Cedar Tree Foundation
Context
Cedar Tree Foundation (CTF) partnered with Rivera Consulting over four years (2022-2023 and 2024-2025) to revamp their civic engagement grantmaking, leveraging Rivera Consulting’s deep democracy research to establish a clear giving criteria for grantee selection.
Process
This included organizations taking a community-informed approach, led by and primarily working with Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous people, building long-term political power, and having sound compliance and governance infrastructure in the South. The docket also emphasized supporting youth leadership and promoting environmental justice and health. We also implemented in-depth 1:1 organizational interview, minimal reporting strategies, as well as staff and board engagement to inform decision-making and grantmaking prioritization.
As a result of the RC and CTF partnership, we have supported over 13 organizations with multi-year grants in the amount of $3.4 million with a geographic impact in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, and New Mexico.
Impact
As a result of the RC and CTF partnership, we have supported over 13 organizations with multi-year grants in the amount of $3.4 million with a geographic impact in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, and New Mexico. These organizations included:
Texas Organizing Project
Women With a Vision
Women Engaged
Muslim Women For
Native American Voters Alliance Education Project
Georgia Muslim Voter Project
Youth Engagement Fund
Advancement Project
New Mexico Dream Team
Center for Civic Policy
Cypress Fund
Black Futures Lab
Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, Inc.
Florida Rising Together Inc.
Before Cedar Tree Foundation, Rivera Consulting partnered with the Jobin-Leeds Partnership for Democracy & Education to develop their multi-entity political giving and civic engagement grantmaking program called Maria List. Between 2018 and 2023, RC designed and implemented unique deep democracy research to support down ballot races and organizations with over $1 million in c3 and c4 given locally and across the South.
Combined, the total eight year impact of RC’s research and grantmaking is $4.4 million with Cedar Tree Foundation and Maria’s List to support womxn of color, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ communities.