OVERVIEW: The Proteus Fund is an influential progressive intermediary organization that makes grants in the areas of civic engagement and democracy, LGBTQ causes, social and reproductive justice, racial equity, civil liberties, human rights and movement building.
IP TAKE: The Proteus Fund was among wave of progressive intermediaries that emerged during the 1990s, alongside larger organizations such as Tides and NEO Philanthropy. Over time, and particularly since U.S. politics shifted in 2016, Proteus has embraced a range of new interests and strategies. In a 2019 Inside Philanthropy interview, Proteus CEO Paul Di Donato said that “we’re trying to broaden our work to cover as many social justice areas as possible without getting so big that we lose our high-touch approach.” Across its programs, Proteus emphasizes collaboration, intersectionality and movement-centered philanthropy.
Today, Proteus operates donor collaboratives, fiscally sponsors projects, hosts donor-advised funds and supports philanthropy more broadly. Its interests span inclusive democracy, racial, gender, queer and disability justice, civic engagement, protest rights, judicial integrity, reproductive justice, faith-based organizing and power building in Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities.
Proteus generally does not accept unsolicited funding requests. One current exception is the RISE Together Fund’s 2026 Small Grants open call for eligible U.S. public charities and fiscally sponsored projects serving BAMEMSA communities. Other programs may announce limited application windows. For most grantseekers, the strongest path is a warm introduction through an existing grantee, coalition, donor partner or issue network. Proteus tends to support grassroots and movement-led organizations pursuing advocacy, organizing, legal and policy change, narrative strategy, base building and movement infrastructure. State and local groups embedded in broader coalitions appear especially aligned.
Purely direct-service organizations without a systems-change strategy are weaker prospects. The Grantee Safety and Security Fund supports organizations facing threats, but only current Proteus grantees are eligible.
PROFILE: Based in New York City and in Massachusetts, the Proteus Fund was established by philanthropy veteran and former Proteus President, Meg Gage, in 1994 and is on a mission to connect “philanthropy to the frontlines of social justice to advance racial, gender, queer, and disability justice, and an inclusive, fully representative democracy.” Gage headed the organization for twenty years until 2016, when current CEO Paul Di Donato stepped in. IP founder David Callahan characterized Gage as a “pioneer” who “changed philanthropy—and the world.” In particular, Callahan noted the role Proteus played in showing the potentials of intermediary organizations in philanthropy and igniting donor interest in causes that weren’t getting enough attention, like civil liberties, marriage equality, and supporting grassroots activism.
Today, Proteus describes its work as an “ecosystem of donor collaboratives, fiscally sponsored projects, and donor advised funds” working together “to fight for the same ultimate goal: a more just and equitable world.”
The fund’s current areas of grantmaking include democracy, human rights, LBGTQI justice, racial justice and gender justice. Proteus runs four main cooperative funds.
- The fund also supports its current grantees through a Safety and Security Fund, which open only to existing grantees.
- Supports smaller organizations working in its areas of interest through its Fiscal Sponsorship and Evolving Philanthropy programs.
- While this is not a grantmaking pathway, this opportunity fiscally sponsors aligned social-justice initiatives and provides operational infrastructure; it supports projects doing organizing, policy advocacy, issue campaigns, litigation, narrative/communications work and philanthropy practice change.
- Finally, Proteus manages donor-advised funds that help “philanthropists aligned with our vision, mission and values to shape their grantmaking while benefiting from the institutional knowledge and capacity of a trusted partner.”
- Organizations that Proteus supports as a fiscal sponsor include the Contigo Fund and other fiscally sponsored projects.
Grants for Democracy
The Proteus Fund supports civic engagement and democracy through the Piper Fund, which brings like-minded individual donors and foundations together to defend democratic practices. The Piper Fund invests in democracy work focused on money in politics reform, judicial integrity and protest rights; Proteus says Piper supports grassroots organizations, community-led coalitions, field coordination, funder education, communications/narrative power, and grantee safety/security.
The Piper Fund has an open 2026 Small Grants Fund:
- U.S. public charities or fiscally sponsored projects supporting BAMEMSA communities;
- Max request $25,000; historical average $20,000; open May 11–June 15, 2026; approx. $700,000 available.
The Piper Fund runs the following sub-initiatives:
Seeks to “reduce the influence of money in politics” through the support of civic engagement, civic engagement and the participation of underrepresented groups in politics and elections.
In a recent year, this sub-program supported the Common Cause Education Fund of New Mexico, which conducts research, policy development and public education programs in support of government and media accountability, voter rights and election integrity.
Another grantee, California’s ACCE Institute, used funding to run public education programs that address the ways in which money in politics detracts from community priorities.
- The Advancing Judicial Integrity
Aims to defend the judicial branch against “unprecedented attacks by special and political interests.” New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice received funding to support its litigation and policy development work in judicial independence, and Wisconsin Voices received funding for a public education program on judicial recusal. Other grantees to receive support for their work in the field of judicial independence include Iowa’s Justice Not Politics, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the re:power fund, which used funding to bring together leaders from six states to develop strategic plans for strengthening judicial integrity.
Protecting the Right to Protest
Established in response to the more than 100 bills recently introduced at the state and federal levels aiming to increase fines and criminal penalties for certain types of protests. The fund runs a program that makes rapid response grants to community-led organizations protecting the right to protest peacefully in the U.S.
