Grants for Grassroots Organizations

About

Welcome to the Clif Family Foundation, an organization we started in 2006 to support grassroots groups led by people with vision and commitment. We believe that much of our nation's needed innovation will spring from grassroots organizations' daily efforts in local communities. The foundation has been proud to support hundreds of nonprofits that are working tirelessly to transform our food system, revitalize the environment, and enhance community health. Now that we’re grandparents, the urgency to build a healthy, just, and ecologically thriving world is even more personal. We look forward to expanding the reach and impact of the foundation in the years to come. This means working with nonprofits that prioritize people-centered solutions and address urgent gaps and historically underfunded priorities. We believe we can all do more good in the world. Together.

Strategic Priorities

• Regenerative and Organic Farming: Accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices, including organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches.
• Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety: Amplify efforts to secure healthy, safe, just, and empowering working and living conditions for food production workers.
• Climate Justice: Expand community-centered solutions to climate change that build resilience and empower those who have been historically marginalized.
• Healthy Food Access: Advance food systems’ changes that make healthy and sustainably produced food accessible, affordable, and culturally appropriate.
• Inclusive Outdoor Access: Catalyze solutions that expand access to safe places to enable healthy physical activity and improve mental health.
• Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution: Promote preventative health approaches by identifying and eliminating toxics from our air, water, soil, and human-made materials.

Open Call

These grants support general operating cost or specific projects and applicants must be registered as (or fiscally sponsored by) a 501(c)3 organization. The Foundation reviews applications twice a year; the deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Grant announcements occur approximately four months after the deadline. Typical grants range from $5,000 - $50,000 and last for one year.

About Us

The mission of Mzuri Wildlife Foundation is to promote wildlife conservation and outdoor sports education worldwide.

Mzuri Wildlife Foundation exists to do the most good possible for wildlife throughout the world. The name Mzuri is Swahili, pronounced “mm-`zuree,” for “good.”  We fund grassroots organizations working at the community level to protect wildlife and their habitats. We invest in programs connecting people, especially youth and women, to the natural world through hunting, fishing and other outdoor sports and outdoor education programs. Our goal is to cultivate future generations who will enjoy, appreciate and safeguard the natural environment. 

Mzuri Wildlife Foundation (Mzuri) enables individuals to protect the wildlife they value and the sporting heritage they enjoy. We mobilize the financial and volunteer resources of our supporters to achieve more than any one person. 

Grantmaking Priorities

Wildlife Conservation

Since our founding in 1969, half of the world’s wildlife has disappeared. Partnering with grassroots organizations around the world, we are working to reverse this trend.

We seek out and support high-performing programs where our grant funds can make a pivotal difference to the project’s success. We invest in programs that protect wildlife populations through on-the-ground habitat enhancement and anti-poaching activities, wildlife research, community outreach, and other natural resource preservation efforts. The wildlife protections we support benefit all species of native plants and animals in the region. Healthy habitats support both flora and fauna that, once lost, are lost forever.

Outdoor Sports & Education Programs

We invest in organizations that cultivate and inspire future generations of individuals who will treasure the outdoors and protect these natural resources. Engaging more youth, women and others in outdoor experiences connects them to the natural world and fosters an understating of the importance of wildlife conservation.

The programs we support:

• introduce and engage youth in outdoor sports and conservation activities,
• encourage more women to participate in shooting, fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports,
• offer hands-on learning opportunities that promote environmental stewardship, and
• build an understanding of the value of wildlife resources within individuals and communities.

Mission

The Frankel Family Foundation believes that all people should live in a world of equal opportunity and on a healthy, sustainable planet. We are dedicated to promoting a just society that protects the planet and its inhabitants.

Foundation Priority Areas

The Frankel Family Foundation supports organizations working in the environment. We are particularly interested in supporting organizations that are taking a leadership role in high impact grassroots organizing and advocacy to change government funding and policy in the United States in favor of sustainable energy and decreasing carbon emissions on a significant scale. The Frankel Family Foundation is deeply concerned about the changing climate conditions on our planet and the developed world’s dependence on fossil fuel as an energy source. The FFF believes we are at critical juncture in this impending crisis and that the United States can and should take a leadership role in the movement to decrease global carbon emissions.

The Foundation also invests in work that reflects the particular interests of individual board members. This includes a continued interest in supporting refugees around the world with an emphasis on advancing access to quality post-primary education and supporting youth development and mental health in the communities where Foundation Members live.

Because the Frankel Family Foundation is informed and inspired by Jewish values and the concept of “tzedak” meaning justice or what is right, we will continue to engage in “Jewish” giving, supporting organizations that inform and strengthen the Jewish community, combat anti-Semitism and hatred, and promote a democratic and peaceful Israel as a homeland for Jews and all who live there.

Award Information

The Frankel Family Foundation awards grants up to $100,000.  Multi-year requests will be considered when rationale is provided. The Frankel Family Foundation provides the following types of grants:

• General Operating
• Project or Program
• Capacity Building
• Capital Campaigns

The Frankel Family Foundation funds organizations working nationally rather than local efforts. We generally don’t support place-based environmental initiatives.

