Start thinking about funding early. This step offers guidance on how to fund your restorative justice diversion program by pursuing existing value-aligned funders in your area, and it includes recommendations of national funding networks.
As we’ve stated in other sections, this work always starts with relationships. When talking about restorative justice diversion (RJD) to potential funders, it’s important to first get to know them as people. Gauge their interest in this model of RJD and what impact they could have on the juvenile legal system. When folks invest in the program, they are making a commitment to partner with you in this vision for change. Get folks excited that they get to partner with you in creating the better world that is only possible when we all create it together.
As a community-based organization operating in your county, you may not currently have the staffing or budget to start an RJD program right now. You should begin developing a fundraising plan early so that you have the staff and infrastructure ready for the next phases of program implementation, including training and case facilitation. Check out the Foundation Center for resources on how to find grants, write proposals, and learn more about the philanthropic sector
Your fundraising plan should include:
Determine what the overall operating costs will be for your program. Be as detailed as possible regarding your staffing needs, benefits, overhead costs, travel expenses, supplies, etc. While you won’t want to start your conversation with how much money you need, or necessarily even talk money in your first several meetings, having a detailed budget ready demonstrates to potential funders that you’ve put thought into your operating costs and it will help them (and you) understand your funding needs.
Once you have your budget, you’ll know how much you need to raise in order to launch your program. Based on the budget for the program, and additional expenses you foresee (fundraising costs, general operating costs for your organization, etc.), you should set your fundraising goal/target. This goal will guide which types of fundraising methods you use and which grants you pursue.
There are many methods to explore when it comes to fundraising for your program. These include:
We encourage you to include multiple fundraising methods to diversify your funding. Diversifying your funding portfolio will strengthen your program.
In the form of letters of interest (LOIs), proposals, and donor solicitations, these documents will be what you send to potential funders to describe the program you’re building, your staffing needs, and pilot operating costs. When describing your program to potential funders, make sure to refer to it as oriented around the needs of people harmed, created and held by community, designed to reduce the criminalization of BIPOC communities, and focused on pre-charge diversion. You can also use the provided Program Overview & Elements, Stages of the RCC Process, and the RJD 101 Powerpoint to help develop your fundraising pitches.
Develop a list of potential funders, including current funders, and new ones to solicit. This list should include how much funding they traditionally give to organizations each year, their deadlines for submissions, what kinds of programming they fund, etc. You can go through the list of Potential RJD Funding Streams to identify private foundations that may fund your program. Keep in mind that this list can only function as a suggestion of potential funding streams, and, we cannot guarantee they are a good fit for your organization or program. You can also check out Foundation Center online for a comprehensive database of foundations that you can filter based on your programmatic needs.
This is a good moment to lean on the community you’ve been developing. Plan to research community-based organizations doing the same or similar work, including youth justice and racial justice organizations. Specifically, research who funds their work. You can often find this information on their websites or their 990s (which are publicly available online through GuideStar). You can also meet with the fundraising officer or leadership of the CBO and pick their brains directly. Chances are they have funding partners who would be interested in funding this work, or may know of donors or foundations you should consider pursuing. It’s important to approach those conversations from an “all boats rise with the (funding) tide” approach, letting these other CBOs know you are not trying to replace their programs, but rather co-create a CBO ecosystem in which everyone’s work is lifted up.
The bottom line is that you should do your research early and develop a comprehensive fundraising plan for your program. After you create your fundraising plan, it’s time to reach out to funders and begin cultivating relationships and interest in your program. Be prepared to engage funders in multiple ways; some funders prefer to talk to you at length before you submit any documents about your program—so be prepared to talk a lot! Other funders will require you to just submit your LOI and budget. Be flexible in how you engage with potential funders.
Also, be prepared for rejection. The reality is that you will get a lot of funders saying “no” initially. Don’t get discouraged. Sometimes funders who pass on you (for now) pass your name onto other funders, or eventually come back to you when their portfolios have room for you. You will ultimately find people who are eager to fund your innovative work. It just takes time, research, patience, preparation, dedication, and sometimes, a thick skin.
Also, remember that every funder isn’t right for you. If they are passing on you, it may be that their values and vision aren’t aligned with yours. There will be others who are.
In one county, an RJD CBO is funded by a governmental grant. The grant application and reporting requirements focus primarily on numbers—how many youth are receiving the “treatment.” There is no requirement in the grant that the cases be high level, that survivors be present for the restorative process, or that youth of color are included in a way that reflects their system involvement. Each quarter, the CBO staff scramble to complete enough cases to meet grant requirements. When the district attorney offers them cases that don’t align with the core elements—cases that would generally be inappropriate for their RJD program—the pressure to take those cases to meet their grant deliverables is real. This pressure is compounded by the fact that it’s unclear whether the DA in that jurisdiction will charge the cases if they don’t go to RJD.
Compare this with another county, where the majority of the funding for the RJD program comes from the county’s budget for youth wellness programming and a private foundation dedicated to ending youth criminalization. From the start, the funders shared a goal of not net widening, and were in agreement that it was more important to get the right cases than to get a large number of cases, especially as the program was in its development stage. This protected the CBO from pressure to take low-level cases or otherwise inappropriate cases from the DA to impress a funder by proving they did “enough” cases.
Resource: Restorative Justice Diversion Program Staff Roles & Responsibilities
Resource: RJD Program Overview & Elements
Resource: Stages of the Restorative Community Conferencing Process
Resource: Potential RJD Funders
SET a fundraising goal
CREATE a budget
IDENTIFY your fundraising methods
WRITE fundraising pitches
DEVELOP a list of potential funders
RESEARCH local community funders
