Support Edge Fund's 2025 Root Funding Round & help us raise £50,000 for grassroots groups and collectives opposing Islamophobia & colonial violence in the UK

 

“The mess we are living in is a deliberate one. If it was created by people, it can be dismantled by people, and it can be rebuilt in a way that serves all, rather than a selfish, hoarding few.“ Renni Eddo-Lodge.

 

Who We Fund and Why Your Support Matters Now?

“Edge Fund's grant helped us secure another year for our most basic of campaign tools - our website registration, hosting, paying for child care to help key members organise online working groups, and more.” -Grantee-member.

For over a decade, we have identified and supported more than 500 grassroots movements and activist collectives, such as Bristol Sex Workers Collective, Demilitarise Lancaster, the Filipino Domestic Workers Association UK, Cradle Community, and hundreds more. Groups doing the work of sowing the seeds for another world altogether. We particularly look for groups based in the UK that are run by and for migrants, queer and gender variant, disabled, working class and people of the global majority.

Our current political landscape continues to put profits over people and the planet—a sentiment rippling further into the funding and philanthropy sector. Since the beginning of the current genocide in Gaza, several funding bodies and organisations in the UK have altered their guidelines to discourage activist and political activity. What does this mean for grassroots groups and activist collectives for whom the personal is the political and their very existence is politicised?

Empowering Resistance: Radical Funding for Grassroots Movements Against Islamophobia and Colonial Violence.

“Thank you for the ease of being able to apply for small grants to small groups like ours. The money made it easier for us to document our journey on our website. And that journey led to this! Our legal challenge against Horse Hill resulted in a historic Supreme Court ruling that could halt future fossil fuel projects across the UK.”-Weald Action Group, Grantee-member.

Like many of you, at Edge we were outraged by the levels of Afriphobic and Islamophobic hate and violence spread in the summer riots of 2024. As a participatory grantmaking fund we want to support the work of independent grassroots groups already doing the work of protecting and empowering their communities.

In December 2023, we allocated emergency funds for Palestinian led and centred groups in the UK. The groups became grantee-members of Edge who shared vital knowledge of the ways in which we can guide our principals to better show up for and support the Palestinian struggle.

This work underscored the urgent need for Edge to establish a dedicated radical funding round specifically for groups opposing Islamophobia and colonial violence in the UK. Through our participatory membership model, we want to fund groups at the forefront of the struggle for justice and liberation. These groups invite us to reimagine a better world for all, and expand our knowledge and understanding of how to show up for these struggles.

We're raising £50,000 to deliver this Root Funding Round. Your support will allow us to:

• Grant £1000 to 40 independent grassroots groups and activist collectives opposing islamophobia and colonial violence in the UK.
• Ensure the work process is accessible and inclusive for all Edge members.
• Recruit, prepare and resource Edge members with lived experience to score the Root Funding Round applications.
• Hold a hybrid in-person and online Radical Sharing Forum; a space for Edge members (current and past grantees) to meet up, share their work, organising strategies, problems, aims and achievements. The Radical Sharing Forum is a space for building solidarity among radical grassroots organisers, aimed to cultivate networks of support and collaboration, as all struggles are interconnected.
• Create a free resource guide from knowledge shared and produced through the Radical Sharing Forum for grassroots groups and activist collectives in the UK. 

 

Your support can make this vital work a reality. By contributing to our radical Root Funding Round, you join a movement resisting systemic neglect, erasure and attack. Together, we challenge colonial violence and empower our communities forward. 

“We were able to afford to pay for the rent of an office space in Work For Change, a cooperative in Hulme, Manchester. This is a great fit for us and has led to some great collaborations with our fellow cooperative members “ - CHARM Grantee-Member

 

If you are in solidarity with our aims and values, we invite you to become a regular funder or to donate to our 2025 Root Funding Round crowdfunder page.

 

Glossary: 

Islamophobia: irrational fear of, hostility towards, or prejudice against the religion of Islam and/or Muslims in General. A state sanctioned form of racism.

