CJI’s Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Microgrant Circle is a funding mechanism that issues micro-grants of up to $7,500 to eligible organizations addressing critically urgent strategic calls to action and meeting emergency community needs. SOS enables organizations to take advantage of unanticipated opportunities for organizing and advocacy that may be otherwise prohibitive due to small funding gaps.
The SOS application process is kept simple and requires only a few brief answers regarding need, nonprofit status, and project budget.
Move resources at the speed of harm –and the speed of resistance.
Resourcing what this moment demands –led by those closest to the harm.
The Moment
We are in a period of rapid escalation and coordinated harm.
Across the country, we are witnessing intensified criminalization of young people, expanded immigration enforcement, escalating attacks on transgender communities, and a broader rise in state violence, surveillance, and punishment. These conditions are interconnected –and unfolding alongside deepening threats to democratic participation and civic life.
At the same time, formerly incarcerated people (FIP), directly impacted communities, and grassroots organizers continue to lead –defending their communities, interrupting harm, and advancing visions rooted in safety, freedom, and collective care. In this moment, FIP leadership is not only essential, it is necessary. Those who have survived and navigated systems of incarceration, criminalization, and deportation bring critical insight, strategy, and credibility to efforts to dismantle those systems and build alternatives.
Circle for Justice Innovations (CJI) is committed to resourcing and following the leadership of formerly incarcerated and directly impacted people –recognizing that meaningful change is driven by those closest to the harm. We believe this moment demands speed, trust, and sustained investment in FIP-led solutions that both respond to immediate threats and lay the groundwork for long-term transformation.
SOS provides flexible microgrants to support rapid movement responses, including advocacy and civic engagement efforts that respond to extreme state violence such as ICE raids, incidents of white supremacist or fascist aggression, and legislation or government policies that expand criminalization and incarceration or restrict constitutionally protected activity. It also supports critical responses to crises such as public health emergencies, compassionate release efforts, and disasters that disrupt organizing capacity or pose direct threats to incarcerated people and the communities working to support them.
Please note, applications are reviewed on the 15th and 30th. Awards are given in a timely manner to meet the rapid response need but not immediately dispersed.
Funding Priorities
We support rapid response efforts that:
- Address increased criminalization and policing of youth
- Respond to immigration enforcement and ICE presence impacting communities
- Protect and defend transgender and gender-expansive leadership
- Interrupt or respond to state violence, surveillance, or repression
- Advance time-sensitive, nonpartisan civic engagement aligned with 501(c)(3) guidelines in the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections
Eligibility
To be eligible for an SOS Grant, organizations must:
- Be led by formerly incarcerated and/or directly impacted people
- Propose work that is responsive to current events or threats
- Organizations with budgets under $750,000
- Be a 501(c)(3) organization or be fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization with a MOU
Application now open: May 15th
