2026 Rekindle Scaling Matching Grant Application

Bring Rekindle to Your Community, Round Two:
$10,000 Seed Matching Grant Requirements and Application

Please read through this page fully before proceeding with the application.

Goal: The goal of a Rekindle Seed Matching Grant is to turn your desire to launch a Rekindle Chapter into a reality. We want this to move from something that’s important – but gets pushed off by more pressing needs – into a formal agreement that creates a win-win partnership. In 10 communities nationally, we’ve seen how these grants are helping interested communities align around the common goal of launching Rekindle.

Rekindle’s Core Values:
- We are building on our shared history for a better future: We care deeply about our individual and communal heritage, and we work together to create a better world for future generations.
- We are activists: We demonstrate courage, inclusion, lifelong learning, and respect in our drive to help our communities. We make a difference through a wide range of activities including volunteering, advocacy, and service.
- We collaborate and co-create: In everything we do, we seek equity, justice, and connection. We partner internally with each other, and externally with partner organizations to accelerate our impact locally and nationally.
Your Organizational Commitments:

Your organization commits to:
- Review the Rekindle Overview. This provides a high level introduction to Rekindle, including national scope, curriculum highlights, sample budget, and FAQs.
- Launch your Chapter within 4 months of being awarded a grant. Obviously, issues and challenges come up, but you should be ready to hit the ground running.
- Consider hosting an Exodus dinner (Exodus Over Dinner) or a screening of the movie Shared Legacies as an initial recruitment strategy - Rekindle leadership can explain and support you in this.
- Ensure your lay leadership is supportive of launching a Rekindle Chapter (if applicable)
- Select one Jewish moderator and one Black moderator to co-facilitate each cohort
- Recruit and run two Rekindle cohorts over a 12-month period, aligning with cohort dates set by Rekindle for national chapters (summer 2026*, fall 2026*, spring 2027, summer 2027).
  - Each cohort should aim to launch with 12-16 participants, split evenly between the two communities.
  - Summer 2026 and Fall 2026 dates can be found here
- Consider providing funding for Black-Jewish collaborations, so your alumni stay involved and continue working together
- Submit a mid-year report after the first cohort ends, and final report after the second cohort ends. Rekindle will provide templates for these reports.
- Work towards long-term financial sustainability by securing local funding sources once this initial trial period, and the matching grant, come to a close
- Join the national chapter leadership WhatsApp group and attend regularly scheduled Rekindle Chapters meetings with the Rekindle leadership to review progress, address challenges, etc. You will find this is a supportive, helpful group of Rekindle leaders nationally!
- Use the Rekindle logo on relevant materials
- Share any and all innovations on the curriculum – for example, new readings, new group activities, etc. – with the national leadership
- Partner with Rekindle to write and send at least two press releases over the course of the year, sharing this good news with a local/regional/national audience
- Speak with other communities that are interested in launching their own Rekindle Chapters about your experience (within reason, obviously)
Matching Grant: This is a 1:1 matching grant, paid in four installments based on pre-determined milestones outlined below. Your organization is required to match Rekindle’s cash grant with in-kind staff time, cash, or other in-kind resources, as long as they are quantifiable.

Rekindle Commits To:

Rekindle will do its utmost to assist your successful Chapter launch through:
- Sending you all templates and useful materials, and conducting an on-boarding webinar to help you navigate them
- Support for your cohort’s moderator(s) as they navigate the curriculum, including regular check-ins before each session
- Potentially developing new materials, as appropriate
- Ongoing support for the first 12 months, including responding to questions via email in a timely manner
- Quarterly check-in calls to offer hands-on technical assistance
- Up to $10,000 in cash assistance, per the application below
- Invitations to all online or in-person gatherings of Rekindle Chapter leadership
Payment Terms:

This is a milestone-based grant. We require you hitting the following milestones:
1. Successfully recruit your first cohort of 12+ participants: 25% reimbursement
2. Successfully run first cohort, reaching recruitment and engagement goals: 25% reimbursement
3. Successfully recruit your second cohort of 12+ participants: 25% reimbursement
4. Successfully run second cohort, reaching recruitment and engagement goals: 25% reimbursement
Non-compliance: We understand that launching a Rekindle Chapter is hard work, and entails some risks. At the same time, we ask that you adhere to the requirements above, and the timeline you will lay out below, as strictly as possible. Failure to do so may result in the immediate termination of the Matching Grant, with limited or no reimbursement of expenses to date.

Grant Timeline:

Applications for chapters starting in the Fall of 2026 are due by April 15. After that, applications for future cohorts will be accepted on a rolling basis. Grants will be reviewed and awarded continuously until all available funding has been allocated.

Chapters that do not receive a Rekindle Seed Matching Grant during this round of funding are welcome to follow up with Rekindle for further discussion, to attend our regular Chapter leadership meetings and trainings, and will be eligible to reapply should additional funding rounds become available in the future.

Rekindle Seed Matching Grant

Please read all the information about this funding opportunity on page 1 before completing the application below.
Applicant Full Name*

First NameLast Name
Email Address*
example@example.com
Phone Number*
Please enter a valid phone number.Format: (000) 000-0000.
What community are you from?*
Organization or Affiliation or volunteer-led*
Please list the leaders of your organization, affiliation, or volunteer group and indicate who will be the key point of contact with Rekindle leadership. Also clearly list the 2–3 specific people (names/titles) who will own this launch from start to finish. What happens if the lead staff person or lay leader leaves or gets pulled into a crisis?*
In a few sentences, please describe what on-the-ground partnership work you have already done with both the Jewish and Black communities in your area, so that you are ready to launch your chapter if you receive this grant. Provide at least one example of an established Black/Jewish partnership or collaboration that may serve as a launching point for Rekindle.*
Budget and Timeline

Complete the templates below (or use your own) and upload when submitting your application.

Sample budget template

12 month timeline template
Amount of Funding Requested (USD), up to $10,000*
This is a matching grant, payable via the terms outlined in the grant description. In-kind matching from your organization (staff time, donated space, etc) is welcome.
Anticipated first cohort*
Please outline what you anticipate the expenses (in-kind and cash) and income (in-kind and cash) will be for launching your chapter. Be as specific as possible. Budget can be attached separately.*
See sample budget template above if needed.
Imagine your organization or volunteer group one year from now. Rekindle is a resounding success, with 20+ Black and Jewish Fellows excited to work together and recruit more Fellows. Without matching funds from Rekindle, how will your organization continue to fund future Rekindle cohorts? What is the long-term financial sustainability of your city's chapter?*
Upload Supporting Documents (e.g., 12 month timeline, budget, pictures from past Black/Jewish collaborations)

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I have read the requirements above, fully understand them, and commit myself and my organization or volunteer team to them. I have outlined a reasonable plan of action in the application above, and if awarded a Rekindle Scaling Matching grant, commit myself and my organization or volunteer team to executing it to the best of our ability.
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Rekindle Seed Matching Grant