In partnership with the New American Majority Fund at the Democracy Alliance, Resistance Labs is supporting innovative SMS-based responses to our new context. Our goals are to mitigate the harm that this crisis will have on marginalized communities, help build progressive power over the long-term, and ensure the 2020 elections are representative.
We Invite Organizations with Those Goals to Ask Themselves:
How Could Mass SMS Help Our Organization and Mission?
Example projects might include expanding the outreach for a domestic abuse hotline, providing information about food pantry availability to low-income citizens, advocating for state vote by mail ballots to be mailed, or creating an anti-eviction SMS response.
Selected Organizations Will Receive
- Consulting services to manage a campaign of up to three months in duration
- Networking, partnership development support
- Data provisioning to legally secure a list of relevant cell numbers
- Texting conversations with up to 100,000 contacts
- Management of dedicated volunteers to engage in conversations via text
- Design and execution of experiments to rigorously assess impact and scale funding
- Assistance creating short code opt-in, website language, or other relevant collateral
Project Criteria
Projects selected will meet one or more of the following:
- Provide timely information about the virus to the public
- Respond to COVID to provide public health, social services, or safety net information
- Mobilize individuals to advocate for policy or governance action
- Build long-term relationships of trust with rural, marginalized, or low-income individuals
- Have an impact on the 2020 election
Organizational Criteria
Organizations selected will meet one or more of the following:
- Have a racial, social, or economic justice lens and build power among marginalized or low-income groups
- Have work that increases civic engagement and voter turnout
- Have work that aims to protect or support high-risk or vulnerable populations
And Also All of the Below
- Have not yet developed significant data and SMS capacity internally
- Be able to quickly (2-3 days, not 2-3 weeks) make decisions and approve language and processes
- Be functioning as a 501c3 or 501c4 non-profit
Applications Have Closed
Thank you! We received over 250 applications and working through them currently. If you would like to know if we re-open this grant program, you can contact Sarah. In the meantime, if you’d like support services please reach out to Alan to discuss how we can help.