Movement & Power Building Grant 2026–2027
Building Long-Term, Community-Led Power Across Central Florida
Contigo Fund’s Movement & Power Building Grant 2026–2027 is our primary investment in strengthening long-term, community-led power across Central Florida. This funding opportunity is designed for grassroots organizations, programs, and coalitions building the leadership, base, infrastructure, and strategy needed to advance racial, economic, and gender justice for Queer communities of color.
At Contigo Fund, we believe real change happens when communities most impacted by injustice are not only served, but organized, resourced, connected, and positioned to lead. Across our region, Queer communities of color, especially Black, Latinx, immigrant, trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive communities, continue to face systemic barriers to safety, opportunity, and decision-making power. These conditions are shaped by racism, xenophobia, transphobia, economic injustice, political exclusion, and other forms of oppression that are deeply interconnected.
This is a general operating support grant, not a restricted project support grant. We want to understand how flexible funding would strengthen an organization’s overall movement-building work and long-term capacity, not just a single project or isolated set of activities.
The 2026–2027 application process includes two stages:
Stage 1: Interest Form
Stage 2: Full Proposal (by invitation only)
This two-stage approach is intended to reduce the burden on applicants while allowing Contigo Fund to conduct a thoughtful, community-centered review process.
Purpose
The Movement & Power Building Grant is Contigo Fund’s primary investment in long-term, community-led power-building across Central Florida. It is designed to support grassroots organizations, programs, and coalitions that are building the leadership, base, infrastructure, and strategy needed to advance racial, economic, and gender justice for Queer communities of color.
These inequities cannot be solved through short-term services alone. While direct support may meet an immediate need, it does not on its own shift the policies, institutions, leadership pathways, public narratives, or community power needed to transform the underlying conditions. Contigo Fund is a systems-change funder. That means we prioritize work that builds long-term impact and helps move communities from survival to power.
Through this grant, Contigo seeks to support organizations that are growing and activating a base, developing leadership from within impacted communities, advancing organizing and advocacy strategies, strengthening community-rooted accountability and governance, and contributing to a broader social justice ecosystem. We are especially interested in work that builds durable community power, strengthens movement infrastructure, and creates long-term solutions that shift power, not only respond to harm.
We recognize that movement work is not always linear and cannot always be separated into narrow project categories. Strong organizations need flexible resources to invest in their people, deepen relationships, strengthen operations, respond to changing conditions, and build infrastructure that lasts beyond a single moment, issue campaign, or crisis. Through this grant, Contigo Fund aims to strengthen a broader ecosystem of grassroots leadership, organizations, and coalitions working together to create lasting, systemic change across Central Florida.
Grant Snapshot
Grant type: General operating support
Grant size: Up to $75,000
Grant term: 12 months
Geographic focus: Brevard, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia counties
Preference: Organizations with less than $2 million in annual operating expenses
Process: Two-stage application process through Fluxx. All applicants must complete a Stage 1 Interest Form. Selected groups will then be invited to submit a Stage 2 Full Proposal. Submission of an Interest Form does not guarantee advancement to the Full Proposal stage.
What We Are Looking to Support
We are particularly interested in grassroots organizations, programs, and coalitions whose work reflects a clear movement-building strategy and strong accountability to Queer communities of color across Central Florida.
This includes efforts that are building long-term community power through strategies such as:
- Base-building and grassroots development that grows, engages, and activates community members over time
- Leadership development that prepares community members to lead issue campaigns, organizations, coalitions, and movement spaces
- Grassroots organizing and advocacy that addresses root causes and advances policy, systems, and institutional change
- Community-rooted governance and accountability structures that strengthen leadership, transparency, and long-term sustainability
- Coalition-building and bridge-building across Queer, racial justice, immigrant justice, gender justice, and economic justice movements
- Capacity-building and organizational strengthening that directly supports sustained movement infrastructure and long-term power-building
- Work deeply rooted in and accountable to communities most impacted, especially Black, Latinx, immigrant, trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive Queer communities of color
We are especially interested in organizations that can clearly describe how their work moves beyond short-term response and contributes to leadership development, base-building, collective action, and long-term systems change. Strong applications will reflect a clear understanding of the communities being organized with, the inequities and systems being challenged, and the ways the work contributes to a stronger social justice ecosystem across Central Florida.
Who Is Eligible to Apply
Contigo Fund seeks applications from grassroots organizations, programs, and coalitions based in Central Florida whose work aligns with its charitable purpose and program priorities and that are building long-term power in Queer communities of color and advancing racial, economic, and gender justice.
To be eligible to apply, applicants must meet the following baseline requirements:
- Be based in Contigo Fund’s Central Florida grantmaking region: Brevard, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia counties
- Be deeply rooted in and accountable to Queer communities, with strong preference for organizations that demonstrate accountability to Queer communities of color
- Be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or be fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- Engage in ongoing movement-building work that aligns with the priorities of the Movement & Power Building Grant
- Demonstrate a clear commitment to leadership development, base-building, organizing, advocacy, coalition-building, and/or broader systems change
- Be prepared to participate in Contigo Fund’s learning community and cohort-based opportunities during the grant term
Contigo Fund maintains a strong preference for smaller grassroots organizations and coalitions, particularly those with less than $2 million in annual operating expenses. Regardless of structure or size, applicants should be able to demonstrate alignment with Contigo Fund’s values, community accountability, and long-term vision for building power in Queer communities of color across Central Florida.