Who We Are

The Food and Farm Communications Fund is a multi-funder collaborative and pooled grant program organized around a shared belief in the role of strategic communications and narrative to build power and embolden transformative change in our food and farm systems. We believe that working together, with the long view in mind, will help us to invest our time and resources strategically. We find strength in our networks, yet know we have much to learn. To that end, we maintain an open application process and take cues from those closest to the problems we seek to address.

Background

Food & Farm Communication Funds’ Wildseeds Grants program is our primary offering for non-profit, grassroots organizations.

Wildseeds, inspired by the wisdom of writer Octavia Butler, speaks to our community’s commitment to justice and systemic transformation while ensuring thriving communities. Wildseeds possess a resilience that enables them to resist, spread, and flourish, just like our movements. Through Wildseeds Grants, we resource movement organizers by investing in solutions that support the development of their ideas, amplification of their messages, and their long-term movement infrastructure.

The Wildseeds Grants program funds community organizations, strategists and media makers working to uplift frontline stories, build power, and embolden transformative food and farm systems change. We do this all in an effort to grow deeper roots with our grantee partners by making sure they have the infrastructure, communications skills, and strategic support they need to thrive now and forever.

Wildseeds Grants support strategic communications efforts including, but not limited to:

• Base building communications projects that increase connectivity and grow collective power
• Integrated communications planning
• Communications-based professional development for staff/ leadership/ members
• Implementing or upgrading communications tools
• Development of content or creative media initiatives including videos, zines, websites, etc.
• Sourcing short-term communications staffing support or outside consulting
• Narrative development, message framing, and integration
• Campaigns, events, or experiences that use communications to foster engagement around food and farm issues
• Language justice planning and implementationFFCF will prioritize projects that are grounded in:

Range and Term of Wildseeds Grants

Wildseeds Grants typically range from $20,000 to $50,000 over a one-year term. The Fund is able to make a very limited number of two-year commitments for projects requiring a longer timeframe of support. Two-year requests are capped at a total of $75,000 over two years. Grant amounts are contingent on demonstrated need, alignment with the Fund’s purpose and criteria, as well as the Fund’s giving capacity in any given year.

Mission Statement

Park Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to advancing a more just, equitable, and sustainable society and environment, both nationally and in our local Ithaca community. We are principled, strategic and fearless in our grantmaking, collaborative with our partners, and nimble and innovative in our approach. We are committed to challenging the powers that threaten an independent media, a robust democracy, and the future of our planet.

Our Funding Priorities

The Park Foundation funds a variety of non-profit partners, from local Tompkins County grassroots programs to initiatives with national impact.

• Environment
• Civic Participation
• Media
• Democracy
• Community Needs
• Sustainable Ithaca
• Animal Welfare
• School Food & Nutrition

Media

The Foundation supports public interest media that raises awareness of critical environmental, political, and social issues to promote a better-informed citizenry in the U.S. It supports quality, non-commercial media that is substantive, fair, and accurate.

Program priorities include:

• Investigative Journalism:
  • Investigative Journalism supports excellence in reporting on nationally significant public affairs issues in the U.S. Competitive proposals will show evidence of groundbreaking content employing multi-platform media tools with the potential to achieve broad distribution and social impact.
• Media Policy:
  • Media Policy supports nationally significant initiatives that promote fair and open media systems and policies in the U.S. The Foundation supports projects that advance universal access to communications, a "neutral" Internet, diverse and independent ownership, public interest media, and the future of journalism.
• Public Broadcasting:
  • Public Broadcasting supports nationally distributed and aired television and radio programming.
• Documentary Films:
  • Documentary Films supports a very limited number of small grants to individual documentary projects related to civil society and democracy, the environment, and animal welfare. 

The FAWCO Foundation Development Grant

The purpose of the program is to fund projects that can make an immediate impact and lead to success for the people they support. The assistance offered should be direct, with a goal of sustainability.

Through The Foundation, FAWCO Member Clubs and FAUSA have been aiding worthy and reputable charitable projects around the globe for over 50 years. Some clubs are working “hands-on” with their projects while others make financial contributions or donations of goods. The Development Grants provide the financial assistance that can help the recipients achieve their goals.

The Foundation encourages FAWCO clubs to nominate grassroots organizations that receive little to no sponsorship or support from other sources.

Grant Categories

Education

For projects:

• promoting literacy and supporting academic studies,
• that build or provide classrooms, libraries or general learning facilities for disadvantaged women/children, 
• that provide training designed to lead to economic and social empowerment for women and girls.

Human Rights

For projects:

• providing vocational training, teaching practical skills, promoting social entrepreneurial initiatives for at-risk/marginalized population groups,
• addressing the critical problems of violence, food and shelter, healthcare, education, poverty, advocacy, human trafficking, prostitution, refugees, including all those impacted by economic, political or other forced migration,
• promoting cultural understanding

Global Issues

For Projects:

• that fall within any of the FAWCO focus areas with which we align our Development Grants i.e., Education, Environment, Health or Human Rights.
• that recognize club’s local charities often overlooked on the world stage, 
• that take place in the nominating club's home country.

