New Profit, the national venture philanthropy organization, will invest in eight innovative nonpartisan organizations focused on democracy in the United States. Launched in 2019, New Profit’s Civic Lab is a leading nonpartisan initiative that invests in and grows innovative non-profit organizations focused on building civic trust and an inclusive democracy in the U.S. and its territories. To date, Civic Lab has invested in 22 game-changing organizations.
Due to the significant funding disparity for organizations led by leaders of color, particularly women of color, our investments will be prioritizing organizations led by Black, Latina, and Indigenous women, trans leaders, and organizations working in rural communities. If you don't identify along these lines but your organization is eligible based on the criteria below, we encourage you to apply.
About the Civic Lab Catalyze Cohort
New Profit offers a collaborative support model to support visionary social entrepreneurs and their organizations, creating value across several dimensions. Our support model includes 1:1 adaptive leadership coaching, connection to consultations with external content experts, New Profit’s tested capacity-building framework and tools, and $100,000 in unrestricted support. Through the cohort, social entrepreneurs will have access to a unique learning community and support system of peer leaders working across the democracy space.
While each cohort of social entrepreneurs requires tailored supports to meet their unique needs, the base of our capacity-building program includes the following:
- Refining impact model to advance systems change outcomes and connecting it to a compelling story of impact
- Assessing organizational strengths, capabilities, and opportunities for growth
- Building an effective, high-performance boards of directors
- Developing equitable and results-driven practices for managing teams and stakeholders
- Identifying effective practices for operational excellence in order to execute against organizational strategy (fundraising, finance, HR, and communications)
- 1-2 additional topics identified by cohort members as areas of support
