• Groups have at least 2 committed members that meet regularly and work together toward shared trans justice goals. 

• Please remember that we do not fund individuals. 

• If you are an artist with assistants (as opposed to working collectively), you would not be considered a group.

• 501c3s

• Groups with a fiscal sponsor

• Groups that are incorporated in another way (for example, as a business)

• Groups that are not incorporated

This means that a non-profit organization—your fiscal sponsor—receives donations for you. Usually you pay a fee to your fiscal sponsor in return and have a formal, signed agreement. Your group has its own independent leadership and is in charge of how your donations are spent. 

If you are a program at a non-profit organization, you are not a group. You are a part of that non-profit organization. The non-profit's leadership has the final say over program decisions, staff, and budget. The non-profit's leadership also decides how donations are spent and there is no formal, signed agreement that the non-profit will receive donations separately for the program.  

If you are applying from a program at a non-profit organization, your non-profit organization itself must be trans-led and have a budget of under $250,000 to be eligible. Please answer all of the following eligibility questions as they apply to your non-profit organization, not to your program. 

We make this important distinction between programs and groups so that we can be sure trans leaders have full decision-making power over how their TJFP grant money is used.

• Again, please remember that a program is not a group. If your program budget is less than $250,000, but your group's total budget is more than $250,000, you are not eligible. 

• If you are a group with a fiscal sponsor, your own group's budget must be less than $250,000. It does not matter what your fiscal sponsor's budget is.

• Trans-led means that the majority of the people in charge of your group identify as trans or gender non-conforming. 

• If you have a director, your director should identify as trans or gender non-conforming. 

• If you have a board, a collective, or an advisory committee, the majority of staff, collective or committee members should identify as trans or gender non-conforming. 

• If you have a staff, the majority of staff members should identify as trans or gender non-conforming. 

• If you are volunteer-run, the majority of your volunteer leaders should identify as trans or gender non-conforming. 

If your group has a trans-related program that includes trans or gender non-conforming leadership, but the majority of your organization's leadership (director, staff, board, etc) do not identify as trans or gender non-conforming, your group is not trans-led.

There are hundreds of grassroots groups across the country that are trans-led. We want to make sure that TJFP's grant money goes directly to supporting them!