Cultivating Repair Catalyst Initiative

Important Update:

The Cultivating Repair Catalyst Initiative, a fiscally sponsored project of Amalgamated Foundation, is seeking nominations to join a participatory learning cohort of emerging organizations creating pathways to repair the harms stemming from the legacies of colonialism and slavery in the United States.

What: The Cultivating Repair Catalyst Initiative combines a participatory learning cohort with unrestricted grant support for courageous efforts to heal America’s deepest wounds. By participating in this initiative, selected organizations and projects can expect to learn together, build relationships, and gain capacity as part of a growing ecosystem for repair and healing.

Why: Repair encompasses a holistic range of practices for acknowledging past and present harms, taking accountability for changed behavior, and redressing harms. We practice repair in many different ways — through the stories we tell, the memories we enshrine, how we gather, in rituals of grief and celebration. Repair can also shape a community’s practices and policies, the structures we build up, and the structures we take down. Yet, it can be hard to see how these many expressions of repair are inextricably related and can be woven together. That is the reason why we are assembling this learning cohort. To learn more, read Omidyar Network launches “Cultivating Repair” with Call for Nominations.

How: This initiative embraces a participatory approach to philanthropy which centers the communities and practitioners who are catalyzing change. We see the learning sessions throughout this year-long journey as a partnership of the cohort members, our Advisory Council, and Omidyar Network. We commit to sharing key insights and learnings with the broader field and other funders.

Who: This cohort will bring together organizations and projects that reflect a variety of approaches to repair and healing. We intend to embrace a mix of perspectives, practices, sectors, audiences, and geographies. To help you gauge overall fit for this initiative, here are some examples to consider:

• Your work reflects different dimensions of repair and healing, including some combination of:
• “material” - Addressing physical needs to re-establish safety and self-determination. This includes safe and affordable housing, financial security, public safety, land reclamation, foods, & physical and mental health.
• “relational” - Supporting social relationships and abilities based in mutual trust and respect that enable thriving. This includes conflict resolution, restorative justice, and community gatherings that facilitate and deepen connection.
• “cultural” - Creating cultural practices that shape and express the values, identity and worldview of communities. This includes arts and creative expression, language revitalization, tending to customs and artifacts, and communal mourning and celebrations.
• “spiritual” - Restoring spiritual practices passed down from ancestors, teaching us to heal wounds. This includes meditation and prayer, rituals and ceremonies, and sacred knowledge and sites.
• Your work centers or serves communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the legacies of slavery and colonialism. Indigenous and Black communities have most directly, deeply, and disproportionately experienced these harms across generations. Black and Indigenous people have also been at the forefront of efforts to bring all communities into a shared journey of healing and repair.
• Your work doesn't fit easily in typical issue-siloes or funding areas. We value approaches to repair and healing which reflect the real complexity of the multiple systems shaping our daily lives.
• Your work might not even be using the word “repair” but you see your work as healing wounds and restoring wholeness.

• Must be a 501(c)(3) public charity, a fiscally sponsored project of a 501(c)(3) public charity, or a federally recognized tribe located in the United States and associated territories.
• Please note that projects involving two or more collaborating organizations will need to select a primary entity to apply and receive funding.
• Please note this initiative will not fund organizations or activities that advocate on behalf of or against candidates for public office or political parties.
• Must have a record of focusing on repair and healing in relation to the past and present-day harms of colonialism or slavery in the United States.
• Applying 501(c)(3) public charities must have either an annual budget of $2 million or less in the most recent fiscal year or have been in operation for five years or fewer.
• Applying fiscally sponsored projects must have either an annual project budget of $2 million or less in the most recent fiscal year or have been in operation for five years or fewer.
• All federally recognized tribes are eligible to apply.

Terms and Conditions

You can download the terms and conditions here.