One recent grant went to the Kentucky Conservation Committee, which used funding to organize a challenge to a bill that would criminalize protests around pipelines. In Wisconsin, the Native American group Menikanaehkem received funding to support lobbying and public education efforts to protect freedoms of assembly.
And in Alabama, the People’s Action Institute received funding to protect freedoms of assembly at colleges and universities. Other grantees include the Michigan Student Power Alliance, D. C.’s Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and the Progressive Voices Institute, a national organization involved in community radio programming.
Grants for Racial Justice and Equity
The RISE Together Fund supports Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian — BAMEMSA — communities, with civil rights, inclusion, civic engagement, narrative power, safety/security, field coordination, women’s leadership and movement infrastructure. The program’s stated mission is to work “alongside impacted communities to advance their civil rights, fight for full inclusion, and promote their contributions to democracy, culture, and society.”
- Grantmaking for this Fund has increased over the past several years and topped $2 million in a recent year, with many grants supporting voter registration drives, violence prevention, digital security, immigrants’ rights and rapid response for organizations and communities affected by COVID-19.
- Among the program’s many grantees, California’s Muslim Student Association West received a grant for its advocacy and engagement training programs for college students, and the Arab-American Institute Foundation, a national organization, received funding for the development of information campaigns aimed at educating public officials on “discriminatory and biased policies.”
- Proteus recently mobilized RTF grants to protect campus speech and combat anti-Arab and anti-Muslim government suppression, for instance, funding a successful legal defense of student protestors advocating for Palestinian lives at UNC Chapel Hill, resulting in a federal court blocking sweeping campus trespass bans.
- Other grantees of this fund include Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Greater Birmingham Ministries, the Georgia Muslim Voter Project and South Asian Americans Leading Together.
The Solidarity Collaborative supports authentic, action-oriented solidarity among Black, Latinx, Native, Indigenous, AAPI, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, Jewish and South Asian communities; combines grantmaking, programmatic support and philanthropy mobilization for racial justice and inclusive democracy.
- No open application found.
- Proteus Fund has launched the Solidarity Collaborative as not only a logical but a critical next step in advancing intersectional racial justice movements.
Grants for LGBTQ+
Proteus’s grantmaking for LGBTQ causes stems from its Rights, Faith and Democracy Collaborative, which was established in 2017, supports both LGBTQ causes and reproductive rights by supporting “coalitions to maximize collective impact” and resisting “discrimination under the false guise of religious liberty.”
- Supports state-based activists and organizations at the intersections of faith, queer, gender and racial justice; targets religious-freedom claims used to undercut civil rights, reproductive justice and LGBTQ equality.
- One of its earlier initiatives, now retired, was the Civil Marriage Collaborative, which “worked diligently to support public education, organizing, advocacy, and activism efforts to change hearts and minds on marriage equality,” leading up to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
- No open application found. Access appears relationship- or program-staff-driven.
- One recent grantee, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, brings LGBTQ, economic justice and civic engagement organizations together to “shift Georgia’s culture to one that recognizes the harms of religious exemptions and rejects them in favor of comprehensive and inclusive policies.”
- Another grantee, Minnesota’s Gender Justice, supports collaborations that strengthen the rights of women, LGBTQ people and religious minorities.
- Other grantees include the One Colorado Education Fund, New Mexico’s Center for Civic Policy and OutFront Minnesota Community Services, Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Transgender Law Center, SisterSong, and the Muslim Justice League.
Grants for Women and Girls
Grants for women and girls stem mainly from Proteus’s Rights, Faith and Democracy Collaborative, which names reproductive health and freedom as main areas of grantmaking focus. Established in 2017, this grantmaking program has so far prioritized cross-sector collaborations that support reproductive justice in the states of Georgia, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico.
- The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice received funding for its Entiende Coalition, which supports access to reproductive healthcare and counseling for all people, “regardless of who they are or who they love.”
- Another grantee, Georgia’s Alternate Roots, used funding to run its Women Engaged program, a collaboration of women’s, LGBTQ, economic justice and civic engagement groups that promotes comprehensive and inclusive reproductive health policies.
- Women’s organizations in the U.S. have also received funding from some of Proteus’s donor- and family-advised funds. These include HEART Women and Girls, the Southern Birth Justice Network and Louisiana’s Women with a Vision.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
The Proteus Fund does not name human rights as an area of grantmaking focus, and its three main funds work predominantly in the U.S.
- Proteus has, however, made grants to organizations involved in global human rights via its many donor- and family-advised funds.
- Grants have recently gone to organizations including the Alliance for Global Justice, the NDN Collective, Grassroots International and the International Domestic Workers Federations.
Important Grant Details:
The Proteus Fund’s grants can range from $5,000 to $2 million, though most fall in the $10,000 to $150,000 range. The most recent 990s from 2024 reports $43.2 million revenue, $50.9 million expenses and $67.1 million total assets.
- Recent grantmaking has mainly gone to grassroots organizations in the U.S. working in various areas of social justice and democracy, and strong priority is given to collaborative and collective movements toward social change.
- The Proteus Fund runs an open application process for its Rise Together Fund’s rapid response grants and provides application materials and guidelines on the subprogram’s webpage.
- The RISE Together Fund explicitly prioritizes responding to “cold calls or emails requesting funding” to ensure emergent groups are not left in the dark.
- Its other collaborative funds do not accept unsolicited proposals, but each of its program pages accepts contact from grantseekers.
- General inquiries may also be submitted to the fund’s staff via the form on its contact page or by telephone at 413-256-0349.
- The Fund is located in New York City and Amherst, Massachusetts.
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