Pushing Against Racism Fund

Pushing Against Racism (PAR) Fund is an annual funding initiative driven by the global skateboarding community’s commitment to anti-racism. This effort is coordinated by the Goodpush Alliance, a program of Skateistan, and includes a diverse working group composed of leaders from international nonprofit organizations, grassroots skateboarding initiatives, and social impact advocates. The fund launched on May 25, 2021, in conjunction with the broader "Commitment to Anti-Racism in Skateboarding," and has continued to grow in reach and impact since its inception. The core mission of the PAR Fund is to challenge systemic racism within the skateboarding world and promote inclusion, education, and anti-oppression. The PAR Fund supports social skateboarding projects around the world that are actively working toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Grants are awarded to projects that reflect strong alignment with these values and show a clear intent to dismantle systemic barriers in skateboarding and adjacent communities. Over the years, the fund has granted support to a wide variety of initiatives; for example, in 2024, 12 grantees from 11 countries received a total of $15,000. While the exact funding per project is not detailed, this suggests that individual awards are relatively small and targeted to grassroots impact. The fund's philosophy is to seed and scale community-led responses to racism, prioritizing community knowledge and lived experiences over formal institutional structures. Eligibility appears to center on grassroots, community-led skateboarding initiatives that promote anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion. Although formal eligibility language is not provided, prior grantees and working group members suggest that non-profit organizations and social skate projects—particularly those that are underrepresented or from underserved regions—are the typical beneficiaries. Projects from all over the world have been supported, and there are no indications of geographic restrictions, which supports the interpretation that the program has a global or at least nationwide reach for U.S.-based projects. Application and submission details are not yet available for the 2025–26 cycle. However, based on prior patterns, the PAR Fund is released annually and publicly announces the call for applications in advance. Prospective applicants are encouraged to monitor the Goodpush Alliance's channels or the PAR Fund’s main page for updates. The working group, consisting of long-standing and new members representing a range of disciplines and countries, is responsible for overseeing application review and selection. Contacts for feedback and questions are centralized via the email address [email protected]. Key tools and resources are provided to help applicants engage meaningfully with the anti-racism goals of the fund. These include lesson plans for educators, a vocabulary list of anti-oppression terms, an organizational self-assessment tool, and an event pack for raising awareness. While application components are not specified at this stage, the fund emphasizes community engagement and alignment with anti-racist practice as core evaluation criteria. The PAR Fund also encourages signatories to its broader anti-racism commitment, further reinforcing community values beyond the application process. Given that the 2024 grantees were recently announced and a call for 2025–26 applications has been previewed, the fund is currently in a pre-release stage. Its recurring, annual nature suggests that the next application window is expected to open in Spring 2026. The fund does not specify a match requirement, and all evidence suggests that the focus is on community support rather than complex cost-sharing structures. Funding amounts are modest but impactful, enabling grassroots organizations to address systemic racism through skateboarding culture and community development.