Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and Southern Poverty Law Center Are Accepting Applications for Vote Your Voice Field Strengthening Grants

ATLANTA – The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta (Foundation) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announce the opening of a new series of grants through the Vote Your Voice initiative. These grants, called Field Strengthening Grants, will support organizations based in communities of color that encourage people to exercise their right to vote, advocate for voting access and make their voices heard in our democracy.

The Foundation and the SPLC launched Vote Your Voice in 2020 as a $30 million initiative to help ensure full voter participation and fair representation for Black communities and other communities of color in five states within the Deep South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. The program was later expanded to a 10-year, $100 million initiative, which also includes support for civic engagement activities and organizational capacity building.

Since its inception, Vote Your Voice has awarded nearly $35 million in grants to organizations engaged in voter education, registration and mobilization as well as civic engagement efforts. Field Strengthening grants, designed in response to feedback from grassroots partners, will provide funding to nonprofits engaged with communities of color year-round that lead pro-voter activities like participation in voting, efforts to protect voting rights, community organizing, communication with elected officials and leadership preparation for roles in civic and public life.

“The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has a five-year, strategic focus on equity and shared prosperity that we call TogetherATL,” said Ayana Gabriel-Turner, vice president Community Impact, for the Foundation. “A key component of that is doing what we can to help shift power dynamics within communities of color so that residents have an equal voice in shaping policies that affect their lives. That is the power of a free and fair vote, and these Field Strengthening grants are one tool we can use to help communities secure that vote.”

For this round of grant funding, the Foundation and the SPLC are particularly interested in organizations that work with young voters of color (ages 18 – 35) and voters of color in non-metro areas.

“Ensuring that every voter, including those from historically marginalized communities, is able to exercise their right to vote is critical to democracy,” said Margaret Huang, SPLC president and CEO. “Unfortunately, across the Deep South and the nation, we are seeing a resurgence of voter intimidation and suppression tactics designed to prevent people of color from voting."

These grants will shore up support for organizations actively working in communities of color to push back on these tactics and build a multiracial, inclusive democracy.”

Grant amounts will be based on each applicant’s organizational capacity, demonstrated outcomes and proposed scope of work. Typical grant amounts will range between $50,000 to $500,000. Grants may be for one or several years.

The applicant cycle is open now through September 8, 2023. Additional important dates are as follows:

Online orientation: August 16, 2023, 12-1 pm ET

Proposals due: September 8, 2023, by 5 pm ET

Proposal review period: September 11 – October 15, 2023

Grant decisions announced: October 16, 2023

Organizations interested in applying for Field Strengthening grants through Vote Your Voice must complete an organizational profile and Vote Your Voice application. Both documents can be found on the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta website.

Applicants with questions should contact VoteYourVoice@cfgreateratlanta.org.