Making Grants

By: Kristen Meador August 25, 2014 Voqal Fund recently added two new staff members: Kathy Partridge as senior program officer and Leah Pryor-Lease as program officer. Serving for nearly a decade as executive director of Interfaith Funders, a network of faith-based and secular grant-makers working to strengthen democracy and justice, Kathy Partridge led an active

By Kristen Meador July 31, 2014 The latest lineup of Voqal Fund grantees are now available on the Voqal website! Voqal Fund grants that were primarily focused locally were added to an interactive map that provides information about each grant, as well as a link to the grantee’s website when available. Grants with a broader

July 9, 2014 New Organizing Institute hosts new media and digital strategy trainings that introduce core concepts of online and digital organizing from developing an email program and social networking, to developing a ladder of engagement and cross-departmental integration. Recently, with support from various organizations, including Voqal Fund, New Organizing Institute hosted a Harry Potter themed New

June 10, 2014 Chicago Votes is a civic organization created for and by leaders from the city’s Millennial and Hip Hop Generation. With “young people power” Chicago Votes Action Fund aims to change politics as usual. Recently, with support from various organizations, including Voqal Fund, Chicago Votes was able to support the passage of a

Voqal Fund, a Voqal initiative, is pleased to announce that it has awarded a total of $100,000 in grants to 12 Chicago digital media artists through the Chicago Digital Media Production Fund administered by Chicago Filmmakers. This Fund provides grants to Chicago-based digital media artists creating projects aimed at advancing progressive social change and intended

April 11, 2014   Each year at its spring Commencement exercises, Columbia College Chicago confers honorary degrees on individuals whose record of outstanding achievement in the arts, education, public service, or journalism and the media exemplifies the college’s mission and core values. Gordon Quinn, a documentary filmmaker and previous recipient of a Voqal Fund Grant, is

March 28, 2014 Launched about a year ago, Coworker.org has already supported more than 30 workers’ rights campaigns throughout the United States. The digital platform encourages everyday workers to start, run and win campaigns to change their workplace. With early support from various organizations, including Voqal Fund, Coworker.org has already seen some incredible efforts come

March 3, 2014 New Organizing Institute (NOI) is a community of organizers committed to solving the biggest challenges that stand in the way of change by training organizers to build and manage effective movements that integrate tried-and-true community organizing, cutting-edge digital strategy, and data-driven decision making. This February, with Voqal Fund’s help, NOI supported the

February 28, 2014 SumOfUs.org is a global, grassroots consumer movement for corporate accountability. With support from Voqal Fund, SumOfUs achieved serious progress toward many of its organizational goals and achieved campaign victories across a wide spectrum of corporate accountability issues, including anti-deforestation policies, factory conditions in Bangladesh and the ethical sale of Angora fur. Working

February 13, 2013 With Voqal Fund’s support, ColorOfChange tackled several key issues including corporate accountability, voting rights and criminal and economic justice. In the arena of corporate accountability efforts, ColorOfChange leveraged member voices and energy to hold corporations associated with ALEC accountable for its policies. Through these efforts ColorOfChange has continued to weaken ALEC’s network