COO and Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) Partnership!
Photo Credit: Mel Ponder Photography and the Seattle Foundation 2024 N2N annual grantee convening.
A new collaboration between Communities of Opportunity (COO) and Seattle Foundation is yielding $200,000 more funding for the foundation’s Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) grant and technical assistance program – and strengthening our relationship.
This collaboration reflects growing support from COO and Seattle Foundation for grassroots groups in King County. It also responds to what we’ve heard from the community: that they want aligned – not duplicative – funding and capacity-building resources for smaller and newer BIPOC-led organizations.
Through the Learning Community (LC) strategy, which invests in community capacity building, learning and community-led innovation, COO is contributing $200,000 to the N2N funding pool that supports grassroots, BIPOC community-led groups. These are groups in South King County, with operating budgets of less than $200,000, that are working to build community power and increase civic engagement and community connections. Since its founding in 1991, N2N has provided grants of up to $7,500 for a total of over $5 million collectively to hundreds of these organizations to invest in the power of place and community.
Through the new funding, COO continues to strengthen our internal partnership with Seattle Foundation. We’re building on the public-private funder relationship within COO, and the relationship between N2N and the COO Learning Community strategy (LC). In fact, N2N leadership were instrumental in the development of the "COO model" – particularly the LC strategy – as an investment in the capacity and sustainability of smaller, growing community-rooted organizations that are organizing and building power.
The community-based organization FEEST, now a COO funded partner, was an early N2N partner. Photo Credit: FEEST Seattle
N2N and COO partner groups are often the same; for example, FEEST was once an N2N awardee. That’s because:
They are aligned on values, strategy, and other core approaches; and
N2N has traditionally supported smaller, growing groups working on organizing and building community power to build capacity and do more work (and often these funder relationships open the door to more funding, like Systems & Policy Change and Community Partnerships or government funding).
“As COO celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall, we’re proud of our model that shows how government can partner with community and philanthropy in responding to community led solutions,” said COO Director Elsa Batres-Boni.
Aileen Balahadia of the Seattle Foundation, Director of Grantmaking and Community Engagement, said, “This collaboration deepens and replicates the successful partnership between community, government, and philanthropy that is core to our N2N collaborative model. Sitting at a shared table investing in grassroots power building efforts to advance racial equity -- we need to do more of this.”
Photo Credit: Mel Ponder Photography and the Seattle Foundation 2024 N2N annual grantee convening.
More about N2N
N2N grants are awarded on a rolling quarterly basis and are reviewed by the N2N Advisory Committee, made up of funders and community members – with community members being the decisive voices. For the 2024 funding and beyond, COO will have a representative on the N2N Advisory Committee.
Groups who work in the priority neighborhoods in South King County can apply for up to $7,500 in flexible funding. Those neighborhoods are South Seattle, White Center, Kent, and SeaTac/Tukwila, and will be growing to include more. The next quarterly due date for N2N applications is Oct. 30, 2024.
You can visit the N2N page to see the hundreds of projects that have been funded through this program.
Who can apply: Groups with operating budgets of less than $200,000 in South King County that are working to build community power and increase civic engagement in order to advance community priorities and changes.
Applicants must show genuine connections and impact in one of the priority neighborhoods of South Seattle, White Center, Kent, and SeaTac/Tukwila
Applicants should be led by the community members they intend to serve.
Applicants must have 501(c)(3) Federal Tax Status or be fiscally sponsored by an organization with that status.
Visit the N2N page for background information in 12 languages, and to learn how to apply. Interested applicants are asked to reach out to staff to first determine if they are a good fit, and to receive support or technical assistance.