Grassroots Power Project is a charitable organization which advocates for increased government regulation, feminism, and wealth redistribution. It has argued that its approach is to “shift away from short-term, incremental campaigns and towards building and wielding governing power.” ¹

The group works with the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and receives significant grants from the Ford Foundation and California Endowment. ²

Projects

Feminism

Grassroots Power Project worked with the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance to help form the Feminist Organizing Schools. ¹ These schools work to spread feminist ideology across the world by creating a “shared vision for the grassroots internationalist feminist movement.” ³ These schools oppose right-of-center politics, claim that hate crimes are increasing, and support access to abortions. ³

Wealth Redistribution

Grassroots Power Project supports wealth redistribution, stating that it seeks to “build towards structural reforms that transfer wealth and power away from profiteers and into the hands of everyday people.” ¹

Neoliberalism and Racial Capitalism

Grassroots Power Project affirms the theory that the United States economy was built by exploiting labor from Black people and other minority groups, which it calls racial capitalism. The group claims this is still going on today through neoliberalism. The group believes the results of neoliberalism, free trade, deregulation, and decreased government oversight has hurt the quality of life for the average person and “has created a popular base for white nationalism.” ⁴

Radical-Left Influences

Grassroots Power Project cites books from three authors as its main inspiration: The Hard Road to Renewal by Stuart Hall, Prison Notebooks and The Antonio Gramsci Reader by Antonio Gramsci, and Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination by Robin D.G. Kelley. ⁵ Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-British sociologist who supported Marxism and socialism. ⁶ Robin D.G. Kelley is an American historian that described himself as a Marxist surrealist feminist. ⁷ Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist who led the Italian Communist Party and was later imprisoned by Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. ^{8 9}

Funding

Between 2017 and 2021, Grassroots Power Project received over $6 million in grants.  ¹⁰ The group stated, “Additionally, a large majority of GPP’s excess contributions consist of amounts raised through the Ford Foundation as part of a 4-year grant and through the California Endowment as part of a 2-year grant.” ²

The Ford Foundation is a left-of-center donor organization with assets over $20 billion. ¹¹ California Endowment is left-of-center grantmaking private health foundation. It is the largest in California with over $3.5 billion in total assets. ¹²

1. “Our Work.” Grassroots Power Project, December 1, 2021. https://grassrootspowerproject.org/about/our-work/.
2.  Grassroots Power Project, Form 990, 2021, Schedule A Part VI.
3. “Feminist Organizing Schools.” Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, March 9, 2023. https://ggjalliance.org/fos-page/.
4. “Our Theory of Power.” Grassroots Power Project, January 13, 2022. https://grassrootspowerproject.org/about/our-theory-of-power/.
5. “Bookshelf.” Grassroots Power Project, June 15, 2022. https://grassrootspowerproject.org/bookshelf/.
6. “Stuart Hall.” Stuart Hall Foundation, February 1, 2021. https://www.stuarthallfoundation.org/stuart-hall/.
7. ^[1] Profile of Robin D.G. Kelley, July 29, 1998. https://web.archive.org/web/20160820174255/http://news.stanford.edu/news/1998/july29/kelley729.html.
8. Martin, James. “Antonio Gramsci.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, January 13, 2023. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/gramsci/#CommPartStra.
9. Bhambra, Gurminder. “Gramsci, Antonio.” GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY, May 5, 2017. https://globalsocialtheory.org/thinkers/gramsci-antonio/.
10. Grassroots Power Project, Form 990, 2021, Schedule A Part II.
11. Ford Foundation, From 990-PF, 2021, Part II Line 16.
12. “Home.” The California Endowment, September 4, 2023. https://www.calendow.org/.