Fiscally sponsored groups should have, or be prepared to strengthen, systems of accountability to their local communities in connection with the use of the grant funds, provided such systems do not supplant or conflict with the legal and fiduciary oversight authority of the fiscal sponsor and its governing board. A community steering committee and an advisory body are two examples of systems of accountability.
What We Will Not Fund
Grants will not be awarded to:
- Efforts outside Contigo Fund’s Central Florida grantmaking region: Brevard, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia counties
- Political committees, including political action committees (PACs), and any activities prohibited for organizations described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, including participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office
- Grants to individuals, including individual consultants, as direct recipients of grant funds
- Requests from organizations whose primary purpose is to regrant funds to other organizations, rather than to carry out their own programmatic activities
- Sponsorships for annual events, one-time events, or conferences that do not have a clear connection to broader movement-building strategy
- Organizations whose work is primarily direct service that is not part of a broader movement-building strategy connected to leadership development, base-building, organizing, advocacy, coalition-building, or long-term systems change
- Organizations that primarily provide individual support such as direct cash assistance, food pantry supplies, school supplies, medical supplies, clothing, promotional swag, scholarships, conference registrations, laptops, furniture, equipment, or direct medical or social services, unless clearly embedded in a broader movement-building strategy that aligns with the Fund’s charitable purpose and program priorities
Contigo Fund recognizes that many organizations are responding to urgent and real community needs. However, because our resources are limited and our role is to strengthen long-term community power, this grant is focused on supporting organizations whose work goes beyond short-term relief and helps shift the underlying conditions producing harm in the first place. As a systems-change funder, Contigo Fund prioritizes charitable efforts that build leadership, expand community power, strengthen organizing infrastructure, and advance lasting change.
How the Movement & Power Building Grant 2026–2027 Process Works
The Movement & Power Building Grant 2026–2027 uses a two-stage application process designed to be accessible, transparent, and respectful of organizations’ time and capacity. We recognize that grassroots organizations are often balancing urgent community needs, limited staffing, and long-term movement work all at once. This approach allows groups to first share a concise overview of their work and alignment through a short Interest Form before being invited to complete a more detailed Full Proposal if there is a strong fit.
Our goal is to reduce unnecessary burden on applicants while supporting a thoughtful, community-centered review process. All application materials for the Movement & Power Building Grant are submitted through our fiscal sponsor’s online grant portal, Fluxx. Applicants will complete the Interest Form directly in Fluxx. Based on those submissions, Contigo Fund will invite a select group of applicants to move forward to the second stage and submit a Full Proposal. Not all Interest Form submissions will advance to the Full Proposal stage.
Application Stages at a Glance
Stage 1: Interest Form
All interested organizations must begin by completing the Movement & Power Building Grant Interest Form in Fluxx. This stage helps Contigo Fund assess basic eligibility, alignment with the purpose of the grant, and the overall fit of the organization’s work. The Interest Form focuses on high-level information about your organization, the communities you organize with, your movement-building approach, and how your work contributes to long-term community power-building.
Stage 2: Full Proposal (By invitation only)
Organizations invited to Stage 2 will be asked to complete a Full Proposal in Fluxx. This stage allows applicants to provide more detail about their organizational context, leadership, accountability, priorities for the next 12 months, and how flexible general operating support would strengthen or sustain their movement-building work. Stage 2 also includes required supporting documents.
Key Dates and Timeline
Stage 1 Interest Form opens: May 18, 2026
Stage 1 Interest Form closes: May 29, 2026
Applicants may create or verify their Fluxx account in advance, but the Interest Form itself will only be available during that application window. Additional Stage 2 dates will be shared directly with invited applicants after the Stage 1 review process is complete.
How to Begin Your Interest Form
All request materials must be submitted through our fiscal sponsor’s online grant portal, Fluxx. You can access the portal at https://proteus.fluxx.io.
Users who already have a Proteus Fund Fluxx account may log in as usual. New users will need to create an account before beginning the Interest Form.
To create an account:
- Go to https://proteus.fluxx.io
- Click “Register Now” on the bottom right of the screen
- Complete the registration form, ensuring all required fields marked with an asterisk (*) are filled
- Click “Submit Request”
- You will receive a verification email allowing you to set up a password
Please note: the verification link is only valid for 24 hours - Log in after verifying your account and choosing your password
Once logged in, click “Open Grant Opportunities” in the left-side menu and select “Movement & Power Building Grant” to begin your application.
If you have questions while completing the Interest Form, please contact:
Joél Junior Morales, Senior Foundation Manager
[email protected]
Marco Antonio Quiroga, Executive Director
[email protected]
If you have any difficulties accessing the portal or logging into your account, please contact [email protected] and CC Joél and Marco.