Kolibri 2025 Reimagining Resistance Fund
As Kolibri prepares to spend down its resources by 2027, the Foundation remained steadfast in being responsive to the current moment by supporting organizations to drive sustained systems change work for justice. The Reimagining Resistance Fund is Kolibri’s final multi-year grantmaking cycle before sunsetting in Fall 2027. In its last cycle, Kolibri aimed to respond to the rise in authoritarianism, increase in criminalization of marginalized communities, and dismantling of civil society, liberties and people power. As the philanthropic field retreats in fear and self-preservation, this Fund supports organizations BUILDING POWER in the face of these social, economic, and political conditions through strategies that seek to resist, transform, and sustain current and future generations.
We are thrilled to fund 23 organizations and projects across the US and in Puerto Rico whose work focuses on building one or more of the following types of power:
- Organizing Power: The capacity to recruit, train, practice internal democracy, and align the collective around a shared vision/purpose/strategy in service of social change.
- Governing Power: The capacity to explore ways to build governing power that centers equitable and shared leadership over resources and rules; this is not just about the who, but the how of governing.
- Narrative Power: The capacity to develop and shape stories, messaging, and language that change or confront harmful prevailing and socially ingrained norms.
- Cultural Power: The capacity to imagine and create new cultural practices and traditions; and to sustain those that are being threatened by criminalization and erasure.
- Economic Power: The ability to resist exploitative components of capitalism and create alternative infrastructures that support regenerative economies in defense of communities
As we continue to witness an escalation in gendered, sexualized and racialized violence, Kolibri understands that Black, Indigenous, People of Color, undocumented, former and currently incarcerated, migrant and refugee, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Queer, Trans, Intersex & Gender Non Conforming, gender oppressed, poor, working class, and people with disabilities will continue to bear the brunt of the crises we face.
In response to these escalating attacks, our 2025 Reimagining Resistance Fund partners are leading transformative work across multiple fronts. They’re building people power at the local, national, and some at a transnational scale. They represent legacy organizations rooted in the South; some are supporting and sustaining movement infrastructure, while others are defending targeted communities at the judicial level. We are thrilled about the diversity of work, geographical reach, and direct impact that is represented in our final multi-year cycle.
As Kolibri prepares to spend down all of our assets by the fall of 2027, our commitment to social justice movements and our grantee partners remains unwavering. In our final year and a half, we are dedicating our energy to organizing with donors and philanthropic allies to embrace giving practices rooted in equity, accountability, and solidarity. We believe our role extends beyond funding—we have a responsibility to help co-create a world where wealth, land, and power are shared, and where every community has the conditions to thrive in safety and justice. Our vision is one of generational resilience, love, and wellbeing—not one that perpetuates cycles of harm and oppression. We invite you to walk with us in this final chapter as we work to ensure our sunset makes way for a brighter, more liberated future.
You can learn more about our partner organizations, staff, and funding priorities by checking out our website – www.kolibrifdn.org.