JustFund End of Summer 2023 Bulletin Dear JustFund Partners, The end of summer is upon us and the JustFund team just returned from the first ever Week of Restoration to rest, relax, and recharge, as well as to create space for creativity and new ideas. Together, you have invested $6.18M toward our $10M growth capital goal to take JustFund from a nonprofit grantmaking solution serving 100 funds and a few hundred donors moving $239M, to a nonprofit B2B SaaS platform serving 500 funds and 10,000 donors moving $1B. Your investment is creating game changing, reliable features that make core systems in philanthropy more equitable, accessible, and streamlined. I am excited to share major milestones we’ve met in the first half of 2023 and give you a sense of what’s next for JustFund. Many of us are already connecting on a regular basis. If you’d like a 1:1 update from me or from folks on the team, please schedule one here. I appreciate every opportunity to roll up my sleeves with you, hear your advice and feedback, and ensure JustFund is best positioned to disrupt inequitable ways of giving and move more money to advance social and racial justice. Warmly,
Iara Peng, Founder and CEO
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By the Numbers As of August 22, 2023
Top 5 Communities Funded
$39,729,082
moved January - August 2023 $235,259,078
Black: $152M Latino: $139M Women: $119M Immigrant: $117M LGBTIQA: $97M
total money moved
$134,367,282
secondary grants
$50,065
average grant size
29%
applications funded
10,925
applications in JustFund
835
funder accounts
273,125
hours saved
21
years saved
Top 5 Focus Areas Funded Racial Justice: 18% Democracy and Civic Engagement: 16% Economic Justice: 13% Environmental Justice: 8% Human Rights: 7% Top Region Funded South: 32% Org Budget Size of all applicant: Budget Size
Applied
Funded
<$500K
54%
41%
$500-$1M
15%
15%
$1M-2M
12%
17%
$2-5M
10%
13%
$5M+
10%
14%
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New Funds Since January 2023, we have welcomed 17 new funds using the JustFund Common ApplicationTM to manage their grant cycles or using JustFund SearchTM to find new organizations to fund.
FUND FOR THE EDUCATION SUCCESS
of Students Experiencing Homelessness, Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
In the News Learn about JustFund’s origin story and how we are using trust and technology to reshape the giving landscape in this Peak Grantmaking spotlight! Also, hear directly from our Founder and CEO about her personal story in The Hero’s JourneySM Podcast!
The People Behind the Platform We have grown in 2023 from five employees to ten - with an expected addition of five new team members by December. Meet the people behind the platform in our blog series here. Help us fill new product and customer experience roles by sharing open positions with your networks.
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New Feature Spotlight: Equity Index Funds Equity Index Funds make it easy for donors and foundations to give one grant to JustFund and have confidence that funding will go to a powerful ecosystem of funds and organizations working to create meaningful change in that issue area. Contributing into an Equity Index Fund directs contributions to a specific issue area or region with a single charitable transaction to JustFund that funds a powerful network of 501c3 and 501c4 funds and organizations. Donors will receive twice annual briefings from the Fund as well as quarterly impact reports. Stay tuned for how you can get involved and promote Equity Index Funds.
Help JustFund Grow As a part of our trusted investors network, there are three main ways you can advocate for the work we’re doing at JustFund:
1. Encourage foundations in your network to use our core products: the JustFund Common ApplicationTM and JustFund SearchTM. Word of mouth is still the best way to grow, so help us reach our goal of 500 funds using the common application to save everyone time and democratize access to funding; and help us bring in 10,000 donors and advisors using search to find new organizations to fund. This is the fastest way to get toour goal of $1B moved to movements! You can encourage your network to see the platform in action by scheduling a 1:1 demo with Iara here.
2. Invite colleagues to join you in our first round growth capital campaign. We are $3.82M away from our initial $10M goal. Share more about the opportunity using this link and invite colleagues to meet with our CEO to learn more. Interested colleagues can set up a meeting with Iara here.
3. Build buzz for JustFund as the leading common grant application platform. Share our recent article in PEAK with your network, promote our various posts on LinkedIn, and when in donor convenings or webinars, mention JustFund and our core products: the JustFund Common ApplicationTM and JustFund SearchTM to change the way we give.
Thank you for your invaluable support and championing what’s possible when we innovate and create new ways to ensure our communities can thrive.
What Are People Saying? JustFund introduced a Net Promoter Score (NPS) for both sides of the platform as our team works to develop a high quality product that has a strong reputation among applicants and funders. Our current NPS from grantseekers is 8.0 and from funders is 8.8. While we’re doing well, we can do a better job supporting grantseekers to tell their stories more effectively through the common application and ensure the product helps them build relationships with their funders and help funders reach out to groups beyond the grant.
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“While we appreciate the potentially wide reach of the common application, it would be very useful to have more specific information about what the funders are looking for, and how to tailor our application to stand out and be very visible. Last year we applied in the same way and we were never funded nor did we receive any information to help us understand how to improve or what might have been missing entirely.” - Shared Spaces Foundation “There was plenty of helpful guiding information, the budget/narrative template was clear to understand and use, and the portal easily navigable!”
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- Sunrise Movement Education Fund
JustFund regularly seeks feedback from client and applicant surveys, focus groups, and in-depth interviews to hear directly from stakeholders how we can improve our products and features. We integrate feedback into our regular feature updates to ensure we provide clients and applicants the best possible experience on our platform. 4