CJI Grant Programs

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CJI Grant Programs

As an incubator for Criminal Justice Movement organizations led by people most directly impacted by the criminal legal and immigration systems they are transforming, Circle for Justice Innovations moves resources to advance movements to dismantle the carceral ecosystem and seed and sustain what comes next. Our funding model is grounded in a clear belief: those closest to harm hold the insight, strategy, and leadership needed to both dismantle what exists and build what must follow. In a political moment defined by both backlash and possibility, we invest in work that is responsive, rooted, and designed to endure.

Circle for Justice Innovations review panels are intentionally designed to bridge social divides across gender, race, class, and generations, while centering lived experience as expertise. Our grantmaking Circles are made up of leaders whose lives have been shaped by policing, incarceration, detention, and deportation. Together, they bring political clarity, strategic insight, and a shared commitment to resourcing work that not only disrupts harmful systems but actively builds the conditions for something different to take hold –new systems grounded in safety, dignity and self-determination.

Our grantmaking reflects the communities and movements we fund –responsive, intersectional, and future-facing. We currently operate three participatory grantmaking Circles, each grounded in a vital scope of work:

Leadership Circle

Shared decision-making and investment in directly impacted leadership are vital to dismantling mass incarceration, ensuring that those most affected shape the strategies, solutions, and systems that replace it. The Leadership Circle brings together donor activists and directly impacted organizers & leaders to share decision-making power and resource grassroots efforts across policing, courts, incarceration, immigration enforcement, policy advocacy, and re-entry, advancing community-based safety, healing, and collective liberation.

Until She’s Free

Supports women, girls, trans women, and trans girls, and gender-nonconforming and gender expansive people, centering the gender-specific ways these communities are impacted by criminalization, incarceration, immigration detention, and deportation, and resourcing efforts that respond to their leadership and distinct needs to end the incarceration of women, girls, trans women and girls & gender-nonconforming and gender expansive people.

Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Microgrant Fund

Provides microgrants to address urgent needs and support movement pivots or emerging opportunities, offering flexible funding for time-sensitive actions when traditional timelines cannot meet the moment. This flexible micro granting enables organizers to act on shifting conditions in real time, where small, timely resources can unlock momentum and accelerate transformative change.

Legacy Programs

Philanthropic Partnerships

CJI has leveraged its unique role in philanthropy to partner with peer grant makers in delivering strategic, targeted funding that advances the transformation of policing and carceral systems, while strengthening community-based approaches to safety, healing, and long-term change nationwide.

CJI Grant Programs

As an incubator for Criminal Justice Movement organizations led by the people most directly impacted by the criminal legal and immigration systems they seek to transform, the CJI funding model represents a truly diverse and innovative grantmaking community.

CJI review panels bridge social gaps like gender and class, and our giving Circle includes members whose experiences are informed by contact with mass incarceration. All share a deep concern and passion for meaningful, systemic change.

We currently operate four grantmaking Circles, each endowed with a vital scope of work:

Leadership Circle

Engaged in movement-building for systemic change supporting organizations across the spectrum of criminal justice issues from police interactions, to pre-trial justice, to conditions of confinement, through re-entry.

Until She’s Free

Supports women, girls, trans women, and trans girls, gender-non-conforming people, and LGBTQIA-led organizations addressing the unique ways these communities are harmed by violence, incarceration, immigration detention, and deportation.

Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Rapid Response Circle

Meets emergency needs and provides flexible funding for urgent movement actions.

Legacy Programs

Philanthropic Partnerships

CJI endeavors to leverage its unique position in the world of philanthropy to assist peer grantmakers with the delivery of strategic, targeted, and effective grant support to advance the fundamental transformation of policing and carceral systems, coupled with community-based approaches to safety and healing on a national scale.