Momentum Fund Launches to Help Build Capacity of Nonprofits Managing COVID-19 Funds
United Philanthropy Forum announces the launch of the Momentum Fund to support nonprofit organizations managing active COVID-19 relief and recovery funds that are helping communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Momentum Fund will be awarding grants of up to $100,000 to 501(c)(3) organizations managing COVID-19 funds that are providing grants to other 501(c)(3) organizations that are meeting the needs of communities and populations whose health and/or financial situations have been most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and who have been historically marginalized and underserved in our country.
The Fund will award a total of $8.5 million in grants to help these organizations build their internal capacity to more effectively grow, promote, manage and sustain their funds. The grants can be used to add new staff, acquire new cutting-edge technology, or address other pressing capacity needs.
The Momentum Fund will provide grants to organizations managing funds explicitly devoted to providing COVID-19 relief to communities of color, low-income populations, and others being disproportionately impacted by the crisis. This is in recognition of the grim fact that the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have not been felt evenly across the country, but have instead fallen hardest on the historically marginalized and underserved communities that were struggling long before the virus hit.
A five-member advisory board has guided the design, management and operation of the Momentum Fund and will make final grant decisions. The board is comprised of representatives from the philanthropic infrastructure who advocate for some of the communities and populations being hit hardest by the pandemic. The Momentum Fund is managed by United Philanthropy Forum and has been made possible by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.