PIVOT, a collaborative fund of 14 organizers and funders that aims to expand democracy and build lasting power for communities of color in California, has announced inaugural grants totaling $7 million in support of organizations, coalitions, and networks across the state.

A three-year, $25 million initiative, PIVOT aims to raise and deploy resources for transformative innovations in year-round voter organizing across issues and geographies at scale. In the fund’s first round of grantmaking, multiyear grants ranging between $250,000 and $1 million were awarded to 14 regional and statewide organizations, coalitions, and networks, including AAPIs for Civic Empowerment, which will develop a first-of-its kind, statewide AAPI Ethnic Media Hub, creating ongoing and integrated communications infrastructure to train community leaders; Communities for a New California Education Fund, which will use organizing and narrative power-building to mobilize Latina voters across California; MOVE the Valley, which will create and own community-centered data, ensuring more linguistic and cultural responsiveness in data gathering; and PICO California, which is investing in narrative strategies to mobilize, activate, and persuade faith-based and spiritually centered Californians.

The California Community Foundation (CCF) is providing fiscal and administrative management of the fund. PIVOT’s steering committee includes leaders from ACCE Institute, Alliance San Diego, Bay Rising, Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, Communities for a New California, Million Voters Project, The California Endowment, and the California Community, San Francisco, and California Wellness foundations.

“For PIVOT’s inaugural round of grantmaking, we received dozens of applications that reflect the incredible work happening in frontline communities across California, showcasing the strength and innovation of the state’s power-building ecosystem,” said PIVOT director Diana Colín. “Community groups have big ideas and bold goals, and philanthropy must step up to abundantly resource people power. At a time when the future of our democracy and planet is at stake, we must invest deeply to give organizers and movements the resources and capacity to win structural reform.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/LPETTET)