About The Libra Foundation
Our Mission
We believe that all people are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms and have a right to live in a healthy environment and in peaceful, just and equitable societies. Promoting these human rights is the highest purpose we can envision for the grant making of The Libra Foundation.
Recognizing the power of human rights to express our values and transform societies, the Foundation joins with other foundations that are working to secure human rights for all people and to develop its application here in the United States. We are committed to enhancing the human rights movement and broadening it to include U.S. social justice work in the areas of women’s rights, environmental sustainability, and social justice and drug policy reform. We are interested in supporting innovative and effective work that emphasizes strategies that incorporate the interconnections between issues and lead to real social change.
Areas of Interest
The Foundation has a particular interest in concentrating its grantmaking in California and Illinois, although organizations working nationally may apply as well. Recognizing the value of learning from our global partners and participating in the international community, we fund U.S. based organizations and public foundations, collaborative funds and intermediaries working internationally. The Libra Foundation funds social and economic justice organizations that integrate human rights into their work in and across the following priority areas:
- Women’s Rights, with an emphasis on reproductive rights and the elevation of women’s rights as human rights
- Environmental Sustainability, with an emphasis on promoting social justice within climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies
- Social Justice and Drug Policy Reform, with an emphasis on fair application of the law, government accountability, human rights field building and drug policy reform
Strategies and Organizational Values
The Foundation seeks to support organizations and programs that incorporate (or seek to incorporate) human rights into their work or that provide training, research and technical assistance for other organizations that utilize human rights in their activism.
Of particular interest are organizations engaged in systems change that involve or use one or more of the following strategies:
- Advocacy
- Public policy reform
- Coalition-building
- Impact litigation and related legal strategies
- Organizing
- Re-granting
- Utilizing new media and communications strategies for social change
In addition, the Foundation will consider organizations that are engaged in strategic analysis and action and are committed to the following:
- Accountability
- Democratic conditions and practices
- Evaluation
- Global partnerships
- Strategic planning
- Understanding power relationships
- Using a gender lens
TYPES OF GRANTS AND AWARD AMOUNTS
The Foundation awards grants ranging from $15,000 - $75,000, with organizations new to our docket falling in the lower range. While The Foundation views its grantees as long-term partners, multi-year funding will be decided on a case-by-case basis as part of the proposal review process.
The Libra Foundation provides the following types of grants:
- General Operating
- Project or Program
- Capacity Building and Technical Assistance
The Libra Foundation does not fund:
- Fundraising events (including tickets to events)
- Campaigns to elect candidates for political office
- Grants to individuals and/or private foundations
- Organizations that are heavily supported by the government (except for specific advocacy or public policy projects of interest)
- Capital fund drives or campaigns
- Debt reduction
- International organizations not registered in the U.S.
- International work that focuses on a single country or small set of countries
- Programs to promote religious activities
- Government agencies
- University/college programs which must contribute a pre-determined percentage of each grant to institutional overhead