Background

We all have dreams for ourselves and our families. But we don’t all have the same opportunities to make those dreams come true. For too long, our social practices, laws, and policies have placed more value on some lives than others based on race, class, and other factors. To achieve health equity, we have to uproot this hierarchy of human value and dismantle the structural racism that permeates society with the ambitious goal of building the future we all want for our children and grandchildren. We believe that, together, we can build a world where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize (“the Prize”) honors the work of communities that are at the forefront of addressing structural racism and other structural injustices to advance health, opportunity, and equity for all. Since its launch in 2013, the Prize has recognized more than 60 communities across the country. The Prize serves to inspire change and highlight community-led solutions that show us that another world is possible, one where barriers to health are broken down through community power-building, cross-sector partnerships, policy reform, systems change, and the reclamation of cultural practices.

Previous Prize winners are leading efforts that address the interconnectedness between health and the policies that restrict the ability of communities to thrive in place. They are creating the conditions to enable community residents to reach their best health and wellbeing, each working on several key aspects−such as access to healthy foods, transportation, safe and affordable housing, economic opportunity, clean water and air, reproductive justice, and Native and Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty.

Every community’s journey and strategies are unique, but across the board, Prize communities create and sustain deep cross-sector partnerships. These partnerships create the resilient infrastructure needed for making incremental wins and creating big change.

The Prize recognizes the collective work of communities whose efforts show us that improving health and equity is possible.

We believe those most impacted by inequity and injustice are in the best position to develop solutions. Our intent is to achieve a better future for all by providing support to community-based, grassroots organizations confronting social and environmental injustice. We are inspired by Civil Rights icon John Lewis’ admonition, “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”The National Grassroots Organizing Program (NGO) offers two-year unrestricted, general operating support grants of up to $30,000 per year, with an average grant size of $20,000 per year, to small (budgets under $350,000), constituent-led grassroots organizations throughout the United States and its territories.essed. We firmly believe that grassroots, constituent-led organizing is among the most effective means to create social change.

Our Approach to Funding

While our broad goals are to further social and environmental justice, our primary purpose is to support the local leadership and grassroots organizing activities of our grant partners rather than any specific issues the organizations are addressing. We are interested in supporting groups that are carrying out activities that build support and collective action to address impacts of inequity and injustice in their communities.

While our broad goals are to further social and environmental justice, our primary purpose is to support the local leadership and grassroots organizing activities of our grant partners rather than any specific issues the organizations are addressing. We are interested in supporting groups that are carrying out activities that build support and collective action to address impacts of inequity and injustice in their communities.We are guided by common principles of community organizing which we look for in proposals. In general these are:

• The organization is led by the people directly impacted by the issues the organization works on, and those people have clear decision-making power.
• A plan with clear goals to gain rights, win collective political power and create positive community change.
• An assessment of the problem being addressed and best tactics to employ.
• Outreach, networking, and ally gaining activities that build support and momentum.
• Educational activities and events that inform and motivate and build support.

We know that organizing can take many forms. Some grassroots organizing activities might include but are not limited to:

Community & ally outreach

Consistent, multi-faceted efforts to recruit and engage people in your work. Examples include sharing information and resources, public forums, canvassing, workshops, tabling at events, phone-banking, and media engagement.

Leadership development of constituents

Investing time, training and resources to cultivate innate leadership assets within people who historically haven’t had access to civic and community engagement opportunities or positions of power.

Constituent empowerment & decision-making

The organization is driven by the people impacted by the problem. Constituents define core values, identify and prioritize issues, and determine the appropriate course of action to solve them.

Popular education

An educational technique, based on the theories of Paulo Friere, designed to raise the consciousness of its participants and allow them to become more aware of how an individual’s personal experiences are connected to larger institutional or societal problems.

Root cause analysis

The practice of continually peeling back the layers of a problem and asking “why?” each one exists until the root cause(s) of the issue can be identified and targeted for change.

Power analysis

The process of identifying which individuals or entities hold the power to make decisions that positively and negatively affect an issue.

Campaign development

A game plan of action including tactics, materials, timelines and their intended audiences and effects.

Mobilizing constituents & allies

Moving people to take specific action toward achieving a common goal. Examples include attending rallies and protests, tabling at events, testifying at hearings, contacting public officials, speaking to the media and phone-banking.

Coalition building

Partnering with other organizations that have allied missions and interests with the goal of creating power in numbers.

Non-violent direct action (NVDA)

Public forms of protest for the purpose of demonstration, obstruction or dissent.

Our Vision

We envision a world where individuals on the front lines are empowered to uplift themselves and their communities, where all children have equitable access to a quality education, where young people are empowered to reach their highest potential, where women and girls are free and protected, where our planet thrives in renewed health, and where animals are treated with compassion. It’s a world where humanity’s global diversity is celebrated as a strength that fortifies us all, and a world where local heroes, equipped with the resources they need, stand ready to support each other in times of crisis.