Afriphobia: is specifically racism against Afrikan People. It refers to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards Afrikan people globally. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the implication of antipathy, contempt and aversion. It is apparent in acts of discrimination and racist violence on the basis of a person’s skin colour, racial/ethnic origin, and nationality. Afriphobia is discrimination on grounds that seek to dehumanise a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood, this includes Afriphobic hate crimes through verbal abuse, degrading language and physical violence against Afrikan people.

*Spelling Afrika with a ‘K’ represents a non-European, Afrikan-centred perspective, symbolising the reclamation of a unified Afrikan identity and people worldwide.  

Global Majority: refers to people who are Black, Asian, dual-heritage, indigenous to the Global South, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities'. Globally, these groups approximately represent 80% of the world's population.

Radical: of, relating to, or proceeding from a root.

 

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Who are the Edge Fund members looking at your applications? Who is involved in deciding how the £40K are distributed?

For our 2024 Funding Round 16, 21 Edge Fund members from Ireland and around the UK will read your applications.

Edge Fund members are grassroots and community organisers whose groups have received an Edge Fund grant in the past. They are joining us in our efforts to redistribute funds to radical grassroots campaigns pushing for systemic change.

These are the Edge Fund members involved in deciding how to distribute funds in FR16:

1. Andi: Scoring on behalf of We Grow (@wegrow.cic). We Grow connects people who live within walking distance of each other, to form groups to grow communal food together. I have worked in community building for over 20 years and is part of local funding panels.

2. Julia: Scoring on behalf of Mad Insight (madinsight.online). A group of mad scholars, activists and pioneers who critique the mainstream mental health paradigm. We assert that madness offers knowledge, understanding and experiencing of the world.

3. Pasqueline: Scoring on behalf of Black Socialists London (@blacksocialistslondon), a grassroots anti-racist and anti-imperialist organisation run by BPOC where we run political educational sessions and discussions, and community initiatives.

4. Jennifer from the Resting Up Collective (@restingupcollective_) is the founder of resting up collective, an interdisciplinary group of chronically ill/disabled friends practising slowness to create, think, and interrupt neoliberal pressures/expectations on the body.

5. Laura from Migrant Women Press (@migrantwomenpress) My name is Laura, and in addition to being an Edge Fund Scorer, I am the Literature Section Editor for Migrant Women Press. We amplify the voices of migrant women and challenge mainstream media narratives about immigrants.

6. Eva from People's Health Movement Scotland (@phmscotland). The People’s Health Movement (PHM) Scotland is part of the global PHM social movement working towards the progressive realisation of a fairer & healthier world. I am one of the core members.

7. Asma from BAXSAN (@BAXSAN). The Somali word BAXSAN translates to emancipation/liberation. BAXSAN is an artist collective and private peer support network made up of artists and community facilitators, whose primary focus is creating connections, fostering community and creating art from the shared experiences of LGBTQI+ Somalis. Their work is heavily rooted in exploring and affirming liberation practices. Since the group’s inception, they have prioritised safety, resourcing and upskilling, providing spaces to commune and create.

8. Chris from Friends of Little Woods (@FriendsofLittleWoods). Friends of Little Woods campaigns for social and environmental justice in Northern Ireland. Chris is the Treasurer and a founder member.

9. Sophie. Massage therapist and mama to a 1 year old. I currently organise with Decolonising Economics. Previously involved in survivor and sex worker-led groups, focusing on those who are racialised.

10. C from BP or not BP? (@BPotNotBP). My name is C and I am part of BP or not BP? where we are campaigning the British Museum to drop their sponsorship deal with BP. We believe that cultural institutions must break their links with the fossil fuel industry, and that oil-sponsored institutions are also ideal venues to provoke a wider public conversation about the destructive activities of the fossil fuel industry, and to amplify the voices of those affected by them.