Organizations and projects selected for the initiative will:

• Receive unrestricted grant funding totaling $100,000 (grant duration and disbursement schedule to be determined based on each organization’s needs), $10,000 wellness stipend, and $5,000 honorarium meant for the individual participating in the cohort.
• Participate in a year-long participatory learning cohort. The cohort will aim for an in-person gathering and primarily be facilitated virtually over Zoom for six to seven sessions between May 2024 to May 2025. These sessions will collectively design and explore learning questions for innovators to share their vision and expertise as they test and scale their approaches.
• Have a series of 1:1 conversations with Omidyar Network to develop an in-depth understanding of your organization’s goals, needs, and learning questions.
• Have opportunities to receive technical assistance throughout the year; share your work with a broader audience; and participate in funder briefings organized by Omidyar Network.

Selection Process

• Call for nominations opens: December 13, 2023 at 6:00 A.M. PST / 9:00 A.M. EST.
• Call for nomination closes: February 1, 2024 at 5:00 P.M. PST / 8:00 P.M.
• December 2023 to February 2024: Omidyar Network will review nominations on a rolling basis to create a pool of up to 60 semi-finalists.
• February to March 2024: The initiative’s Advisory Council (see below) will select up to 15 finalists. The Advisory Council and Omidyar Network hold learning conversations with finalists. The Advisory Council selects 8 grantees.
• April 3, 2024: Grant decisions announced.

Selection Criteria

• Being in Relationship: To what extent does this approach center reciprocal care and collaboration in its work?
• Commitment to Learning: To what extent does this approach seek ways to understand progress toward the change it wishes to see?
• Ideas Taking Root: To what extent does this approach have the potential to grow beyond its current activities?
• Expanding Imagination: To what extent does this approach expand broader understanding of what repair can be?
• Multi-Generational Change: To what extent does this approach consider how to stay open to future evolution of key ideas and practices?

Advisory Council

• Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, Co-Holder of 7 GenCities at Dark Matter Labs is deeply engaged in Indigenous, environmental, transdisciplinary and intercultural approaches to research, land relationships and stewardship, climate resilience, innovation, education, health and mental wellness, placekeeping and city building. She is passionate about reciprocal, collaborative and intergenerational pathways for learning and knowledge sharing, teaching, co-creation, healing, action, and partnerships in her roles within project and research leadership, academia, advising, mental wellness, and community engagement. Her Akawaio and mixed ancestry from Guyana and the Netherlands, combined with interdisciplinary and international experiences, enable her to bring intercultural and multifaceted perspectives and sensibilities to her work. Tanya holds a PhD in Environmental Studies, postdoctoral fellowships in community climate adaptation and Indigenous health, an MA in International Development Studies, and a diploma in psychodynamic psychotherapy.
• Rashida James-Saadiya, Executive Director of Muslim Power Building Project, is a writer, scholar, cultural organizer, and educator who utilizes storytelling as a lens to connect history and memory to urgent social issues of the present, and as a pathway to explore embodied knowledge, and the necessity of community care. Her work is research-based and interdisciplinary, stretching across sociology, social justice, and religion to challenge gender inequality, urban displacement, carcerality, and systemic racism. She is also the Co-curator of "Flowers," a podcast in celebration of Black culture and radical truth-telling.
• Michael Johnson, Chief Strategy Officer, IllumiNative, is a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and a relative of the White Earth Nation where his grandfather is a citizen. Michael graduated with distinction from The School of Liberal Arts at The University of Colorado Denver majoring in Political Science and earning magna cum laude honors. Michael’s work over the last decade has engaged key stakeholders in Indian Country and beyond to create lasting relationships built on respect, reciprocity, impact, and success. A champion of Tribal self-determination, Michael has supported positive educational, health related, economic, as well as policy and litigation outcomes for Native communities around the country.
• Dr. Megan Ming Francis, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington, is a founding co-director of the Race and Capitalism Project and a former research fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP-LDF. Dr. Francis specializes in the study of American politics, with broad interests in criminal punishment, Black political activism, philanthropy, and the post-civil war South. She is the author of the award winning book, Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State. Francis is a proud alumnus of Seattle Public Schools, Rice University in Houston, and Princeton University where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics.

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