Our Ultimate Goal

Our ultimate goal is to amplify the light within each of us by funding impactful leaders, nurturing strong networks, and collaboratively building systems among talented leaders. In doing so, we strive to foster leaderful movements—movements filled with leaders who possess the capability to drive change from the front, the middle, and the back of the pack.

Our Daily Grant Program

The Pollination Project seeks to unleash goodness and uplift volunteers all over the world. To that end, each year through our pioneering Daily Grant program, we make 365 microgrants of up to $500 each. These grants are designed to kickstart a volunteer’s or grassroots organization’s work and give them the lift their project needs to thrive and grow. Our daily grantmaking began on January 1, 2013 and since then, we have funded a different project every single day. All qualified applicants in any funding area are considered within the guidelines of this program.

What types of projects does the Daily Grant support?

At The Pollination Project, our goal is to uplift volunteers who are creating a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world for all. We work towards that goal through our support of community-driven grassroots initiatives that empower volunteers and inspire others.

This means that rather than narrowly defining the issues or types of work that we fund or the geographical regions in which we make grants, we instead choose to be led by our applicants. So long as a project fits our criteria, we can consider any charitable work anywhere in the world which moves us towards a better world.

The William and Charlotte Parks Foundation for Animal Welfare

The Foundation was established to improve the status of animals worldwide through studies of the science and philosophy of animal welfare/rights and to reduce, through practical efforts and initiatives, the suffering and harm inflicted on animals by human beings.

The Grants Committee makes grants to both animal protection organizations and to individual scholars pursuing work consistent with the goals of the Trust founders.

Types of Grants

The Parks Foundation makes awards, usually not more than $10,000 per annum, to support projects, research, and other activities calculated to advance the welfare of animals.

The Parks Foundation currently ONLY considers applications for Project Grants

The application should describe the need for the project (e.g., how will the status of animals be improved), outline its basic protocols, and discuss its feasibility, the likely chance of its success, and the methods by which it will be evaluated. The applicant organization should provide a projected annual budget and time for completion, and list other entities that have been approached for financial support, and the stage these applications have reached. The qualifications of the project director should also be provided. Proposals will be judged by a number of criteria, including originality, potential impact on animal welfare, the number of animals affected, the project’s time frame, and feasibility, the track record of the applicant, the need for the program or data, the public accountability of the organization, and the likelihood of achieving other sources of funding.

Successful applications include:

• Evidence that the organization or applicant is making a concerted effort to assess the effectiveness of programs;
• Evidence that the organization has been striving in substantial ways to reduce animal pain, stress, and suffering, and to improve animal welfare.

In recent years successful applicants have received project grants to support:

• adoption programs;
• enrichment initiatives;
• animal rescue training;
• research and data websites;
• equipment purchase or small-scale repairs or renovations tied to specific program initiatives;
• canine behavior training;
• public awareness campaigns;
• humane education;
• campaign plans;
• law enforcement training;
• small-scale facility additions;
• cage purchases;
• conference and festivals;
• curriculum development;
• staff training and education;
• anti-cruelty hotlines;
• animal welfare certification initiatives;
• psychology and social psychology research concerning cruelty and kindness;
• habitat enhancement; and
• disaster response and recovery activities. 

Other areas of potential interest to the Parks Foundation grants committee including

• the development of alternatives in education;
• the development of best practices in companion animal care and services;
• application of the “Three R’s” approach (refinement, replacement, and reduction of animal use to reduce animal pain or suffering) in laboratory, agricultural, and other sectors;
• methods and strategies of population control;
• predator protection;
• the prevention of animal cruelty through social or other interventions;
• promoting knowledge and awareness of the science, philosophy, and ethics of animal welfare and animal rights;
• research and survey work concerning public attitudes and behaviors; and animal welfare publishing.

The Foundation embraces the protection of biodiversity as its overarching priority.

Frank Weeden, the Foundation’s founder and original benefactor, established the Weeden Foundation to address the impact of growing human populations and overuse of natural resources on the biological fabric of the planet. Since his death in 1984, the Foundation has helped preserve more than 6 million acres of biologically important habitat worldwide and provided financing for the first debt-for-nature swap in Bolivia in 1992, a strategy that is now widely used by international conservation organizations. Program efforts have supported projects in environmentally sensitive regions of the western United States, Alaska, Russia, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Belize, Namibia, Mexico, and various Caribbean nations.

Focus Areas

On a more general scale the Foundation supports the following focus areas.

Bird Conservation

Our goal in the Bird Conservation program area is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. In particular we seek to fund grantees that work to prevent bird species extinctions and to prevent declining populations of bird species from becoming endangered. We specifically focus on protecting and restoring public and private bird habitat and we assist in acquiring land for threatened bird species. Finally we support protection of bird migration corridors in North and South America.

Systemic Support program at the U.S. national policy level for wildlife corridors, the Endangered Species Act, and additional wilderness designation.

Our goal in Systemic Support is to improve the effectiveness of environmental efforts through specialized services. Specific objectives include:

• support the Endangered Species Act through litigation, lobbying, grassroots campaigns and public education generally,
• promote organizations providing support for groups engaged in wilderness protection, land conservation, endangered species protection, wildlife corridor issues, and management of public lands, an
• improve federal and state support for environmentally sustainable practices, wilderness designations, and wildlife corridors. 

