Learn what makes a strong grant proposal to Interfaith America.
Civic Life
The Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship (ICPF) supports faith-based civic leaders looking for opportunities to strengthen their institutional culture of pluralism, to deepen their understanding and commitment to religious liberty and pluralism, and to partner with others committed to cooperating across differences to solve common problems and strengthen civic cohesion.
The Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship (ICPF) is a twelve-month program that brings together diverse leaders of faith and conscience to connect across differences, compare approaches to building pluralism and protecting civil liberties, leverage their expertise to create a set of strategies for this work, and receive funding to complement their existing efforts.
The Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship (ICPF) brings together civic leaders of faith and conscience to better understand how to embrace pluralism both as a tool to protect religious liberty and to strengthen their own mission and role as critical players in civic life. Leading scholars will provide participants with grounding in the history and practice of religious liberty and pluralism in the United States. Fellows will bring their expertise into the program, comparing approaches to protecting religious liberty and building pluralism, and work together to define key strategies for this work. Fellows will then gain access to funding to complement work they are doing aligned with these strategies.
Together interfaith and civic leaders will tell the story of how protecting the civil rights of all Americans, especially religious liberty, strengthens democracy for everyone and offer a compelling, positive alternative to narratives of exclusion. Fellows will deepen their understanding of how religious liberty and pluralism reinforce each other as American strengths, build relationships across faith and ideological lines, and carry that vision into their communities through joint projects funded through the fellowship.
The fellowship will have an open call for applications, targeting civic leaders of faith and conscience primarily from state and city interfaith networks, national faith-based organizations with state and local affiliates, and religious liberty organizations and networks. Fellows will represent a wide range of faiths, professions, and regions, with a commitment to including communities underrepresented in similar spaces. Executive leaders and others with responsibility for organizational strategy will be given preference, as fellows will bring challenges and opportunities from their organizations into the cohort’s collaborative learning and problem-solving process. Fellows must represent US-based 501c3 organizations.
Executive leaders and others with responsibility for organizational strategy will be given preference, as fellows will bring challenges and opportunities from their organizations into the cohort’s collaborative learning and problem-solving process. Fellows must represent US-based 501c3 organizations.
What are the expectations for the granted projects?
Granted projects will complement participants’ existing work. Granted projects should not add extra work but should enable you to do work you are already doing while further integrating pluralism practices and bringing in new partners.
Granted projects must involve implementing one of the five strategies that the cohort develops for building pluralism and protecting religious liberty. Participants must feature at least one other fellow in their granted project (e.g. bringing in a fellow to consult for their organization or featuring a fellow in an organizational program). Granted projects must also include at least one element of public-facing storytelling (e.g. a blog post, newsletter item, or media engagement).
Each of the 15 fellows will receive a $4,000 stipend for their participation and up to $6,000 per fellow in grant funding. All travel costs will be covered for the in-person convening.
The following deliverables will be required in order to receive the full participant stipend and available grant funding:
Interested persons must submit a program application. Conditionally selected applicants will be required to submit contact information for references and vetting and complete an interview with program staff. Accepted fellows will be required to submit a follow-on grant application for project funding.
Through its programs, Interfaith America is committed to supporting initiatives that meaningfully engage people with a range of religious, philosophical, or ideological perspectives as well as diverse racial and ethnic identities. A selection committee of diverse Interfaith America staff will work to create a diverse cohort across various axes of identity, and will review applications based on the following criteria:
Reference checks and interviews for finalists will be carried out in order to ensure that selected participants align with Interfaith America’s values and program goals.
Request for Proposals
The Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship (ICPF) supports faith-based civic leaders looking for opportunities to strengthen their institutional culture of pluralism, to deepen their understanding and commitment to religious liberty and pluralism, and to partner with others committed to cooperating across differences to solve common problems and strengthen civic cohesion.
Use our Learning & Action Bridge to discover resources based on your role and goals. Visit our Courses, Curricula & Tools Library to browse all resources.
Please contact us with any questions about this opportunity.
Scott Rasmussen
Director of Democracy Initiatives
Interfaith America
Our country’s founders made religious freedom a core constitutional right because they knew how deep religion runs for many people and that it inspires those people to do good for others
— Asma Uddin, Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for the Constitution
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