Funding by Community, for Community: Headwaters Foundation for Justice

Headwaters Foundation for Justice gets money into the hands of people closest to the issues because community-led decision-making and organizing are core strategies.

Transformation takes root when communities lead the way, naming what they need, how to get there, and how change should look. This is what we mean when we talk about justice. Every community should have the opportunities and tools they need to thrive.

For more than 40 years, Headwaters Foundation for Justice (Headwaters) has been supporting grassroots movements in Minnesota by shifting who receives funding and who decides where it goes. As a public foundation powered by donations from the community, Headwaters operates with a simple yet powerful belief: the people closest to the challenges are also closest to the solutions.

Its model, designed by community, for community, brings together donors, organizers, partner funders, community members, and grassroots leaders to fund justice-focused organizations often overlooked by traditional philanthropy. And that model is working. Headwaters demonstrates accountability to communities building self-determination and power—key conditions supported by our funding framework.

Headwaters shares funding and power with community.

“At Headwaters, we are building shared power through sharing money,” says Bilal Alkatout, co-executive director. “We are a platform for democratizing giving—for bigger institutions wanting to get dollars directly into communities, and for local people who want to participate (sometimes for the first time) as philanthropists.”

Money raised goes to Minnesota organizations that are amplifying the power of community. What does that mean? Headwaters defines power building as simply this: the ability for people to act in an organized way to identify what they want and how to get it. This is power that creates the conditions for change—and justice.

Take a look at Headwaters’ grantmaking funds. The Black Radiance Network, for example, was created by and for Black leaders. This fund regrants dollars to organizations building opportunities and breaking down silos to connect Black Minnesotans from all corners of the state.

Or the Fund of the Sacred Circle, which supports Native-led organizing. Deep community conversations shaped this fund, and it continues to be culturally informed by evaluation sessions with community members. Native leaders, activists, and members from diverse Native nations and communities decide where grants go. They bring a collective wisdom that ensures the process is rooted, from the inside out, in Indigenous values and practices.

Headwaters meets community members where they are.

Since 2019, we’ve partnered with Headwaters through multiyear, general operating support to several of its funds.

“Headwaters finds organizations that traditional philanthropy often misses,” says John Fetzer, program officer for Northwest Area Foundation. “It allows our funding to reach people and places beyond our own networks and knowledge. We rely on Headwaters to find who is doing work on the ground in Minnesota.”

In many cases, Headwaters is the first to fund an organization or project, taking on what other funders may see as too risky or too young. They provide critical early funding, even in smaller amounts, that can be what gets an organization off the ground.

One of Headwaters’ long-term grantee partners is Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL), a workers’ center in the Twin Cities. “Fifteen years ago, they were working out of a basement, renting space, bursting at the seams, and looking for support in buying a building. They told us we were the first funder that came to them and asked, ‘How can we help you?’” says Ewan Scotto, director of communications. “We meet people where they are, champion their vision, and connect them to the resources they need to grow.”

In other words, “We seed the change—and also cultivate transformation,” adds Alkatout.

Headwaters is also able to move fast. Both at the beginning of the pandemic and following the murder of George Floyd, Headwaters supported work on the ground to move quickly, while also maintaining a long-term approach to the work they do. They know that real change takes time, and will happen over generations.

Accountability is key, both in community and within Headwaters’ own walls.

How does Headwaters find partners on the ground? Its program officers are embedded in communities, traveling across Greater Minnesota, showing up at community gatherings, listening deeply, and building relationships. “We aim to bring a care and a humility to our relationships. Being community-led means relying on word of mouth, listening more than we speak, and trusting the expertise that already exists,” says Scotto.

That ethos of shared accountability extends inward, too. Headwaters practices shared leadership within its own organization, modeling the power-building principles it seeks to advance in the field. Many grantee partners go on to become board or committee members, and Headwaters recently initiated a shared leadership model at the top of its organization. This internal work—for example, around governance, culture, and decision-making—is ongoing and just as important as external grantmaking.

“We want to reinforce the same changes within our organization that we do with our dollars. We’re doing as we’re saying—and as we’re seeing—in our community,” says Alkatout.

How organizing builds power for a more just future.

Take Ayada Leads, which empowers East African women in Minnesota to run for public office and advocate for their communities. By offering civic education, self-advocacy training, and deep cultural affirmation, this organization fosters new leaders, challenges existing barriers, and creates a more inclusive political landscape. Notable alumni include Minnesota Senator Zaynab Mohamed, who also made history as the youngest woman elected to the Minnesota Senate, and St. Louis Park Mayor Nadia Mohamed, the first Somali American elected mayor in the United States.

Then there’s Our Justice, a gender justice advocacy group that works at both the grassroots and policy levels to defend reproductive rights. Or Manidoo Ogitigaan, an Indigenous-led organization preserving Ojibwe language, arts, culture, and lifeways—infusing healing through the community.

All of these examples are community-led, collaborative efforts that are not short-term fixes. Instead, they’re designed to address the root causes of challenges faced by communities. This happens by changing policies, practices, and beliefs—change that can take years or generations. And they’re possible because of the long-term, unrestricted support that Headwaters, with the support of its donors, provides.

Headwaters funds a web of community possibility.

As a public foundation, Headwaters doesn’t sit on a large endowment. It raises funds year after year, then redistributes them through transparent, community-led processes. That flow of resources—from people to organizations to movements—is intentional.

“We’re not here to preserve wealth or legacy,” says Alkatout. “We’re a vehicle to democratize dollars—to move money from the masses into the hands of the people who are solving the problems they face every day. We’re about change, not charity—both in terms of our philanthropy and the impact we make.”

In a time of complexity and challenge, Headwaters offers something rare: a way to act. For donors who want to make a difference but aren’t sure how, supporting Headwaters means joining a broader movement for justice.

“Headwaters is a place where people can go to make a difference,” says Fetzer. “If you support its work, you are doing more than funding one organization. You are supporting a web of community brilliance and possibility.”

That web—rooted in culture, grounded in community, and aligned with justice—is what makes Headwaters such a vital force for change. Accountability and self-determination for communities are at the heart of it.