Global Biodiversity

Our goal in Global Biodiversity is to support campaigns and/or groups in biodiversity hotspots. Specific objectives are to

protect global temperate rainforests,

support creation of wildlife corridors,

land acquisition and protection for endangered species and,

support projects that involve indigenous peoples in the process and stewardship of conservation projects.

Environmental Education

The Foundation’s Environment Education program area focuses on supporting grantees that will provide future leaders with the tools to effect environmental policies. These policies complement the other grantees of the Foundation including biodiversity and habitat protection. Sustainable environmental policies must include both immediate actions as well as education to anticipate and to prevent future environmental impact.

Marine Wildlife Conservation

The Marine Wildlife Conservation Program Area focuses on helping to protect endangered marine species in the Americas through research, advocacy, policy change, and habitat conservation.

To address the adverse impact of economic and human population growth on biodiversity, the Foundation’s grantmaking includes both Consumption and Population programs.

The Foundation’s Sustainable Consumption program currently focuses on promoting greater use of environmental paper. Grantmaking in this area aims to broaden the market for environmental papers and packaging through markets campaigns, shareholder activism, consumer-targeted education, and dialogue with the corporate sector. This year we have expanded our packaging program to include efforts to reduce plastics in the waste stream, through strategies such as eliminating single use plastic disposables by promoting reusable packaging for grocery stores, take-out, and delivery.

The Foundation’s International Population program area is focused on reducing population growth rates in countries recognized for their rich biodiverse landscapes and that have a total fertility rate exceeding replacement levels. To achieve this goal, the Foundation funds groups that facilitate initiatives related to family planning, women’s education and women’s empowerment in countries with such rich and recognized biodiversity. The Foundation also supports advocacy efforts addressing global population growth in the context of environmental sustainability.

Mission

The Richard Davoud Donchian Foundation provides funds to nonprofit organizations whose programs result in the strengthening of the human spirit and the enhancement of personal integrity. The Foundation channels most of its financial resources toward charitable organizations whose attention is concentrated on character development through leadership training, literacy, primary education, business integrity, spiritual enrichment and ethics.

It is the expressed belief of the Donchian Foundation that every individual can become physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually stronger, resulting in the culmination of a more confident and scrupulous lifestyle. The primary objective of the Donchian Foundation's grant making activities is to ensure that its ultimate recipients become empowered to strengthen and build up their families and communities -- passing onto others that which was given to them.

Guiding Principles

The Donchian Foundation's goal is to help effective organizations advance their mission and meet their charitable objectives. Through its endorsement, the Foundation's secondary objective is to create a ripple effect that leverages new partners and greater visibility. Leveraging is a principle that the foundation believes in, and one that is applied to its efforts toward strategic philanthropy. Whether it's leveraging matching funds through challenge grants, or motivating like-minded organizations to participate in a foundation-initiated project, the ultimate intention is to foster the best possible results.

Qualities sought by the Donchian Foundation in its partner organizations are:

• effective and dynamic personnel;
• passionate leadership;
• a bias against bureaucracy;
• prudent management & governance practices; and
• commitment to results and to the documented assessment of program impact.

The Foundation focuses its grant making in three key areas: Literacy & Education; Humanitarian Efforts and Ethics & Personal Development.

Literacy & Education

– With an interest in rethinking and reconfiguring curriculum, pedagogy, and the other academic resources in schools and communities, the Foundation focuses on programs that work toward long-term improvement in all aspects of education, but with an emphasis on literacy.

Humanitarian Efforts

– To improve the lives and spirits of individuals and communities facing pressing circumstances, etc., including efforts to address Children’s Health.

Ethics & Personal Development

– To enhance the moral, ethical, spiritual and physical well-being and progress of mankind. The Foundation's grantmaking activities are centered around the concept of social purpose enterprise that seeks to raise the standards of ethical excellence in society, moral character in the community, faith in the family, integrity in business and grassroots leadership in needy communities.

Background 

The H. C. Gemmer Family Christian Foundation was created in 1956 by the philanthropy and vision of Hiram C. and Edith Gemmer, and their son, H. Robert Gemmer. The founders’ convictions and charitable interests focuses on peace, justice, sobriety, and racial harmony. They were also strong supporters of ecumenical and inter-organizations. By the generosity and estate planning of H. Robert Gemmer, the value of the Foundation’s assets grew fourfold following his death in 1992. The Foundation board meets semi-annually, normally the weekend after Memorial Day and the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Primary Areas of Funding

Peace with Justice

• Alternative to Violence, militarism and War
• Conflict Resolution
• Reconciliation and Healing
• Peace Education
• Criminal Justice

Human Rights

• Anti-Discrimination and Protection
• Immigrants’ rights
• Diversity and Intergroup Relations
• Social Justice
• Economic Justice

What We Stand For | Our Giving Priorities

We practice the discipline of being Good Company—cultivating meaningful awareness, driving sustainable action, and setting a new standard for how businesses and communities impact the Greater Good together. A grassroots appeal guides our efforts in food and the arts, while a holistic approach integrates commitment to learning and the environment. Compassion is extended from the inside out with actionable goals and a global perspective. We create mutually enriching philanthropic experiences for our CoStars, guests, investors and the community. And, although we are located in Las Vegas, we are home all around the world.

