While the field is prone to obsession with established models, what is tried, what is proven, safe, the Barra Foundation is willing to gamble, to experiment, to innovate. Its essence is the Catalyst Fund, an occasional grant program that supports early concepts with transformative power, particularly among underattended to people of Greater Philadelphia.
For social entrepreneurs and nonprofits that want not only support, but license to test, iterate, and test the limits, the Catalyst Fund presents a unique opportunity. Here, this blog unravels what the fund is, who is eligible, how to apply, and advice for preparing a strong application.
What Is the Catalyst Fund?
The Catalyst Fund is the main grantmaking tool for Barra. It invests in early capital to nonprofits and initiatives that want to pilot new approaches, provoke assumptions, and bring about system change. Instead of investing in incremental change, Barra aims to invest in ideas that can change a field, a region, or a system.
Areas of Emphasis & Philosophy
Though the Catalyst Fund is the prime program for Barra, the foundation also sponsors “Special Grants” collaboratively with other funders for emergency or collaborative projects. But for it, the prime attraction is still the Catalyst.
Barra frames the business around four main areas of interest:
- Arts & Culture
- Education
- Nutrition
- Human Services
Projects can blur lines among these areas. The point is that they operate with underserved communities and introduce new models to old problems.
Ideal proposals:
- Solve a current issue or opportunity
- Reveal how affected communities direct the solution
- Introducing an extrapolation outside normal practice
- Focus on learning, iteration, and change
- Sit within or affect the Greater Philadelphia area (the five Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia)
Who Is Qualified to Apply?
Here is what is required to be known regarding eligibility and extent:
- Qualified organizations are 501(c)(3) not-profit organizations, or those utilizing a fiscal sponsor (if formally set up).
- Projects should be novel or startup (less than three years old), but the sponsor organization can be older.
- The organization should mostly serve under-resourced persons and societies, with the exception of the arts & cultures, where this criterion is less stringent.
- The project should be in or benefit the people living in the Greater Philadelphia area (the five counties).
- Barra is not open to spending projects with an AI theme at this time, nor proposals for capital campaigns, environmental/religious politics, stand-alone exhibitions or catalogs, or publication only efforts.
- Applicants must not ask for unlimited endowment growth; capital improvements are permissible only if central to innovation.
The foundation reviews LOIs (letters of inquiry) rolling, responding approximately within 45 days, and sends full proposals to those LOIs it selects. Decisions usually require four to six months from LOI to final grant award.
How to Apply: Process & Timeline
1. Draft a Strong LOI
Your first step is submitting a Letter of Inquiry via Barra’s online portal. In that LOI, Barra expects you to:
- Explain how your strategy is novel or unique
- Identify the problem or opportunity to be addressed
- Explain how you are involving the affected society
- Enunciate potential learning, adaptation, and effect channels
- Demonstrate pertinent expertise or leadership potential
Barra will endeavor to process LOIs early and advise accordingly whether to proceed with a full application.
2. Call for Full Proposal
In the event your LOI is accepted, Barra will ask for a full proposal. It likely contains:
- Comprehensive story with theory of change
- Goals, metrics, milestones, and learning plans
- Detailed budget and sustainability plans
- Institutional capacity and background
- Letters or support from the community
Barra can also arrange to talk to or meet with someone at this point, personally, telephonically, or online.
3. Board Review & Decision
Shortlisted proposals are assessed for the Board of Barra (in any of the quarterly rounds: March, June, September, December). On approval, grants are given accordingly.
4. Implementation & Learning
Since these are grants that are experimental, the assumption is that grantees will iterate, adapt, and bring up learnings. Reporting will involve narrative reflection, financials, and data aligned to milestones.
5. Special Grants (Irregular Funding Streams)
Beyond Catalyst, Special Grants are budgeted at the Walker Foundation for responsive grants to deal with emergencies or joint initiatives. These are also typically invitation-only, not open to the general rhetorical landscape.
Why This Opportunity Matters
Venture Capital & Innovation: Numerous funders do not venture to try things out due to the adverse nature of failure. The Catalyst Fund is specifically designed to ingest risk. Barra invests that can potentially fail but that, if successful, can shift systems.
Product-Based Focus: Through focusing investments in the Greater Philadelphia region, Barra can remain close to its grantees, comprehend the contexts profoundly, and facilitate place-specific learning.
Support Beyond Dollars: Barra doesn’t consider itself a transactions-oriented funder. It respects thought partnership, reflection, and learning together. Its strategy invites the grantees to experiment, fail, learn, and share.
Transition to Mission-Based Investment: Barra also undertakes mission-related investing, investing capital (e.g., loans or guarantees) with grantmaking. Some foundations might transition from grant-based pilot initiatives to hybrid approaches correlated with impact investing.
Strategies for a Compelling Application
Here are some advice to improve your LOI or whole proposition:
- Emphasize novelty and promise - discuss what distinguishes your concept.
- Centered community voice - demonstrate how affected respond to design and iteration.
- Learn Plan - outline how you will monitor, adapt, and respond.
- Be realistic with size and schedule - reveal what is feasible to do within the grant time.
- Fit with regional impact - explain how your work relates to the region.
- Demonstrate organizational leadership - reveal capability or potential for assumption for experimentation.
- Budget flexibility - provision for adjustment to your budget planning.
- Tell stories - incorporate narrative and figures to illustrate the ways in which your innovation is important.
The Barra Foundation’s Catalyst Fund offers an exciting pathway for organizations in Greater Philadelphia ready to step into experimental work by experimenting with ambitious concepts, learning publicly, and working toward system change. When your mission is built upon equity, innovation, and place, this grant might grant you the space to grow and influence.
For an introduction or to refresh criteria, go to the Barra’s Apply page and the Catalyst Fund program page.
