Supporting Movements
Rapid Response Survival Fund
The Rapid Response Survival Fund is a way to quickly fund social justice movements and survival requests for marginalized communities.
Become a Donor | Receive Support | How it Works | Our History | Our People
About
The Rapid Response List is a semi-autonomous project started by Resource Movement members in 2020. In response to a need identified by movement partners, it provides an organized source of rapid-response funding for both individual survival needs and mobilization needs.
Currently, we move money through a network of community partners, including non-profit or charitable and grassroots organizations as well as activists, who refer requests to our list.
Become a Donor
From 2018-2026, we have helped hundreds of people with one-time emergency support where other social justice organizations can’t help out. We helped tenant organizers run a recruitment picnic, we helped Indigenous elders with funeral costs, we helped activists and new migrants make rent, and so much more. We did so with funds from our donors.
How do we do it? We collect funds from 90+ monthly donors, giving us a monthly budget of ~$7,000 to redistribute. We have partner organizations and activists that refer cases to us, and then we work out with those partners how much money to send to individuals/organizations. We send out a monthly report detailing where our collective funds were sent, keeping us accountable and logging our collective impact.
Are you an activist/organization seeking support for someone?
We give money away through a network of community partners, including non-profit or charitable and grassroots organizations as well as activists, who refer requests to our list. This helps us ensure that the funds are going to communities in need from the perspective of those communities, and helps us meet the full request needs of individuals seeking support. For more on our funding criteria, read below.
If you would like to join as one of our community partners, please start the conversation with us by sending us an email at rapidresponse@resourcemovement.org.
How It Works
We use the following criteria for supporting requests, which has been adapted from Resource Generation’s Giving Guide & their Social Justice Philanthropy Principles.
For funding, requests generally must:
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Be from a community partner of RM/RRL.
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Focus on systemic change, addressing root causes of colonial, racial, social, economic and environmental injustice.
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Centre the leadership of people impacted by the injustices they are fighting.
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Build power within marginalized communities.
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Be based in Canada or have a connection with Canada.
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Not be used for any illegal activities.
We support two kinds of requests:
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Movement requests are from community partners seeking support for protest activities that are typically not funded in other manners, or support people seeking to participate in protest activities.
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Survival requests on behalf of individuals or families associated with community partners seeking support with the basic costs of living: rent, groceries, medications, etc. Individuals seeking survival support may also be organizers/part of movements, but need not be.
We typically can fund $500-$2,000 per request, with the most common amount being around $500-$1,000. We will support larger campaigns as well, such as GoFundMe, but if we cannot support the entire ask, we will also send the link out to RRL members.
At this time we do not have the ability to raise support for large capital projects as our focus is on urgent requests for support.
We regret that, due to the number of requests received, access to funds is limited to once per person per year.
If you need help and don’t meet the RRSF Requirements, here is a list we’ve compiled of other possible mutual aid resources to explore.
We are always developing new community partners, but some of our long-standing partnerships include:
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The Nii’kinaaganaa Foundation
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Collective Bienvenue Montréal
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Palestine Solidarity
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Prairie Harm Reduction
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Solidarity Across Borders
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ASTT(e)Q, CACTUS Montréal
Our History
The Rapid Response List began in 2018 as a mutual aid network funded by direct e-transfers. As our list’s reach, capacity and network has grown, we created the Rapid Response Survival Fund, which is now the central funding source for requests. All requests come through trusted partnerships working in community. Our new system provides more certainty, consistency and accountability and helps fund more requests at 100%.
The Rapid Response Survival Fund is the result of consultations with the wider RM community and, importantly, our Social Justice Movement Advisory Committee. It was made clear to us, from our advisors in particular, that we are being called upon to:
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Lean into the challenge of higher need, rather than limiting who the list supports
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Reject the false distinction between folks doing social justice movement work and folks ‘merely’ seeking survival funds; they are often indistinguishable and supporting one means supporting the other
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Continue education work with list members and supporting folks in getting to a place where their redistribution and giving provokes discomfort, but not instability. In other words, doing the work of getting more people to give away more money!
We’ve redistributed upwards of $900,000 since our inception in 2018 through 400+ requests, all with a small group of volunteers and funders.
Our People
Any money raised by the RRSF goes into an account managed by Resource Movement, and funds are distributed by the Rapid Response Team to requests from our community partners. RM and RRSF volunteers compare incoming/outgoing funds at the end of every month and balance the books.
The governance of the Rapid Response Survival Fund is done by the Rapid Response Team. We are all involved in any decisions taken on behalf of the fund.
We are a small group of 5 to 6 people who manage to get a lot done, and have changed a few times since 2018! The volunteer commitment averages out to a few hours per month, and is all virtual.
If you’re interested in joining our team, please contact us at rapidresponse@resourcemovement.org.