2021

4 years of supporting networks and people-led organizations in building power

Dear friend and ally:


As you may already know, María Fund has responded and adapted its resource distribution strategy to the needs of our partners in times of emergency and disaster since its very beginning in 2017. We were born during Hurricane Maria and have since supported the social justice sector in Puerto Rico during the earthquakes of January 2020 and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, we are experimenting, designing, and implementing different methodologies that support long-term movement goals and visions of being free, interdependent people who are interconnected among ourselves and with the rest of the world.

Over the past few years, and thanks to your recurring support, we have placed our trust in people-led groups and leaders with different roles in the social justice sector in Puerto Rico. We have supported feminist grassroots organizations that continue to advance gender equity and justice, as well as others groups that aim to guarantee dignified living conditions for all workers. We have also supported the work of anti-racist organizations and collaborated in the coordination of Afrojuventudes, a program dedicated to educating and promoting racial justice among Black and Afro-descendant youth in Puerto Rico. We are also committed to supporting the work of those doing community and base-building work, as well as that of others dedicated to healing justice, LGBTQIPA+ groups, just recovery, advocacy, community development, environment, and agriculture, and that of others who are building power from a cultural and alternative media approach throughout our archipelago.

As we are in our process of looking at new methodologies to support the social justice movement in Puerto Rico, we decided this summer (2021) to focus our 2021 grant cycle on continuing to support the work of those organizations that we funded in 2020, with whom we are already in relationship, for them to be able to continue their work at this crucial time.

Since its inception, María Fund has understood and seen how natural disasters have quickly revealed and accelerated the consequences of the colonial conditions in which we have lived for centuries in the archipelago of Puerto Rico. María Fund became a bridge of hope, love, and resistance. A bridge for resources to support, amid emergencies, local grassroots organizing groups who also recognize the political, social, and economic disasters that precede those natural emergencies. 

From 2017 to the present, María Fund has had 6 grant cycles, supported 82 groups, and distributed $6.8 million. 

In April 2019, we made the decision to expand and deepen the María Fund’s work from a rapid-response grantmaking fund to a permanent resource-mobilization entity that could support a powerful and aligned network of social justice leaders, organizations, and initiatives focused on organizing to build collective community power and advance structural change in our nation.  

Since then, we have been building the infrastructure for this broader role, while maintaining our commitment to moving resources to the frontlines. In 2020, María Fund distributed more than $1,155,000.00 to more than 65 social justice organizations across the island through its Earthquake Rapid Response Fund and Annual Grantmaking Cycle.

Of the $7 million raised from September 2017 to July 2019 for relief, just recovery, and resistance, following Hurricane Maria, we have regranted $6.8 million, honoring our commitment to the Movement from Day 1.