11. MG from Exiled Writers Ink (@ExiledWritersInk). MG is an editorial committee member of the Exiled Writers Ink e-magazine. Exiled Writers Ink develops and promotes the creative literary expression of refugees, migrants and exiles.

12. David from People's Land Policy (@PeoplesLandPolicy). D is part of The People’s Land Policy is a project to develop discussion and debate about what kind of land reform we need. By bringing together a range of people to discuss land and the issues that affect them we hope to contribute to the building of a broad-based, radical movement for land reform.

13. Kat, from Sex Worker Collectives and with ample knowledge and lived experience of sex worker struggles and disability liberation.

14. A from an Anti-fasicst Research Group. We are a group of anti-fascist investigators, using open source and investigative methods to expose and oppose the far right in Britain.

15. Jen from Our Streets Now (@OurStreetsNow). Our vision is a world free from public sexual harassment. A world which empowers, listens to and believes survivors, and which challenges this culture of gender-based violence and intersecting forms of oppression, rather than upholding it. 

16. Olivia from Women Integration Network (@WIN). Our focus is supporting marginalized groups, asylum seekers and migrant women to defeat social isolation, foster friendships and achieve integration.

17. Tina from Nanas UK Against Fracking (@UKNanas) We are a group of compassionate individuals from all walks of life, fighting to protect our communities from the harmful effects of fracking, fossil fuels and injustice. 

18. Tia from Wanderers of Colour (@wanderersofcolour). By + For BPOC. 🌱Committed to social justice through improving access to the outdoors. Primarily UK based w/ members global

19. Elgan from Food and Solidarity (@foodandsolidarity). Food and Solidarity is a democratic membership organisation committed to improving the quality of life in your neighbourhoods. Towards an organised workplace, community, and household.

20. Leah from Space Hijackers (@SpaceHijackers). The Space Hijackers were a group of Anarchitects which was set up at the beginning of 1999.

21. Philippo from Other Ways to Care. First-generation, neurodivergent immigrant, white male in 30s, peer supporter and community organiser living in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

 

In the context of the Race Riots in the past weeks, we at Edge Fund reiterate our solidarity with all those who have been attacked with racial abuse and Islamophobia, and those affected by the continued targeting of the State for defending their communities.

We are a participatory grantmaking fund working on making a difference. 

We are in the process of redistributing £40K. Edge Fund’s members reviewing applications and supporting the overall work of the organisation understand the critical juncture at which we are, and commit to support during this Funding Round groups doing systemic work to challenge racism and Islamophobia, as well as those organising new forms of solidarity among migrants, people of colour and refugees. We pledge to support those old and new groups challenging the hostile environment that sowed the recent riots, and those holding power to account as racism is still woven into the fabric of British society. 

If you are part of a grassroots organisation challenging racism and racist structures we want to support your work.

If you are in the position to support our work, please consider making a donation so that we can keep on redistributing funds!

 

Edge Fund

12 September 2024

Radical Sharing Forum 2024

Solidarity with Palestine 

                                                                                   Photo credit: London for a Free Palestine

Edge Fund's Radical Sharing Forum

Earlier on 20th April this year we had another edition of Edge Fund’s Radical Sharing Forum.

The Radical Sharing Forum is a space for Edge Fund members (current and past grantees) to meet up and share with each other about their work, organising strategies, problems, aims and achievements. It’s a space to build up solidarity among radical grassroots organisers and campaigners with the aim to continue cultivating networks of support and collaboration as all our struggles are interconnected! 

