NEW YORK, United States (AP) — An influential group behind the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement has established a fund worth more than US$12 million to aid organisations fighting institutional racism in the wake of the George Floyd protests.

On Wednesday, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation said it was setting aside US$6 million from money it received in donations to support black-led grassroots organising groups.                                                                          

Last week, the foundation unveiled a separate US$6.5 million fund for its network of affiliate chapters.

Beginning July 1, affiliated chapters can apply for unrestricted funding of up to US$500,000 in multi-year grants, the foundation announced. Grants from both funds will be administered through a fiscal sponsor, said Kailee Scales, managing director of the foundation.

“In this watershed moment for black power building…it is critical that we democratise giving to ensure all of us have access to the resources we need to reverse centuries of disinvestment in black communities, and invest in a future where we can all be connected, represented and free,” Scales said in a statement to The Associated Press.

According to the network’s website, the organisation has more than a dozen active chapters, including Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Detroit, as well as in Canada. Its newest chapter is in South Bend, Indiana.

The foundation told the AP it has received more than 1.1 million individual donations at an average of US$33 per gift since the death of Floyd, a black man who died May 25 pleading for air as a white Minneapolis police officer held a knee to his neck for what prosecutors said was nearly nine minutes.

The surge of financial support adds to roughly US$3.4 million in net assets the BLM global network had on hand last year, according to a 2019 financial statement of Thousand Currents, the fiscal sponsor which receives donations on the network’s behalf and then releases money to the group.

Creation of the funds signals a growth in infrastructure for the network, which had been at odds with some local chapter organisers, who felt network leaders weren’t providing enough financial support for initiatives such as rapid response to police brutality. Although there are many groups that use “Black Lives Matter” or “BLM” in their names, only 16 are considered affiliates of the global network.