Our Approach
We see many of the issues our world is facing as global and deeply intersectional, with environmental and climate justice as a north star. Therefore, we apply an intentional internationalist lens to our grantmaking, and support grantees working towards collective liberation at local, national, and global levels.
We strive to align our approach with our values of centering frontline expertise, advancing equity, shifting power, and embodying transparency. We do this by remaining accountable to our Advisory Board and our grantees.
The Carmack Collective grantmaking program includes our Core Grants and our Flow Fund.
Core Grants
Our core grantmaking program consists of Exploratory Grants and Multi-Year Grants with an annual total of at least $500,000. These grants are made by The Carmack Collective team in consultation with our Advisory Board of movement leaders.
Exploratory Grants are a 1 year commitment of $10,000 each, given to first time grantees. They provide the opportunity to explore a mutual fit between The Carmack Collective and a new grantee over the 1 year period, and many Exploratory grantees advance to become Multi-Year grantees for one or more grant cycles.
Multi-Year Grants are a 3 year commitment that ranges from $10,000-$75,000/year. Long-term relationships are important to us, as we know that movement victories don’t happen overnight. As such, grantees may receive consecutive Multi-Year Grants.
With all of our Core Grants, we work to develop trust-based relationships with our grantees, engaging with them as true partners, and always centering their expertise and brilliance. For this reason we keep our application requirements to a minimum, do not require reporting, prioritize unrestricted grants, actively seek feedback from, and look to stand with our grantees in ways that go beyond the financial.
Flow Fund
Our Flow Fund is a decentralized project within The Carmack Collective. The Flow Fund grantmaking is directed by the Advisory Board, comprised of movement leaders. The Advisory Board works collectively, with autonomy over their consensus based process, to distribute at least $100,000 annually to grantees via one year operating and/or project grants.
The Flow Fund is an opportunity for The Carmack Collective to embrace our belief that those on the frontlines of movements have the most innovative and effective solutions, experiment with values aligned operating models, and explore new or emergent areas of funding.
All of our grants fall within our three tactical areas of funding, as we feel they will allow us to most effectively drive broad-reaching systemic change. Due to the intersectional nature of our grantees work, many span more than one of these areas.
Movement Building
Though often overlooked, it’s the strength of movements’ infrastructure, people, and connectivity that drive us towards a more just world. This foundation needs to be maintained and expanded through the natural seasonality of movements.
Our Grantees →
Culture Change
Culture is not an afterthought, but a critical part of who we are as people and communities – people have told stories since the dawn of time. Realizing that shifts in culture often precede shifts in policy and political reality, we drive change by backing grantees on the leading edge of cultural interventions designed to transform public conceptions and frameworks.
Our Grantees →
Philanthropic Agitation
A critical element present throughout our work and the work of our grantees is donor organizing and agitating within the philanthropic sector. We work to push philanthropy to embrace meaningful wealth and power redistribution.
Our Grantees →