We take part in several charitable and community events throughout the year, many focused on our community giving priorities:

• Food and Hunger Relief - Providing food and nourishment, especially to those that are low-income or homeless.
• Learning and Student Enrichment - Enhancements to schools and programs that help students succeed in school.
• Accessible Art - Providing opportunities for the community to engage with and create their own expression of art.
• World Aware - Every day we commit to making choices that positively influence the world around us.
• Military - Programs and services that support the military, veterans and their families.
• Diversity and Inclusion - Programs and services that support minorities and the LGBT Community.

Organizations may request cash or in-kind donations.

Become a Partner

At the core of our model are our partnerships with courageous, dynamic organizations that are improving the lives of children and youth in the heart of their own communities.

We eagerly look for new groups and individuals to partner with across the globe, based on our regional strategies, and particularly when we launch and expand thematic and regional initiatives. Please explore information about our regional strategies and initiatives in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Eurasia, and Asia.

Global Fund for Children raises all the funds that we use to invest in community-based organizations around the world. We know that organizations spend precious time preparing proposals for prospective funders. We appreciate there are many worthy causes and changemakers that we will not be able to support. As such, we do not ask organizations to submit proposals. We visit organizations in person and build relationships, getting to know possible new partners when we have raised funds. As a first step, we maintain a database of organizations we can get to know if we have just the right opportunity.

Focus Areas

Together with our partners, we are building a future where all young people enjoy equal resources and opportunities in society and can live to their full potential.

Our work advances the rights of children and youth across four focus areas and five regions. We have a deep commitment to courageous organizations that support young people facing poverty, injustice, and discrimination.

We support grassroots organizations that are not afraid to tackle the root causes of poverty with innovative, local solutions. Most offer holistic care to comprehensively address the needs of each child. Many become regional and national leaders in children’s rights—raising awareness, influencing policy, and ultimately impacting thousands of children and youth beyond their doors.

Education

Every child deserves the chance to learn, grow, and dream. We work closely with our partners to make sure children across the world can learn, play, and go to school. We are committed to helping every child reach their potential through equal access to quality education.

Gender justice

GFC and our partners promote gender equity, advance girls’ education, inspire healthy masculinities, support the rights of LGBTQ+ youth, and ensure that young people live free from gender-based violence and exploitation.

Safety and wellbeing

We are committed to ending violence and exploitation of children, to helping young survivors rebuild their lives, and to protecting the mental health and wellbeing of every child and young person.

Climate resilience

Young people are mobilizing to address climate change. They are building resilience in their communities, educating their families and communities, advocating for policy changes, and stewarding the environment. We work with young leaders and youth-led organizations finding real solutions for both people and the planet.

Youth power

Young people are achieving incredible things - creating change in the present and shaping the future. We help young people become leaders and changemakers, making sure they have the opportunities, skills, and confidence to tackle the issues central to their lives and their communities.

Solidarity in emergencies

In times of crisis, we are committed to supporting our partners around the world as they respond in their communities. From natural disasters to conflict or health emergencies, our local partners are well-positioned to address emerging challenges. GFC provides emergency grants, technical support, and wellbeing solidarity to our partners as they navigate emergencies impacting their organizations and their communities.

Impact and Learning

Global Fund for Children funds community-based organizations and works closely with them to strengthen their capacity to create change. Our primary impact is on the organizations we support, and by extension, the impact they create with and for children and young people, in their communities.

Every organization has its unique aspirations and approaches, so our work with each organization is unique, tailored, and made possible by trust and understanding of their unique contexts.

We capture global quantitative indicators to capture how organizations change over time, but qualitative stories of change are critical to understanding the impact of GFC’s work. Our impact and learning approach is rooted in feedback, participatory learning reviews, and a commitment to capture only the information GFC and our partners will actually use to deepen our learning and to become more effective in our closely collaborative work.

Mission & Values

Life Comes From It is a first of its kind grantmaking circle where decisions over funding are made by people heavily steeped in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacemaking. We seek to grow the movement for adopting restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices throughout our society. We have come together around a shared vision of addressing harm through community solutions, without reliance on incarceration and punitive systems.

We aim to strengthen the foundation of restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices led by people of color.

Our Mission

Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle. We support grassroots movement-building work rooted in lived experience and relationships for restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking.

