The Crisis Fund Flexible support to Bay Area arts and cultural organizations when urgent threats put people, infrastructure and/or cultural practices at risk.
The Crisis Fund
Bay Area Cultural Funders for Equity (BACFE) is a collaborative of public and private funders working to shift arts and culture funding toward communities that have been historically under-resourced.
BACFE recognizes crisis as more than a sudden emergency.
For many arts and cultural organizations rooted in historically under-resourced communities, instability is not episodic but ongoing.
Crisis can be acute, chronic, cumulative, or quietly destabilizing conditions that erode the safety, integrity, and sustainability of people, cultural practices, and community spaces over time.
The Crisis Fund provides timely, flexible $25,000 grants to Bay Area arts and cultural organizations* responding to urgent threats related to:
Immigration status, enforcement, or legal vulnerability
Safety of trans and gender-expansive communities
Digital and public safety risks, including harassment, targeting, or surveillance
*Priority given to organizations with annual operating budgets of $500,000 and below.
How Applications Are Reviewed
Crisis can take many forms, including urgent, chronic, and compounding conditions. This fund is designed to respond to moments where something essential is at risk.
BACFE is not selecting the “best” organizations. BACFE is identifying where this fund can most meaningfully interrupt harm right now. Applications are reviewed by a committee of funders and community partners. Each application is read by multiple reviewers and discussed collectively.
Review Criteria
Applications are assessed based on:
Alignment with Fund Focus | Immigration-related risk, safety of trans and gender-expansive communities, or digital/public safety threats
Geographic Rootedness | Connection and accountability to priority communities
Threshold & Urgency |Whether something essential is at risk in the near term
Impact of $25,000 | Whether funding would meaningfully stabilize the situation
Community Accountability | Whether impacted communities are centered in the response
Because available funds are limited relative to the level of need, not all aligned applications will be funded.