Sparkplug Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Sparkplug Foundation supports education, civic engagement, and community organizing initiatives across the United States, Israel, and Palestine. It frequently supports criminal justice reform efforts, LGBTQ advocacy organizations, as part of its community organizing grantmaking.
IP TAKE: This small, New York-based funder is willing to support programs in a wide range of fields, as long as they center on community organization. It primarily funders smaller and grassroots organizations, but applicants should read its grant guidelines closely. The Sparkplug Foundation has been ramping up giving to local, grassroots organizations that align with its mission, offering multi-year support to help smaller organizations scale. This is a great funder to know if your organization is small or modest. This is a collaborative and approachable funder that likes to build relationships with its grantees.
PROFILE: The Sparkplug Foundation, established in 2003, is a small family foundation that advocates for “development of emerging democratic movements and communities working on issues of local democracy, justice, and sustainable energy in the rebuilding of the U.S. and global economies.” It primarily supports small, start-up foundations that are not religiously affiliated. Funding invests in education, music and community organizing. The foundation also conducts grantmaking surrounding ethnic tensions and human rights in Israel and Palestine, and it provides Emergency Grants to previous education and community organizing grantees.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
Sparkplug’s community organizing grantmaking supports civic engagement in a range of fields. The foundation distinguishes between community service—defined as “giving to others and providing benefits to others”—and community organizing—meaning a project “originated by and from the community itself.” In response to this distinction, the Sparkplug Foundation insists that it only funds the latter. For example, while foundation would not fund “programs that provide services to the homeless,” it would fund “organizations led and staffed by homeless people.” Past grantees related to civic engagement include Arise for Social Justice, Citizens for Local Power and Community Voices Heard.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
Sparkplug’s community organizing grantmaking often supports organizations working to reform the criminal justice system in America and aid those negatively affected by it. The foundation makes a distinction between community service—defined as “giving to others and providing benefits to others”—and community organizing—meaning a project “originated by and from the community itself”—and insists that it only funds the latter. For example, while foundation would not fund “programs that provide services to the homeless,” it would fund “organizations led and staffed by homeless people.” Past grantees related to criminal justice reform include the Alliance of Families for Justice, California Families Against Solitary Confinement and the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons.
Grants for K-12 Education
Sparkplug’s education grantmaking supports holistic approaches to “community-based education as empowerment.” This includes “programs within schools that address disparities among students,” “community programs teaching basic skills like reading and math to youth who are not adequately served by schools,” and “efforts by teachers to improve the education system by organizing and networking themselves.” In the past, they have supported initiatives such as “literacy projects that bring parents & kids together to learn, projects that use a neighborhood as a classroom, projects that help teachers share ideas about creative, relevant curricula,” and others. Past grantees include the Academic Peer Education Project, College Works, and Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools.
Grants for LGBTQ
Sparkplug’s community organizing grantmaking frequently supports LGBTQ groups in the United States. The foundation makes a distinction between community service—defined as “giving to others and providing benefits to others”—and community organizing—meaning a project “originated by and from the community itself”—and insists that it only funds the latter. For example, while the foundation would not fund “programs that provide services to the homeless,” it would fund “organizations led and staffed by homeless people.” Past grantees include the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Resource Consortium, Black and Pink and Everyone is Gay.
Grants for Music
Sparkplug’s Music program aims to “launch new voices and ideas” by funding “emerging professional musicians or music-development programs” in order to help their careers become more sustainable. Grantseekers interested in music training or education are asked to apply to the foundation’s Education and Teaching or Grassroots Organizing programs. The foundation also does not provide support funding for music programs facing budget cuts. Past music grantees include 651 Arts, for the development of Tania Leon’s Son Sonora Ensemble, and the American Radio Choir, for its “Music of the New World” program.
Grants for Security and Human Rights
Sparkplug's human rights grantmaking tends to support a broad range of projects led by organizations located in the United States, Israel, and Palestine. The foundation judges applicants based on whether their work will “deep or ameliorate” the “climate of ethnic separation and human rights violations in the region,” and will not fund projects that do not take the welfare of Palestinian communities into account. Past grantees include 7amleh, which received funding for its training workshops in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories involving social media and collectively addressing human rights abuses. The New York-based organization Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice is also a past grantee, which received funding for its work assessing the needs of the Nepali community in the United States.
Other Grant Opportunities
Sparkplug offers emergency grants to previous grantees in its education and community organizing funding areas. Grant requests can be up to $5,000 and must demonstrate that the request is the result of an unexpected event.
Important Grant Details:
Grants generally range from $1,000 to $10,000. Sparkplug prioritizes small and grassroots organizations, remaining “committed to helping new organizations get their start.” Because the foundation recognizes that starting a new organization takes more than a year, it is “expanding [its] grantmaking to multi-year support in limited cases.” Grant applicants representing new organizations that are “interested in a start-up grant spanning 2-3 years” should state this in their grant application; however, they may only apply for “first-year funding.” On rare occasions, the foundation will also consider previous grantees for a second grant cycle for a new project. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s past grantees for more information on its grantmaking habits.
Given its small size as a foundation, Sparkplug’s website includes in-depth Grant Guidelines information. The Sparkplug Foundation accepts applications in two grant cycles per year. Deadlines may vary.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