Funding Values & Criteria

We aim to support projects, organizations and collaborations that embody these values:

• Commitment to working towards replacing criminalization and incarceration with alternative approaches to address violence and repair harm rooted in community solutions
• Prioritizing peacemaking development and indigenous initiatives led by Native people
• Rooting the work in the community’s own culture(s), language(s), place(s), faith(s), and belief system(s) so it reflects the people that engage in it
• Guided by the wisdom of people, families and communities of color
• Commitment to anti-oppression practices
• Supporting the creation of new thinking and language that is holistic, intersectional, interdependent, and liberatory
• Promoting and sustaining collective leadership, collaboration and partnership
• Living the values of the work internally and externally to build community and heal harm within and against communities
• Intergenerational inclusivity - people of all generations: youth, adults, elders are encouraged to apply​

The Four Fields

• Restorative Justice
• Transformative Justice
• Indigenous Peacemaking
• Land Based Projects 

What we Believe

• We believe that human relations can replace the work of institutions.
• ​We are invested in shifting power.
• ​We believe in doing no harm – not further victimizing people who have been victimized in the search for funding. We seek to keep an open door relationship with those who look for funding.
• ​We believe in interdependence and creating a culture where we do not pit one against another.
• ​We strive to build connections between restorative justice, transformative justice, indigenous peacemaking, and "justice, healing and soil."
• ​We hold an intersectional lens
• ​We emphasize the underlying spirit and values of the work rather than the categories we use to define our work. 
• ​Our vision is rooted in lived experience – as community activists, formerly incarcerated people, crime survivors, indigenous persons, and people of color— and has led us to 115 years of experience in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacebuilding.

Veterans Support Foundation

The Veterans Support Foundation (VSF), as part of its ongoing service to veterans and their families, provides funding in the form of grants supporting veteran related projects. VSF gives priority to matching fund projects. VSF provides funding solely for scientific, charitable, and educational purposes.

VSF provides funding in the form of grants supporting veteran related projects throughout the United States.

What Types Of Projects Does VSF Fund?

VSF funds grassroots start up projects that directly affect veterans and perhaps their families. Projects that prove beneficial to veterans and develop a track record of providing needed services and/or performance will be considered for funding in subsequent years.

OUR MISSION

The Looking Out Foundation (LOF) amplifies the impact of music by empowering those without a voice. From neighborhood to nation, we help fund causes and organizations that often go unnoticed. Founded in 2008 by multiple Grammy winning artists Brandi Carlile, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, we band together with fans, non-profits and female LGBTQ+ owned businesses to translate voices of song to voices of action. We are nimble to the ever-changing needs of the human race, and adapt to support the diverse demographic we serve. Every campaign we launch is backed by our passionate donors and fans, and $2 from every concert ticket sold goes directly toward our efforts.

Since its inception, LOF has donated almost $6 million to support social justice and humanitarian causes across the US and globally, providing vital funding for disaster relief aid, protection for children and families in war torn countries, food insecurity programs, racial justice, incarceration prevention, and self-defense workshops for marginalized communities. With an average donation of $25 per campaign, our community of supporters exemplifies the global impact of grassroots level activism and fundraising.

Together, we’re making music mean more.

Grants to Charities:

Grants to organizations are made to tax-exempt public charities under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Program interests include, but are not limited to: disadvantaged youth, public health, women, the environment, the arts, the hungry and the homeless. The Looking Out Foundation generally does not support: endowment programs, fund raising events, annual appeals of well-established organizations, or grants to individuals except as provided for as part of the Looking Out Foundation's COVID-19 Relief Program.

Please note that the Looking Out Foundation receives far more requests each grant cycle than it can support. The average grant allocation is between $1,000 and $5,000. Organizations who have already previously received grants from the Looking Out Foundation, are strongly encouraged to diversify their funding base and develop alternative sources of support. The need is ever changing, therefore so is our focus. Grant decisions are normally made twice per year in June and December. 

Japan-U.S. Global Partnerships Small Grant

• Grant Type: Prepaid grant
• Funding opportunity: Institutional funding for U.S.-based institutions/organizations with 501(c)(3) status
• Benefits: Maximum of $10,000

This grant aims to support to create and develop networks between Japan and the U.S. on grassroots level, and to support Japan-U.S. collaborative efforts to help resolve issues of common concern. Projects that fit in one of the following two categories are eligible for consideration.

• Category A: Creation or development of network(s) between Japan and U.S. organizations on grassroots level. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Develop a partnership between two organizations in Japan and the U.S. to deepen mutual understanding at the local level and build capacity for Japan-U.S. exchange

• Category B: Japan-U.S. collaborative project that contributes to resolving an issue of common global concern and supports individuals who organize and participate in these projects. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • Host symposium, conference, or workshop to support dialogue and networking on a specific issue of common global concern
  • Create and develop a new project with sister city organizations around a shared issue (e.g., revitalization of local communities, aging population, environmental issue, peace study, etc.),
  • Policy-oriented projects that explore contemporary issues common to Japan and the U.S. that involve cooperation among academics practitioners, civil servants, and civil society organizations

Please reach out to us with your project ideas; we can help guide you to the grant program that best suits your project.

Projects are required to have the following elements:

• Begin by March 31, 2025
• At least one symposium, conference, workshop, or seminar to support dialogue and networking
• U.S.-Japan collaboration
• Category A: Japan-based collaborator(s) involved throughout the entirety of the project is required
• Category B: Strong Japan component as a core of the project (e.g., participants and/or collaborators depending on the nature of the project) is required.
• A minimum of 20% of the total project budget secured from non-JFNY sources such as the applying institution or other sources

Japan – U.S. Global Partnership Grant Program

• Grant Type: Prepaid grant
• Funding opportunity: Institutional funding for U.S.-based institutions/organizations with 501(c)(3) status

Through the “Grant Program: Japan-U.S. Global Partnership”, JF seeks to support Japan-U.S. collaborative projects that will help resolve current global issues of common concern, projects that build partnerships among diverse professions and backgrounds necessary to successfully address those issues, and to support the individuals who organize and participate in such projects.

