Fund for Change & Community Funding Board Relaunch
In the face of crisis, Liberty Hill is deepening our commitment to building the good through resourcing community power-building.
Grantmaking Guidelines
A Renewed Commitment to Community Leadership
For the past 50 years, Liberty Hill has fueled grassroots change by investing in movements that are often overlooked, trusting the expertise of frontline leaders to help guide funding decisions that create the biggest impact in LA.
Across Los Angeles County, many grassroots organizations drive critical work to dismantle systemic inequities—but remain underfunded or excluded from traditional philanthropy. Fund For Change is a participatory Grantmaking Program informed by a Community Funding Board, Liberty Hill is deepening investment in diverse and essential organizations, ensuring that community-led power building continues to grow across LA County.
Today, we celebrate this legacy of innovative, participatory grantmaking with the relaunch of the Fund for Change and Community Funding Board—lifting up Movement Builders and committing to the next 50 years of justice together!
Funding Grassroots Leaders
Through the relaunch of the Fund for Change, we are doubling down on this legacy and making renewed commitments to our strategy—funding and building capacity for organizations that are integral to power building in LA County.
Los Angeles County has a rich ecosystem of long-standing "anchor" organizations, as well as emerging and niche organizations. Liberty Hill believes emerging and niche orgs are uniquely positioned to lead transformative change. With deep roots in the movement ecosystem, Liberty Hill understands the importance of investing in these groups to bring innovative approaches, trusted relationships, and cultural insight that enable a diverse set of partners to engage their community members, strengthening the movement ecosystem in LA County. Investing in these organizations strengthens the broader movement for equity, as they harness community assets to drive systemic change and expand opportunities for BIPOC communities and expand our regional reach.
Community Investment in Action
Los Angeles Black Worker Center
In 2010, Liberty Hill provided the Black Worker Center with a “seed” grant of $20,000 and since then have provided more than $250,000 more and trainings in financial management, fund development, and research. The LA BWC is now on the verge of becoming fiscally independent from their sponsor with the goal of hosting a Southern California worker center hub and incubating black worker centers throughout the region.
Students Deserve
Liberty Hill first provided Students Deserve a rising activist grant of $20,000 in 2018, and each year since we have increased that investment along with providing digital organizing training through the pandemic. With over 30 Student Deserve chapters across the Los Angeles Unified School District—the second largest school district in the United States—Students Deserve has become a local force in youth organizing and has shaped policies for police-free schools, community schools, and investment in LA students.
Community Funding Board
As a foundational component of the Fund for Change grantmaking program, the Community Funding Board (CFB) model ensures fairness, reciprocity, and collective decision making throughout the process.
Community Funding Board members help guide grant-making decisions and provide important insights in identifying organizations that can make the greatest impact in their communities.
As Liberty Hill thought partners, Community Funding Board members bring their extensive expertise to the process—interviewing applicants, conducting site visits, and drawing from their own experiences and analysis in decisions making.
The Community Funding Board is more than a grantmaking process—it’s a cornerstone of Liberty Hill’s long-standing approach to strengthening Los Angeles’ movement infrastructure. By connecting community leaders and donors in shared decision-making, the CFB builds trust, transparency, and collective power across the ecosystem of local changemakers.
Through the CFB, donors and community members sit side by side to decide where resources can make the greatest impact. This participatory approach not only democratizes philanthropy—it deepens understanding between movements and the people who resource them, strengthening lasting relationships for justice in Los Angeles.
The Community Funding Board model continues to be a critical part of the connective tissue of the community organizing landscape in Los Angeles.
We know it works. Frontline community activists are leading the fight toward a just recovery and we are proud to remain fully committed to our mission of building people power and fighting for a future where Justice for All is realized.
Capacity Strengthening
Liberty Hill has provided customized, culturally responsive capacity strengthening programs for over a decade through our Wally Marks Leadership Institute. To complement our Fund for Chance grantmaking investments we will be building specialized and innovative capacity strengthening programs for Fund For Change (FFC) grant recipients.
The goal of the FFC capacity strengthening strategy is to create a responsive capacity strengthening support program to meet the direct needs of emerging organizations and their leaders that allows organizations to self-determine growth.
We are building a multi-year capacity strengthening support program that is informed by grantee partners and ultimately supports organizations sustainability to be able to engage in power-building work in the long-term.
