Projects
The Dream Fund sees affirmative action as an effective legal tool for redressing inequities and lack of opportunities based on race and ethnicity or gender. Affirmative action helps institutions become more inclusive and democratic.
The Dream Fund is designed to increase the resources available to defend and strengthen affirmative action and other diversity programs that increase disenfranchised populations' access to opportunity. The Dream Fund seeks to achieve this by:
- Improving public understanding of systemic barriers to opportunity as well as the social benefits of increased diversity
- Expanding philanthropic support for affirmative action
- Developing projects involving cross-sector collaborations - between civil rights groups, unions, parent associations, businesses, universities and advocacy groups on the national, statewide and local levels - that leverage their mutually reinforcing capacities to strengthen affirmative action and inclusion
- Working to defend against legal attacks on affirmative action
- Demonstrating the links between race- and gender-based exclusion and the systemic flaws in education and employment that affect the broader public
- Creating platforms for exploring the nation's commitment to opportunity
Where we work:
Structure of the Fulfilling the Dream Fund
The Dream Fund collaborative offers grantmakers the opportunity to pool resources and extend their geographic reach at the same time as it increases the knowledge and capacity of its funders and grantees.
National Level Participation - National Dream Fund participants set the Dream Fund's goals and objectives, determine general eligibility and programmatic criteria, and make grant determinations. Key donors at the national level include the Carnegie Corporation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Falk Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.
Local Level Participation - The Dream Fund network also includes funders with geographic restrictions or interests in funding state- or regionally focused work. These funders may participate through a State or Regional Consortium or Fund.
- State and Regional Consortia are established by local funders raising a minimum of $100,000. Each consortium earns a 1:1 dollar match of their contributions to the National Dream Fund for grants targeted in their state or region. Consortium representatives join national funders in setting Dream Fund goals and objectives, determining eligibility and programmatic criteria, making grant determinations and ranking local organizations to submit proposals. Four regional consortia have been established: the Chicago Dream Fund Consortium, the North Carolina Consortium, Colorado Consortium and the Jean Fairfax Fund for Strategic Giving.
- State and Regional Funds are established by local funders raising at least $500,000, earning a 1:1 dollar match from the National Dream Fund to support efforts focused in their geographic areas only. State/Regional Funds may establish advisory committees comprised of the fund's donors, practitioners ineligible for grants and scholars. Donors may also work with local community groups and prospective grantees to design each fund. Three funds have been established at this level: California Dream Fund, the Minnesota Dream Fund and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Dream Fund.
More than 35 donors participate in the Dream Fund at the national, regional and/or local levels. Annual National Dream Fund convenings bring together national and state/regional funders and grantees to network and build relationships, share what they are learning, build skills and engage in collective strategizing.
The Dream Fund is managed by Public Interest Projects, a 501(c)(3) public charity that operates grantmaking, technical assistance and strategic-planning programs for institutional and individual donors working in social justice and human rights issues.
