Mission and History of the US Human Rights Fund:

The US Human Rights Fund was launched in July 2005 with the purpose of promoting and increasing support for U.S. human rights work. It uses a combination of grantmaking and educational programming to help address the needs of the US human rights field and broaden knowledge of and support for this work. The Fund believes that human rights provides U.S. activists a broader set of strategies to shape their social justice work. Through the application of human rights principles, advocates can work together to promote US government accountability to human rights at home and abroad.

More than anything else, the Fund is a field building initiative. Its grants are generally not issue focused, but prioritize core strategic functions – such as supporting links and collaborations between groups doing US human rights work and/or promoting the entry of groups interested in doing US human rights work into this field.

The Fund also offers a range of services and educational programs to donors interested in learning about and funding this area. Through these services and strategies, the Fund is able to extend the resources for US human rights work beyond the funding collaborative and better work towards its goal of building a sustainable domestic human rights movement.

How is the US Human Rights Fund structured?

The US Human Rights Fund is a collaborative donor initiative. Currently, nine national and regional foundations have contributed to the US Human Rights Fund, and with their support and participation the Fund is able to conduct grantmaking and educational programming within the US human rights field. Representatives from these foundations form the Fund’s Steering Committee. The Committee meets on a regular basis, in order to direct both the grantmaking strategy and programming work of the Fund, as well as to make grant making decisions during the LOI and proposal review processes.

Who sits on the US Human Rights Fund Steering Committee?

The following foundations have representatives on the US Human Rights Fund Steering Committee:

The Atlantic Philanthropies
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org

Butler Family Fund
http://www.butlerfamilyfund.or

Ford Foundation
http://www.fordfound.org

Four Freedoms Fund
http://www.publicinterestprojects.org/

Fund for Nonviolence
http://www.fundfornonviolence.org

The John Merck Fund
http://www.jmfund.org

The Libra Foundation
http://www.thelibrafoundation.org

Mertz Gilmore Foundation
http://www.mertzgilmore.org

Open Society Institute
http://www.opensocietyinstitute.org

Otto Bremer Foundation
http://www.ottobremer.org

The Overbrook Foundation
http://www.overbrook.org

Shaler Adams Foundation
http://www.shaleradams.org

Starry Night Fund of the Tides Foundation
http://www.tidesfoundation.org

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Where is the US Human Rights Fund based?

The Fund is housed at Public Interest Projects in New York City, which also houses five other collaborative funds. The US Human Rights Fund is staffed with a Program Manager, a Program Officer and a Program Assistant, all of whom are based at Public Interest Projects.

What is the size of US Human Rights Fund grants? Are they multi year grants?

In its previous dockets, the Fund’s grants ranged from $25,000 to $75,000 per year, with some limited multi year grants that extended over two or three years.

Does the US Human Rights Fund provide grants within particular issue areas?

The US Human Rights Fund does not focus on particular issue areas, and instead awards grants in four strategic sectors:

1. Human Rights Training and Education: Grants in this area seek to increase the quality and effectiveness of human rights work through the development of coordinated trainings on human rights mechanisms, standards, and organizing, and related organizational partnerships both across and within particular issue areas;
2. Networking and Collaboration: Grants in this area seek to encourage group collaboration and skill transfer in an effort to increase the cohesion of the U.S. human rights movement;
3. Coordinated communications and shared messaging work: Grants in this area support the use of communication tools and coordinated messaging to advance and increase awareness of human rights in the United States; and
4. Strategic Thinking and Advocacy: Grants in this area aim to increase the applied use of human rights principles and standards to assess and influence domestic law and policy in the United States.

Besides providing grants, how else does the Fund support US human rights activists?

In addition to providing grants, the Fund also holds a number of educational convenings throughout the year. In partnership with the International Human Rights Funders Group, the Fund has held several sessions on human rights in the United States, on topics ranging from the relationship between civil and human rights work, to linking human rights and international advocacy. In addition, the Fund has also hosted convenings for both activists and donors which typically focus on regional domestic human rights work. These regional convenings provide a forum for activists and funders to meet and exchange ideas about the US human rights field.