Should You Apply for a JLF Grant?

Basic Eligibility

JLF supports progressive Jewish movement-building work in the United States through grants administered by Proteus Fund, a U.S. public charity recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We do not currently have any funding available for organizations working exclusively or predominantly outside of the United States, unless the organization has substantial US-based movement-building activities. All grants will be provided as general support and may not be restricted for specific projects.

In order to be eligible for a grant from JLF, applicants must have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or be fiscally sponsored by an organization that has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. Because the purpose of JLF’s community grantmaking process is to move money directly to movement organizations, this program generally does not prioritize funding intermediary funders whose primary work is re-granting.

Our funding spectrum is broad and includes spiritual communities, individual artists with fiscal sponsorship, grassroots organizations, cultural communities for Jews with marginalized identities, and more. So please, if you think you may be a good fit, we encourage you to apply!

If you currently do not have 501c3 status but are interested in applying for a JLF grant— especially if you are an individual artist— please feel free to reach out early if you are in the process of finding a fiscal sponsor or for more information about what that means.

Applicants who are unsure if they fit the above criteria— especially working class/poor-led and projects led by and/or serving Jews of Color, Sephardim, and Mizrahim— are encouraged to connect directly with JLF staff to discuss further, rather than excluding themselves out of uncertainty.

JLF Eligibility Criteria and Grantmaking Priorities

JLF is dedicated to nourishing and sustaining the Jewish progressive movement for justice and liberation in the United States. That means that the organizations we fund must be part of that movement.

We evaluate whether an organization is part of the Jewish progressive movement via the following three baseline criteria:

  • Work that is progressive

  • Work primarily focused on cultivating Jewish involvement in movements for justice and liberation

  • Work that addresses systemic causes of oppression

JLF holds five grantmaking priorities that help us identify whether the organizations we fund advance systems-change work and align with our values. All applicants must meet at least three of these grantmaking priorities. Depending on the number of applications, only a fixed number of applicants with the highest scores in this category will advance through the Stage 1 of the JLF grantmaking process.

We evaluate whether an organization aligns with our values via the following grantmaking priorities:

  • Anti-Racist

  • Catalyzing

  • Rooted in, accountable to and/or serving Jews of Color, Sephardim, Mizrahim, and/or poor or working class Jews

  • Movement-building

  • Tricky-to-fund

Full definitions for any of the terms above can be found in our full Request for Proposals.