The Courage Project

Founded in May 2025, the organization has given awards to individuals and groups that help transgender-identifying individuals change their names, that support illegal immigrants seeking asylum or otherwise attempting to avoid deportation, and that provide free books on anti-racism and evangelical white privilege to military academy students. ^{1 3}

History and Activities

The Courage Project was founded in May 2025 with $5 million in seed funding from a group of notable left-of-center grantmaking foundations including the Freedom Together Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, and United Way Worldwide. ^{1 2}

The Courage Project was the brainchild of Freedom Together Foundation president Deepak Bhargava, MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey, and McKnight Foundation president Tonya Allen. The presidents called for solidarity among philanthropic organizations to resist the policies of the Trump administration, founding the Courage Project and inviting partners to join those who agreed with their goals. ²

The Courage Project provides monetary awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to organizations or individuals that it deems are successfully building bridges in communities, including by promoting its vision of equality or striving for consensus. ^{1 2}

A report from Inside Philanthropy found that, through its grantmaking, “the major foundations and organizations behind The Courage Project are elevating examples that offer a counter to the Trump agenda.” ²

Courage Project Awardees

The Courage Project provides two types of monetary awards to individuals who it believes build bridges in communities: a “Pay It Forward” awards to individuals and awards to organizations. ¹

As of June 2025, awardees include Gladys Harrison, the owner of a soul food restaurant in Omaha recognized for “sustaining a space for… Black heritage”; Prabhjot (Parry) Singh, a Sikh who helped host interfaith gatherings at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin; the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, which helps people change their names and find groups that support transgender identities; PICO California, a left-of-center advocacy coalition comprised of religious groups in California; the Rutland County Pride Center, which the Courage Project praised for “ensuring Black, brown, queer, and allied community members” received physical protection during an NAACP-organized Juneteenth march in Vermont; Women of Welcome, for its support of asylum seekers crossing the U.S. Mexican border; William Marks, Jinn Amundson, and Janice Holmes, who raised money in order to provide Naval Academy cadets free books on anti-racism and evangelical white privilege; Jamie Cook, Jen Gaffney, and Jonna St. Croix who led a protest in order to stop the detention of illegal aliens; and Women of Welcome, who attempt to persuade evangelicals to support asylum seekers. ^{1 3}

Funding

The Courage Project is fiscally sponsored by the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, a donor-advised fund that was created by the Service Employees International Union-influenced Amalgamated Bank in 2017. The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation funds left-of-center advocacy organizations. Beyond being fiscally sponsored by Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, the Courage Project has also received $5 million in funding commitments from major left-of-center and labor union-aligned nonprofits, including the Freedom Together Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Pisces Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, CFLeads, and United Way Worldwide. ^{1 2}