Community Controlled Funding and Governance
Through our resource sharing (resource redistribution) efforts, LIFE has made a significant impact in the pursuit of food and agricultural justice in a short amount of time together. LIFE’s grassroots relationships reach over 490 organizations touching more than 4 million urban and rural farmers, fisherfolk, food hub operators, food chain workers, community organizers, and advocates, across the United States including indigenous territories and colonized island states. We have worked to reclaim millions to be shared back to communities and organizations, prioritizing community led, food and agriculture initiatives driven by people of the global majority.
$4.5 million Reclaimed to date and counting
$3.2 million shifted to 75 organizations to date, amplifying the impact of food and farm initiatives led by People of the Global Majority
$650,000 moved to member organizations and original letter signers to sustain work and build capacity
LIFE is 100% created by, driven by and organized by and for frontline-led community solutionaries working towards sustainability, community self-determination and climate resilience.
The LIFE Fund's Ecosystem: What 75 Grantees Built
Together, the LIFE member organizational footprint reaches over four million rural and urban farmers, fishers, farm and food chain workers, indigenous groups, community cooperatives, advocates, and wealth redistribution organizers all working to cultivate a healthy and just food system. Put simply, LIFE members are not only representative of the types of individuals and organizations that food system funders should deeply invest in, but LIFE’s success in moving resources is rooted in robust community relationships. LIFE members drive the decision making around where resources are returned back to the frontline solutionary organizations leading the movement towards ecological sustainability, climate resilience and community based healing food systems all rooted in our collective radical aims towards liberation.