Making Grants

September 28, 2015 The UpTake, a Minnesota-based nonprofit and Voqal Fund grantee, has announced its Fall 2015 Conflict-Sensitive Video Journalism Fellowship. The fellowship enhances journalists’ ability to report political, social, economic and cultural conflict in their communities through video journalism. The first fellowship class is comprised of five journalists and photojournalists based in Minnesota. They

August 11, 2015 Momentum Alliance (MA), a nonprofit in Portland, OR, exists to inspire disadvantaged youth to realize their individual and collective power and works to mentor future social justice leaders. From undocumented immigrants to youth transitioning from foster care, MA works to develop leaders who have experienced various levels of abuse and know first-hand

July 23, 2015 Many immigrants come from non-democratic or pseudo-democratic countries, and they bring with them the assumptions about voting that they developed before emigrating. Well after they become naturalized American citizens, many continue to hold false assumptions about the voting process here in the United States. Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), a nonprofit based

July 22, 2015 Young Invincibles, a national nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in 2009 by Millennials who recognized that the debate over health care reform did not include the younger generation’s perspective. What started as a one-page website where young adults could share their stories now boasts national influence as it quickly expands

July 17, 2015 Storytelling is powerful. Political issues are often debated with cold, hard, facts and statistics, but politics is ultimately about people. Stories remind us of that. Storytelling highlights the human impact of seemingly objective, clear-cut issues and can soften the most rigid of stances. When people realize they can relate to someone else’s

June 29, 2015 The Colorado-based nonprofit, Rights for All People (RAP), envisions a world where everyone has access to quality education, affordable healthcare and just-wage employment. The organization believes the rights of all people must be respected, and it actively partners with allies in Colorado to fight against anti-immigrant legislation across the state. As the

June 16, 2015 47,000 Minnesotans are on probation or parole. None of them have the right to vote. TakeAction Minnesota is working to restore the vote to former criminals who served their sentences and are seeking to reintegrate into society as contributing citizens. On its website TakeAction outlines how it “seeks to elevate the voices

June 10, 2015 The Colorado Independent found the perfect motto: “Small Media, Big News.” This tiny team of recent newspaper refugees continues to break the big news stories impacting Colorado. Over the past two years the Independent’s veteran journalists have been learning to navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital-information media and realizing the power of

June 5, 2015 Driving Votes. Driving Leaders. Driving Change. That’s the rallying cry of the Bus Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit funded in part by Voqal Fund and based in Portland, Oregon. The Bus Project works to engage and equip millennial voters to become informed activists. The organization also actively partners with other like-minded nonprofits to

June 3, 2015 Media Mobilizing Project (MMP), a Philadelphia-based organization, produces media aimed at disrupting stereotypes and structures that cause and reinforce divisions between disparate communities. MMP exists to amplify the stories of people living in Philly neighborhoods where the results of political posturing can produce devastating outcomes. Voqal Fund offered financial support to help