Rooted Together is a community-centered initiative that brings neighbors, nonprofits, donors, government, and corporate partners together to celebrate local impact, shared values, and the power of collective giving. At its core, this program believes that the people who live in a community are best positioned to understand its needs, strengths, and possibilities.  

The initiative prioritizes multi-year grantmaking and relationship building across a two-year period, giving organizations the time and resources needed to deepen partnerships and build lasting impact.

Eligible programs are focused within a specific neighborhood in Bernalillo, Valencia, Torrance, or Sandoval counties, grounded in a place-based approach that centers resident insight and lived experience as the foundation of change. 

As Rooted Together continues to evolve, we will emphasize community-led decision-making, local knowledge, collaborative partnerships, and strategies designed to sustain change well beyond the initiative’s lifetime. In our pilot year, we learned some good lessons, including clearly communicating what place-based grantmaking looks like in practice and how to translate that through our application process.  

With that in mind, we’ve made an important change to the 2027-2028 Rooted Together Grant Cycle application process. We now ask interested applicants to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI). This will allow our committee to assess the proposed project early in the process and in a less burdensome way. 

Applicants who demonstrate clear alignment with the goals of Rooted Together will then be invited to submit a full application for consideration.