An award for bold and courageous organizations that speak truth to power
Smith Bagley, son of Arca Foundation founder Nancy Susan Reynolds, was an accomplished businessman, political activist and philanthropist who devoted his life to the fight for social justice. As the Arca Foundation President up until his passing in 2010, he demonstrated a deep commitment to making this world a fair and just place for all, admiring most of those who risked their lives in defense of human rights and the fight against poverty. Like his mother before him, his brand of philanthropy favored risk-taking, cutting edge projects, and out-of-the-box ideas. Smith took on issues that, in his time, were all but impossible – abolishment of the death penalty, campaign finance reform, and U.S. relations with Cuba, to name just a few.
Launched in 2010, the Smith Bagley Memorial Grant celebrates one grantee each year that embodies the passion, spirit and creativity of Smith. Award recipients effectively employ the bold, innovative, and courageous strategies essential for inspiring coordination, action, and ideas that speak truth to power and driving change. In honor of our beloved Smith, please find a full list of Smith Bagley Memorial Grant recipients here.
Recent Smith Bagley Memorial Grant Award Recipients
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Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2024 We Are Down Home (WDH) is a grassroots community-based organization that is committed to building influence for working communities in North Carolina’s rural counties and small towns. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2023 Just Vision places storytelling and strategic audience engagement at the heart of their mission, understanding that stories have the ability to refocus attention, spur audiences to action and reshape the way people think about and engage in the world. The organization fills a media gap on Israel-Palestine through independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2022 The Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) Institute drives campaigns that seek to win structural change by directly taking on the financial elite responsible for taking advantage of communities of color and working-class communities and harming our environment. Through partnerships with organizations involved in local racial, economic, environmental, and educational justice campaigns, ACRE provides strategic campaign coordination and campaign infrastructure with an explicit racial justice analysis. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2021 The Public Accountability Initiative (PAI) is a non-profit watchdog research group focused on corporate and government accountability. PAI trains journalists, activists, and concerned citizens in how to conduct this kind of research and develop open technologies designed to support collaborative influence mapping, including LittleSis.org (the opposite of Big Brother), a wiki database and research platform. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2020 The Revolving Door Project (RDP) is a project funded by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The goal of the project is to scrutinize the executive branch to ensure that officeholders serve the public interest, rather than work to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2019 Tides Foundation accelerates the pace of social change, working with innovative partners to solve society’s toughest problems. Tides is a fiscal sponsor to the Center of Working Families Fund (CWF). The CWF seeks to advance the interests of working class, middle class, and poor Americans through public education, creative media, and issue organizing. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2018 New York Communities Organizing Fund, Inc. (NYCOFI) is a community-based nonprofit organization that seeks to empower low- and moderate-income New Yorkers to help themselves. Through public education, advocacy, research, and direct services, NYCOFI works to improve the economic security and well-being of low-income and people of color communities throughout New York State. -
Smith Bagley Grant Recipient
2017 The National Iranian American Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice of Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding between the American and Iranian people.