Budding Fund

KEY INFO–

  • Grant Size: $5,000 – $25,000
  • Application Opens: August 14, 2026
  • Application Closes: September 18, 2026
Learn More

As a reminder, returning grantees proposing a new work, please read Our Grantmaking Work page for a refresher.

The Budding Fund supports growing groups and organizations that have previously received at least two grants from the DC Fund to support their systems change work. DC Fund’s goal is to continue to support the growth of groups building community power and launching community-led campaigns to address issues that are systematically harming our communities (Ex: Starting with Today, People for Fairness Coalition, Trabajadores Unidos, DC Girls Coalition, Black Lives Matter DC)

BUDDINGFUND'S PURPOSE

Continuity of support for groups already funded by DC Fund as they grow their work and campaigns to achieve and implement systemic change

Provides resources for groups to stabilize, scale up, and achieve sustainability

Continue building trust-based relationships between community and DC Fund

Build connections among DC Fund grantees to strengthen their efforts on common issues

Take the eligibility quiz to get the link to the application

FALL 2026 Key Dates

*9/18/2026 Application Closes 11:59 pm

Late October– Community-led Grantmaking Decision Process
Mid to Late November– Announcements & Disbursement Begins

Frequently Asked Questions

The Budding Fund is designed to continue supporting organizations previously funded by the Grantmaking Team as they grow their work. The Fund aims to support grantee partners’ plan to scale up their growth.

  • The most obvious difference is grant size. The Sprouting Fund offers up to $10,000 and The Budding Fund offers up to $25.000
  • Next is budget size: Budding Fund applicants’ budget has to be between $51,000 to $500,000 and Spround Fund applicants’ budget cannot exceed $50,999.
  • Also, while anyone new to DC Fund that meets the eligibility criteria of the Sprouting Fund can apply for a grant, only returning grantees that have been funded by DC Fund’s Grantmaking Team at least 2x can apply for a Budding Fund grant.
  • Lastly, the way the Grantmaking Team assesses applications are different. In Sprouting Fund applications, Grantmaking Team members will be looking at a group’s analysis of systemic issues, whether they have a clear community-led plan to create systemic change, and the groups ability to implement the plan.In Budding Fund applications, the Grantmaking Team is looking for a clear analysis, a community-led plan, AND the groups history implementing said plan and/or similar systems change work.

Our main focus is to support changemakers of color at the beginning of their systems change work journey because they are overlooked by traditional funding sources. We understand the systemic issues DC changemakers of color are organizing against are not issues that will be resolved in a short period of time and with lack of sufficient accessible and flexible funding. The changemakers we fund are in it for the long haul. We’d like to support their work and growth. Also, the groups and organizations in this program have been funded at least two times by the Grantmaking Team and we trust their decisions.