The Accelerator is a 12-month long learning community of projects accountable to communities and committed to delivering climate-related solutions. The Accelerator is designed to be a cohort experience to meet projects where they are at in their journey to become eligible for public funding. The Accelerator will provide project development support and technical assistance to cohort members in order to competitively apply for grant funding.

Accelerator participants will receive the following:

• Training on public grant requirements, federal proposal requirements, and management/reporting
• Digest of relevant federal, state, and local government funding opportunities
• Invitations to calls with federal agency staff to learn about opportunities and to share feedback
• Support with federal grant registration and requisite policies
• Support needed to formulate identified projects with pre-project development, including research and data, capacity-building partners, project design, and evaluation planning
• Assessment of internal capacity and matching to technical assistance offerings
• Grant writing and grant submission support
  Peer spaces to share learnings, challenges, and resources
• Post-award management systems guidance
• A $25,000 unrestricted grant intended to help support the organization’s staff participation during the Accelerator

We ask that applicants be able to commit time (preferably via team members who make decisions about funding opportunities, such as development staff or leadership) to fully participate and take advantage of the learnings, peer and federal agency calls, and technical assistance. The time requirements for Accelerator participation will vary depending on the tailored offerings each participant decides to take advantage of, but expect to spend at least four hours per month on Accelerator offerings over the course of 12 months. Those applying for federal grants should expect a higher time commitment, which will include time spent on preparing a proposal and other Justice40 federal funding application time requirements.
There are no reporting requirements associated with participation in the Accelerator cohort.

The Justice40 Accelerator supports community-based and community-led groups/organizations working at the frontlines of environmental crises and advancing community-driven climate solutions. Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, fiscally sponsored projects, and cooperatives based in the U.S., including sovereign lands located within the U.S. and its territories, are eligible to apply.

We are looking for applications from groups that:

 
1) Have identified a project that addresses Justice40 Initiative covered programs (climate change resilient infrastructure, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transportation, sustainable agriculture, and food systems*, affordable and sustainable housing, the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, critical clean water and waste infrastructure, and training and workforce development related to any of the preceding areas);

 
2) Have majority Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) leadership and serve BIPOC-majority communities;

 
3) Have the ability and interest to participate in the Accelerator offerings from Oct 2023 - Sept 2024; and,

 
4) Have interest and intent to apply, with Accelerator assistance, for public funds during that time.
If you fit this criteria, we encourage you to apply!

*Agriculture and food systems are not a covered program under the Justice40 Initiative but we invite projects focused on this to apply given the amount of public funding available and the Accelerator track record of successfully winning these grants.

For consistency and fairness, all applicants will have to submit a Justice40 Accelerator application. We understand that this can be burdensome. Please review the "Accelerator Application Instructions" above for some tips on how to streamline your efforts. For example, please feel free to copy and paste from other previously prepared documents where it makes sense. Please also feel free to reach out to our team to see if there are ways that we can support you in navigating the application process at [email protected]

Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, fiscally sponsored projects, and cooperatives based in the U.S., including sovereign lands located within the U.S. and its territories, are eligible to apply. Projects should have a majority of BIPOC leadership reflective of the communities it serves and have a project identified for which you want to pursue public funding during your Accelerator participation.
Ineligible to apply to the Accelerator are:

• Higher education institutions
• Public housing organizations
• Nonprofit organizations that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS or a fiscal sponsor
• Federal or state-recognized tribal governments
• For-profit organizations
• Small businesses
• Individuals
• Applicants outside of the U.S. or U.S. designated territories

Yes. Applicants that are designated under federal tax laws as a cooperative or as a Subchapter T entity may apply for the Justice40 Accelerator. In these cases, there will be a requirement that the project provides a report out that the funding provided by the Justice40 Accelerator was used for 501(c)(3) charitable purposes.

At this time, the Accelerator is only able to support organizations and projects that are located in and benefiting communities within the United States and U.S. designated territories.

The Accelerator supports projects that address impacts due to under-investment or legacy impacts from local or regional inequities and/or climate change exacerbating economics, and projects that fall under Justice40 Initiative covered programs: climate change resilient infrastructure, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transportation, affordable and sustainable housing, the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, critical clean water and waste infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and food systems*, and training and workforce development related to any of the preceding areas. 

*Agriculture and food systems are not a covered program under the Justice40 Initiative but we invite projects focused on this to apply given the amount of public funding available and the Accelerator track record of successfully winning these grants.

Yes

A group of organizations working together on a project may apply for the Accelerator under that project. We ask that one organization be designated to apply on behalf of the coalition and commit to distributing the technical assistance support and funds per internally agreed arrangements. The Solutions Project, who is administering the funds to cohort members, will make only one $25,000 payment per application, and will disburse the grant funds to the main applicant organization. Our guidance is that organizations working together apply together and not as separate entities for the same project. We understand that this limits the amount of resourcing for the individual organizations to participate in the Accelerator programming but we do not have a way to weigh multiple applications for the same or similar work. 

If coalitions or partnerships can clearly delineate different projects, then we recommend separate applications for the respective projects, for example, 1) solar power infrastructure for a community center, and 2) greywater system installation for the adjoining community garden.

If you plan on applying as a coalition or are considering submitting two separate applications for two separate but related projects, please contact the Accelerator team to schedule a call to discuss your proposal at [email protected]

Please only submit one application per organization. The only exception is if an organization is the fiscal sponsor of a project or initiative, the organization serving as the fiscal sponsor can submit one application for itself and one application with/for the fiscally-sponsored project/initiative. We understand that organizations may have multiple project ideas, but please select and describe only one project in the application.

We expect to select prospective cohort members and send out invitations to participate in mid-September.

We are looking for applications from groups that:
Have identified a project that addresses Justice40 Initiative covered programs (climate change resilient infrastructure, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transportation, affordable and sustainable housing, sustainable agriculture and food systems, the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, critical clean water and waste infrastructure, and training and workforce development related to any of the preceding areas)

• Are clearly defined, address local conditions, and build on existing work of the applicant/s 
• Address a climate-related impact due to under-investment or legacy impacts from local or regional inequities and/or climate change exacerbating economics
• Are informed by community priorities and guided by established community involvement
• Are solutions-oriented and create a public benefit that is resilient and doesn’t contribute to climate change 
• Are in need of capacity-building assistance provided by the Accelerator

Current Accelerator cohort members will be reviewers for this application cycle.

We understand that organizations may have multiple project ideas but please select and describe one project in the application. In an applicant is invited to join the Accelerator they can discuss their different project opportunities and weigh how best to use the TA and seek funding for those.

No. We would like new organizations to be able to take advantage of the Accelerator.