This time we tried a new, different dynamic where we focused on a specific topic and asked attendants to reflect on how their groups engage with Solidarity with Palestine in the UK. Having allocated an emergency fund for Palestinian led groups in the UK in December of 2023, we wanted to keep learning from the Palestinian struggle and discuss how to better support it. Thanks to EF members Isis Amlak and Jannat Hossain for bringing people together to work on this emergency fund, and to Jannat also for moderating the Radical Sharing Forum

Palestinian Youth Movement (Britain chapter), Parents For Palestine and Let's Talk Palestine, all EF’s grantees and members, came to open the discussion with attendees by touching upon three main questions: 

1. What would you like other activists to know about Palestine that you think is missing from the narratives we are hearing (including even in the more independent/radical media)?
2. What can groups do in solidarity in this moment but also in the longer-term, knowing that our issues are connected? What advice would you give to people about staying in the movement for the longer-term amidst all the messiness that comes from being part of social movements?
3. How do we stay hopeful? Why is hope important? What are the stories we must carry with us to remind us? What are the visions which should guide us?

This edition of the Radical Sharing Forum also had the participation of Palestinian musician, Kareem Samara, who shared two pieces of music with us and told us a little bit about the experiences behind them.  

We also want to say thanks to all the attendees for sharing a little bit about their work and how they stand in solidarity with Palestine in their own campaigning, showing how interconnected our struggles are. 

Here we are sharing Edge Fund's notes from the conversation with that Palestinian Youth Movement (Britain chapter), Parents For Palestine and Let's Talk Palestine had with Edge members on the above questions.

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What would you like other activists to know about Palestine that you think is missing from the narratives we are hearing (including even in the more indy/radical media)?

• We have to recognise that Palestinians are victims of one of the most brutal genocidal fascist regimes in the world but we cannot fail to recognise that Palestinians are mainly active participants in their own struggle as even some of the left-wing media misrepresent. 

• Palestinians must be present in the media as people with their own stories.

• Palestinian resistance is not a mere explosion of anger and violence but the result of a longer historical process for liberation and political agency. 

• Media has to be more vocal about all the victims, not only children, women and the elderly, as if only some peoples’ suffering matter.

• On Israel, many people think that the problem will be gone as Netanyahu leaves office, but we must remember that left-wing zionists and liberal parties are also responsible for policies going on for more than 60 years. The problem is not about one leader or party, but a whole structure that is zionism. 

• Ceasefire is an important demand but this is where the struggle begins. It’s the first step. Protests must not end or go away as soon as we have a ceasefire. We need to be better prepared to combat the structure that made these genocidal practices possible in the first place. 

• The Arab dimension of the Palestinian struggle: when mass protests in solidarity with Palestine are repressed in Arab countries by authoritarian regimes (Jordan or Egypt for example), the wider attempt is to kill or suppress the political life that Arab communities have. 

• Protests in solidarity with Palestine are suppressed with the intention to stop or contain a wider mobilisation by Arab communities against the repression they suffer at the hands of their own regimes. 

• We must translate Pan-Arab solidarity into denunciations against the complicity of multiple regimes with Israel and its stance on Palestinian liberation. 

• Pan-Arabism counters colonialism.  

• We have been lectured for years about Western democratic values, about being taught how to govern ourselves, about moving forwards… about having to become more like western countries… and now we have the disadvantage that Arab governments are allies of so-called Western democracies… The contradiction between Arab communities having an active political life and Arab repressive states is a contradiction that we have to overcome rather than an inner contradiction we have to accept.

Photo credit: Parents for Palestine

What can groups do in solidarity in this moment but also in the longer-term, knowing that our issues are connected? What advice would you give to people about staying in the movement for the longer-term amidst all the messiness that comes from being part of social movements?

• For the work we do in Britain, it’s critical to create room to support Arab communities protesting against Israel and against their own repressive regimes. Our organising must make space for solidarity between Arab communities. We don’t put our faith in government or leaders but in communities. 

• Another aspect of the local struggle here in Britain is to uncover institutional and economic realities for those in Britain, showing what is at stake for them too by revealing how much energy and money Britain spends in arms which support Israel instead of guaranteeing housing, education and other rights to those living in the UK.  

• Also, noticing that since the 1930s and the suppression of Arab revolts, Arab countries became a laboratory for repression and counterinsurgency techniques that were later brought back to Britain.

