Grantmaking Framework

In 2018, after a yearlong listening and learning tour across NC, ZSR launched this framework to guide our grantmaking. We adapt it as we continue to learn from the people of NC.

In ZSR’s hometown of Winston-Salem, a man and boy play in Bailey Park at sunset.

ZSR’s Framework for Grantmaking and Learning guides our efforts to improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians.

The framework, which was developed in 2018 after a yearlong listening and learning tour across NC, builds on ZSR’s core values. It also reflects our commitment to partnering with extraordinary North Carolinians at the statewide and local community levels to drive positive and sustained change.

ZSR intentionally created a living framework and not a strategic plan because we aim to be flexible and responsive to the ever-evolving needs of North Carolinians.

Our Strategies

We invest in three primary strategies: State-Level Systemic Change, Community-Based and Exploratory, Visionary Ideas.

1. State-Level Systemic Change Strategy

We fund organizations working to change policies, power structures and other root causes of challenges so all North Carolinians can thrive. Many of our State-Level Systemic Change partners are working locally or regionally, but all are connected to statewide efforts to transform unjust systems.

We invest in four main issue areas, but since these issues intersect, we also support organizations working across them:

Strengthening Democracy
Fostering a Healthy and Sustainable Environment
Advancing Public Education
Promoting Social and Economic Justice

See State-Level Systemic Change Grant Details

2. Community-Based Strategy

We fund community-led and community-centered efforts to drive change at the local level in places across North Carolina. This strategy aims to be responsive to local needs, leveraging each community’s unique assets and opportunities to improve the lives of its residents.

Under this strategy, we invest in two programs:

Community Progress Fund provides short-term grants across NC for local groups to meet direct needs, test ideas and expand promising efforts to improve their communities.
Collaborative Problem-Solving provides multiyear grants to encourage collaboration at the local level to tackle problems and create solutions together. Our first round of Collaborative Problem-Solving grants ended in 2024. We are currently assessing the program and will provide more information as it is available.

See Community Progress Fund Grant Details

3. Exploratory, Visionary Ideas Strategy

We invest in bold ideas and special initiatives that have great potential to improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians. We aim to be flexible and take risks to fuel NC’s most promising ideas.

One such special initiative is the Inclusive Public Art Initiative, which invests in public art projects that share under-told stories of North Carolinians, sparking new conversations and highlighting our common humanity.

Investments in this strategy are not wedded to pre-defined grant cycles or applications; instead, information and applications become available as new projects or initiatives are announced.

See Inclusive Public Art Initiative Grant Details

Our Commitments

ZSR has three enduring commitments.

1. Using a racial equity lens.

We want to see a North Carolina where racial and ethnic identity does not predict life outcomes. At the same time, we know that many of our institutions and systems were set up to benefit some North Carolinians and not others, and systemic disparities are particularly evident around race.

For decades, ZSR has engaged in activities to promote diversity, equity and inclusion across the state, among our grantees, and within our own walls. Because our mission is to improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians, and because strong racial disparities in quality of life indicators persist*, we must sharpen our lens around racial equity in particular.

We acknowledge the impact of structural racism and seek to support strategies and systems aimed at mitigating its effects on society.

We will work to operationalize and apply a racial equity lens to every aspect of our work across the state, in communities and within our own walls, recognizing that this is a long-term and ever-evolving journey. This includes providing our grant partners with the tools they need to build racial equity strategies into their work, and engaging grant partners and other stakeholders throughout the state to create opportunities to partner with ZSR in these efforts as well.

*Use QuickLink block to list sources: Commonwealth Fund (2024), Kaiser Family Foundation (2024)

2. Being a learning organization.

Listening and learning are core to our work. The challenges and opportunities facing North Carolinians are complex, and the state is everchanging. The strategies we and our grant partners use to help North Carolinians must be adaptable and flexible to meet people’s needs at any given time.

By listening to North Carolinians’ diverse perspectives, we strengthen our ability to support those needs. We actively seek to learn with, from and alongside our partners, and we embrace opportunities to adjust our practices together, in response to what we learn.

To engage in learning in an ongoing, evolving way, we embrace learning models that allow us to focus not simply on outcomes, but also on how and why those outcomes occurred and what meaning can be gleaned from that analysis. We also believe that expected outcomes (for us and for our grant partners) have to evolve as circumstances change. This approach to learning allows ZSR to embrace unforeseen changes and new opportunities that arise and adjust accordingly.

3. Augmenting our participation in our hometown of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

ZSR was founded in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (WS/FC) and is proud to call it home.

We strive to be involved as active members of our community — joining the important conversations that are going on right now, or that are yet to happen, and contributing our own knowledge, experience, voice, connections and leverage to forward-thinking change that is aligned with our mission and core values.

We work to engage with all aspects of the WS/FC community, including business, religious, philanthropic, educational, civic, neighborhood, governmental, media, arts and culture, health care and more.

We encourage WS/FC organizations to apply for funding under any of the strategies outlined above, and we may also invite organizations within WS/FC to apply for funding as we deepen our engagement here at home.