The church hasn’t been as present in this work in the past, but we are here to follow and support with our financial resources, our service, and our voices.
We believe deeply in generosity and sharing of all the resources that have been entrusted to us, and we seek to serve our community in a new way of peace and solidarity.
The Racial Justice Endowment was established in 2020 as an act of conscience, conviction, and confession for us as a Christian community.
We then created the Racial Justice Grants Committee (RJGC) to identify and recommend local grantee organizations to receive funds from the Racial Justice Endowment. The RJGC is to be led primarily by People of Color from our congregation and includes youth representatives and representatives from St. Paul UMC in San Diego.
We recognize the leadership of organizations that have spent decades bettering the lives of People of Color and advocating for more equitable government policies. We seek to come alongside those already deeply involved in the work of justice for all God’s people.
Our vision is not simply to provide financial gifts to grantee organizations — we also invite grantee organizations to utilize First Church as a platform to educate and build awareness of their work, and to encourage congregants to join them in volunteer opportunities.
The RJGC will consider organizations whose work directly benefits any or all Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color in San Diego County.
The applications for the 2026/27 grant cycle is now closed.
RJGC Members follow this criteria to identify and recommend recipient organizations each grant cycle. Organizations that don’t satisfy all the Basic Eligibility criteria will not be considered for funding. Organizations meeting one or more of the Priority Eligibility criteria will receive higher consideration by the RJGC than those only meeting the basic criteria.
Organizations must meet all the following basic criteria to be considered for a grant from the Racial Justice Endowment Fund:
Highest priority will be given to organizations also meeting the following criteria:
Each spring, the RJGC may choose to narrow its focus to one or more specific issues or urgent community needs. Each fall, grants from the Racial Justice Endowment will be awarded to San Diego County nonprofit organizations that:
Grant funds available each year will be 5% of the Racial Justice Endowment’s value at the end of the preceding calendar year plus any gifts given to support the current year’s grant cycle.
April 30, 2026: Grant cycle focus announced and application released
July 31, 2026: Grant application deadline
Aug. 2026 – Sept. 2026: Grant awards announced pending FUMCSD Church Council meeting schedule
Please check back at the end of April 2027 for details on the next grant cycle.
We invite you to help spread God’s justice further into our community. We welcome gifts to increase both the corpus of our endowed fund as well as each year’s grant cycle. Your gift is tax-deductible.
Build the amount of grant funding available in perpetuity. Your gift will be held and invested with the First United Methodist Foundation of San Diego and 5% of the total fund will be made available for grants each year.
Serve the immediate needs of our community by donating toward this year’s racial justice grant cycle. You’ll add to the total grants available, as recommended each year by the Racial Justice Grant Committee.
2111 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA US 92108
(619) 297-4366
info@fumcsd.org
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