage movement leaders in our collaborative funding model. We partner with funders within and beyond Threshold through events and webinars, nominations and proposal reviews, and aligned funding and endorsements.
Our Strategy and Focus
TRC funds collaborative tools and approaches that help communities to address their own strategic needs in the face of climate, economic, and social challenges. The focus is on whole systems approaches that address these interconnected needs together, rather than treating them as separate silos. We fund regional and national network hubs in the US and
organizations that support the work of those hubs. Projects based in a single community are typically not eligible unless they have a strong regional or national dimension.
2020 Grant Recipients
Grant Cycle Guidelines:
1
We prefer funding smaller organizations (generally budgets under $1.0M) where a Threshold grant can have a significant impact on our grantee partners' work. We will consider funding new projects.
2
The Thriving Resilient Communites Funding Circle will fund both 501(c)4 and 501(c)(3) organizations that work within the United States.
3
We fund regional and national network hubs in the US with systemic approaches that promote inclusive economic models and social justice.