Sessions will be held in-person at the Headwaters office in Minneapolis. If you live in Greater Minnesota and can travel to attend the sessions, you are welcome to participate. However, please carefully consider your capacity to travel for all scheduled dates and sessions.

We are currently unable to accommodate applicants who live out-of-state or internationally. The program does not include a virtual option for online participation. 

No. The Giving Project program runs every other year. The next cohort  is currently scheduled to begin in fall of 2026. We will update this page when we begin recruitment for the next Giving Project cohort.

If you'd like to receive more information when we begin recruiting for Headwaters' next Giving Project, fill out the Giving Project interest form.

We are looking for people who are passionate about organizing donors to fund social justice movements, can commit to attending all meetings throughout the program, and have the time and capacity to fully invest in this unique cohort experience.   

We are also committed to meeting our overall goals for cohort diversity. Headwaters centers Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color in each Giving Project cohort. We also prioritize LGBTQ+ folks and participants from diverse age and class backgrounds.  

Interested applicants submit an online application. Headwaters staff will review applications on a rolling basis as they come in. If your application moves forward in the process, a Headwaters staff member will set up a time to further discuss your interest in the Giving Project. We often have more applicants than spaces available in the program. 

Yes! The Giving Project sessions on race and class are designed to help ensure all participants have shared knowledge and language to use before donor organizing, evaluating grant applications, and hosting site visits. Often, people have had training on race, but not class, or vice versa. This curriculum brings them together through an analysis of racialized capitalism.

Additionally, this program is designed to facilitate dialogue and relationship building within a cross-identity cohort of people who are multi-generational, cross-race, and cross-class. Often, we have these conversations in silos with other folks who share our identities, but in the Giving Project we break those silos down.

Importantly, the Giving Project model combines learning and action. Often, training spaces give us frameworks but don’t ask us to do anything after. By combining political education with donor organizing and grantmaking, the Giving Project helps people live out what they’re learning. 

The Giving Project is not an anti-oppression 101 course. We suggest looking for other trainings if you haven’t had any training on race and class or done personal work to understand how those identities live in you. There are many excellent learning opportunities online and in-person. You, and the cohort, will have a more fulfilling Giving Project experience if you have a 101 understanding before joining the program. 

Yes! People involved with grantee organizations can participate as a Giving Project cohort member as a way to inform and influence their own work. We use a conflict-of-interest policy to ensure that anyone closely involved with an applicant organization does not participate in the discussion or scoring of that organization’s application. We encourage you to apply!

Being present at all meetings is how we build collective analysis and support. We prioritize participants who can fully commit to the program and attend all sessions. Please let us know in your application if you'll need to miss any sessions.  

If you know you don’t currently have the capacity to fully commit to this program but are interested in it, we highly encourage you to consider applying for a future Giving Project cohort! 

Frankly, most people do, and there are lots of reasons why. Money, class, and wealth are often seen as taboo topics under our system of racialized capitalism, but it can feel freeing to have conversations about them in the Giving Project! We work with each cohort to find their possible reasons during the staff-led fundraising training. That's when cohort members learn how to ask for money in ways that feel good. Cohort members begin to see that they are engaging in powerful, direct action for social change. It's not just about fundraising. Giving Project cohort members become donor organizers, using their own donations and influence to bring in more donations from their networks. Many alumni credit the fundraising aspect of the program as the most challenging and rewarding. Staff are enthusiastic about supporting you on your journey.

Yes! Headwaters is committed to providing childcare as part of the program in the form of a stipend. If you need a childcare stipend, please tell us during the application process.

• Tell others about the Giving Project!  We need your help to get the word out. 
• Donate today and join the Headwaters community! In order to make Giving Projects work, we need financial support from people who love the idea and the work but can’t be involved themselves. 
• Sign up for Headwaters monthly e-newsletter to stay in-the-know about our grantmaking, grantee partner news, and upcoming events.
• If you'd like to receive more information when we begin recruiting for Headwaters' next Giving Project, fill out the Giving Project interest form.