FAQs

• Independent and fiscally sponsored nonprofit organizations, networks, coalitions, individual service providers, micro-enterprises, or small businesses are eligible to apply. Priority consideration will be given to entities that are Black-led and Black-centered. See Section 1 (Application Information) below for further information on business applicants. 
• Applicants must be located and operating in Los Angeles County. 
• Funds received from the Village Fund must be used to serve Los Angeles County’s Black communities.
• Applicants must have a history of working with Black families and an intentional commitment to empowering and supporting Black people.
• Funds must be used to support one or more grantmaking strategies listed in the section above.
• If funded, applicants must commit to participating in the AAIMM Ambassadors program. The program is a cohort-based learning community that meets once every quarter over the duration of the grant. More information about the AAIMM Ambassadors program is below. Organizations also receive an additional financial stipend to support participation in quarterly convenings. 
• Only applicants who have not received a grant from the Village Fund will be considered. 
• Applicants and their proposed projects must align with the values of the AAIMM Prevention Initiative (see ‘Uphold the values of AAIMM’ in the Definitions section below).

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Only projects or services that cannot be billed to Medi-Cal or another health insurer will be eligible for funding. 
• Only projects that cannot be paid for with other existing resources will be eligible for funding. We want to fund the unfunded needs and creative ideas.
• Events such as conferences, workshops, symposiums, one-time trainings, and/or briefings are not eligible for funding.
• Political activities, including lobbying, products, and online platforms, are not eligible.

Applications will be reviewed and scored by a community review committee representing the breadth of the LA County AAIMM Prevention Initiative. The committee will select 8-10 applicants based on the scoring criteria and will endeavor to choose a cohort that represents the geographic diversity of the County as well as a mix of programs, business services, and innovations offered by the applicant pool, reflecting the broader mosaic of the AAIMM network, and will uphold the values and broad goals of AAIMM as a central decision-making tenet. 

Funding decisions are made by the committee through a consensus-building process. LA Partnership staff and Village Fund consultants facilitate the review process but have no decision-making authority. All funding decisions made by the community review body are final. Declined applicants will have an opportunity to discuss feedback from the review committee but may not appeal funding decisions. 

There will be 8-10 grants awarded, ranging from $5,500 to $33,000, depending on the nature of the project and the Village Fund’s total capital. Special note: In general, only 1-2 applicants will be awarded at the $33,000 level. Most grant awards fall between $5,000 and $15,000. Please consider this when developing your proposal and budget. 

Grants are awarded for one year and may be renewed for up to three years, based on community need, available funding, Ambassador program participation, and whether the Village Fund remains a good fit for your work. Funding cannot be guaranteed beyond one year.  

A final report will be due at the end of the one-year grant, which will be used for evaluation, and each grantee will be asked to schedule a one-on-one check-in call to share their progress on the work they were funded to perform, highlights, lessons learned, and new skills and/or competencies gained from the AAIMM Ambassadors Learning Community.  

Black-led is defined as (Black Equity Collective definition): A plurality of the Board of Directors is Black (i.e., are the largest racial group represented on the Board) and the Executive Director/Organizational Leader or the Executive Leadership is majority Black. This demonstrates that Black people are in positions of power to influence organizational culture, make strategic decisions around programming, operations, and the use of funds, and have responsibility for the successful execution of the mission and vision..

Community presence: The applicant has pre-existing and long-standing relationships in the community for which it seeks funding support through the Village Fund, either because the applicant currently provides programs or services in the community that work to address racial disparities or because the applicant partners with others who do. It is expected that applicants do not see the Village Fund as an opportunity to “helicopter in” to a community or serve a population with which they have no prior relationship. 

Uphold the values of AAIMM: Centering the leadership and lived experience of Black women/people, who are most impacted by birth disparity; applying a racial justice and equity lens to root causes; maintaining accountability to the community; transforming systems of support; collaborating in the spirit of “it takes a village”; and demonstrating cultural humility in service delivery.

Fiscal sponsor: Fiscal sponsorship is an arrangement between a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and a project conducted by an organization, group, or individual that does not have 501(c)(3) status. Fiscal sponsorship permits the exempt sponsor to accept funds restricted for the sponsored project on the project’s behalf. The sponsor, in turn, is responsible for ensuring the funds are properly spent to achieve the project’s goals. (Definition provided by CharityLawyerBlog.com)

The California Black Women’s Health Project has agreed to serve as a fiscal sponsor for the Village Fund (only). If you do not already have a fiscal sponsor and are interested in seeking fiscal sponsorship, you will be able to indicate this in your application.