• We also need to look at the difference in social movements between mobilising and organising. For an effective long term work we need both: mobilising is bringing people to specific actions, protests, demonstrations, campaigns, and this is what most of us have been trying to do for the last seven months. But building a movement that can effectively stay for the long term and that is not merely reactive requires building up infrastructure and community, aiming at developing or nurturing a base of people, which is very much about outreach and recruitment, and also about consciousness building and political education. Otherwise our groups run the risk of being exhausted responding to urgent situations.

• As organisers we need to take the serious task of following up and connecting with people attending protests and events, finding ways of bringing them to the work that were are all doing. But in order to do that we need an infrastructure able to take and distribute tasks. This is what people now are focusing on in terms of strategy, considering your aims and objectives to guide the structure you want to have in place, coordinating with other groups, building up coalitions to sustain long term campaigns and to avoid duplicating efforts by multiple campaigns.

• Understanding how interconnected our struggles are means to understand that our actions are not only in solidarity with Palestine but for the own good of our communities: when we confront the weapons industry benefiting companies and governments around the world, we are acting for our own, diverse causes and not only for Palestine, because this is an issue for you too. The money going from the British government to support Israel is money that is not at work for the benefit of people in this country, for children, for migrants. Especially as parents, some of us focus on wellbeing and protecting and supporting others, and in thinking about the wider situation of how people have nowhere to go now both in Palestine and in other places around the world, all affected in different ways and at different scales by the same structures of power.

• As the genocide goes on less people are covering it, it’s not on the media as at the beginning of the last 9 months. We need to engage in informing and build up solidarity 24/7 and make sure it is sustainable, developing answers to questions like How can we promote boycotts even when the bombing stops or when we are not in the headlines? Also, how to communicate that Palestine is the gateway to a lot of different systematic oppressions that radicalise so many people in different struggles, like anticolonialism and others? We need to show the interconnectivities between struggles. When we speak about wording, it’s crucial not to adapt our struggle to the language of the media.

• In regard to producing and circulating information, try to keep things short and simple. Emphasis must be not only on growing in numbers of supporters but also in the quality of the work we do: promoting our culture, our achievements, our communities. 

Photo credit: Palestinian Youth Movement 

How do we stay hopeful? Why is hope important? What are the stories we must carry with us to remind us? What are the visions which should guide us?

• This is a very difficult question, depending on who is speaking and who you are addressing. For many of us in the movement we need to consciously remember those who came before and upon which we are building the struggles that we are having today. 

• We can draw hope and inspiration by learning from the history of anticolonial movements and revolutionaries worldwide, experiences of Vietnam, Algeria, which faced one of the most powerful military powers of their time and yet achieved liberation. 

• History reinforces our belief that resistance is an ongoing journey. We need to maintain hope and not be disheartened by the times, as we need to understand that our collective resistance is built up with time. 

• Keeping in mind the questions of children and young people: they have information and are aware of the situation, so they ask how they can participate. That is a source of hope too as we see a new generation engaged with the Palestinian struggle, learning from other generations and with their own questions. 

• When feeling exhausted, look at history, look at our sisters and brothers in Gaza to draw strength, hope. If they can do what they are doing in these difficult times we can also get stronger. History also shows that liberation may seem to be distant but every movement shows that things are not simple and that despite difficult circumstances people emerged out of those systems of oppression.

 

We invite Palestinian-led, Palestinian-centred organising groups in the UK and Ireland to apply to our Funding Round 16

(from 12th August to 13th September 2024):

Apply here

Please note we have extended the deadline for the rapid response fund by two weeks - All applications must now be sent in by 5pm on Tuesday 8th September 2020

Following our COVID-19 Emergency Fund, Edge Fund is now launching our first Rapid Response Fund! We will be funding 30 groups with grants of £750 each. Of those, we will be paying special attention to groups doing anti-racist work, and fighting for Black/Afrikan liberation.

Read more