Grassroots Grants
Our Grassroots Grants program supports underfunded organizations and communities addressing a myriad of environmental and social justice issues, with a focus on fights over water privatization and plastic pollution.
Why We Give
The Story of Stuff Project established the Grassroots Grants Program in 2017 to support small organizations and groups organizing against water privatization and plastic pollution in the United States. Since we launched, we’ve supported over 100 grassroots groups with $500,000 in grants.
We offer these partners financial resources, media infrastructure, and strategic planning and coalition building know-how needed to build winning campaigns. The Grassroots Grants Program is committed to equity and inclusion and prioritizes the funding of people of color, low-income, rural and women-led organizations.
We support projects that value local community involvement and organizing, creative interventions, strategic thinking, and both defensive “fight-back” and offensive solutions-focused projects.
How We Give
We prioritize BIPOC led and serving groups with a budget of $300,000 or less, and focus on water privatization, plastic pollution, and other environmental justice focus areas.
To apply, groups must be led by and serving black, indigenous, and communities of color AND meet one or more of the following requirements:
- Project is campaign-focused, centering grassroots organizing, public education, training and/or capacity building that develops skills, increases awareness, and/or builds alliances.
- Project centers community-driven, strategic use of non-violent direct action that demonstrate local resistance to destructive environmental activities i.e. privatization of public water sources.
- Project amplifies community voices in regional, national and international forums and provide access to decision makers, funds to go toward travel and/or other related costs.
- Project leverages field studies and original research to hold companies accountable for their on-the-ground activities.
- Project supports growth for emerging grassroots organization i.e. seed money.
We’re updating our grantmaking process at this time and are not currently accepting applications. Please check back in April 2025. Thank you for your interest in this program!