More specifically, this program targets policy-oriented research conducted jointly by Japanese and American non-profit organizations (universities, think tanks, NPOs, etc.) aimed at resolving the issues of modern society and global issues facing the world, as well as dialogue and exchange projects at various levels, including academic researchers, experts, citizens, and grassroots practitioners. The inclusion of other countries that are important and pertinent to the issue at hand is welcome, provided the project is built on a framework of Japan-U.S. cooperation. The participation of relevant experts from the fields of science and technology is also welcome.

Thematic Areas: (1) Building a resilient society, (2) Developing an inclusive society, and (3) Creating a society enriched by science and technology.

Examples as below:

Climate change, disaster prevention, post-disaster recovery, pandemic, public health, food and energy security, environmental issues, sustainable city, overcoming social and economic disparities, demographic issues such as low birthrate and aging population, societal issues related to children/family and women, rural revitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, bioethics, cyber security, digital transformation, green technology.

Projects outside of the thematic areas can also be eligible if they meet the goals of the grant program.

The Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF), based at Borealis Philanthropy, supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and other politically-aligned organizations to better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power. The BLMF is a donor collaborative that provides a dedicated vehicle for funders to support the ecosystem of grassroots, Black-led power building organizations working towards community safety, justice and liberation. 

The Black-Led Movement Fund is rooted in a commitment to:

• Intersectional feminism and the leadership of Black queer and trans people, as well as women/femmes/girls;
• Funding organizations addressing the root causes of anti-Black racism, misogyny, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia;
• Being adaptive, flexible and responsive;
• Funding work that centers Black joy;
• Resourcing anchor organizations in interconnected movement ecosystems, and
• Solidarity, collaboration, and transparency.

Funding Opportunity

The Black-led Movement Fund will provide $183,300 general operating support grants ($91,650 per year) over a two year period, 2025-2027, to U.S. based Black-led power building organizations that are in alignment with the grant eligibility criteria and funding priorities below.

Mission

Our Mission is to strengthen grassroots movements to resist oppression and build towards a more equitable future. We believe that this moment calls for resistance. We must actively challenge the authoritarian threat posed by extremists, and invest in long-term, transformative change.

Transformative Organizing

Grants support transformative organizing for systemic change with explicit articulation of the following values: resistance; community leadership; transformative, anti-capitalist solutions and intersectionality.

The Fund seeks to support grassroots strategies that meet immediate needs and are part of a strategy for long term structural change.

Our grant making focuses on general operating support for small grassroots nonprofit organizations, including fiscally sponsored projects. Grants are expected to range from $15,000 – $25,000.

Who We Are

Mona Foundation is a non-profit organization that partners with grassroots initiatives around the world to educate children, empower women and girls, and enable them to transform their own communities.

Our goal is to alleviate global poverty and contribute to creating a just and prosperous world so that no child ever goes to bed hungry, is lost to preventable diseases, or is deprived of education for lack of resources. We believe that universal education, gender equality, and community building are the keys to achieving this goal.

Our Focus

All Mona Foundation activities focus on universal education, gender equality, and community transformation.

Universal Education

Learning is intrinsic to human reality and everyone deserves the opportunity to receive a quality education. Educated communities are healthier, more sustainable, and less vulnerable to economic volatility.

Gender Equality and Women and Girls’ Empowerment

Providing equal educational opportunities to girls and women yield a higher rate of return than any other investment that can be made in our communities. Equality not only guarantees basic rights, it is also vital to promoting the robust, shared growth needed to end extreme poverty. World Bank data demonstrates that gender equality and economic development are inextricably linked and increasing education specifically for girls and women has a direct effect on a nation’s economic development.v

There is also a multiplier effect to educating girls and women. More educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better health care and education to their children, all of which eventually improve the well- being of all individuals and lift households out of poverty. These benefits also transmit across generations, as well as to communities at large.

Community Building

All people have the right and the responsibility to lead their own lives and to contribute to the betterment of their own communities. The individuals most affected are the ones most ready to affect change.

Supporting communities in their own self-advocacy promotes empowerment, rather than dependency. Many students we support work with their communities to establish literacy programs, women health centers, parental trainings, cleanliness drives, tree plantations, and many other programs that stimulate harmony and community building in their communities.

Project Selection Criteria

The underlying basis for all the activities of the Mona Foundation is the belief that the key to poverty reduction and the development of human resources lies in universal education and gender equality.

We support grassroots initiatives around the world that educate all children, empower women and girls, train boys in lessons of equality, and emphasize service to the community. These educational programs address a significant deficit within a community (materially, or morally/spiritually) and focus on quality of teaching and learning, fine arts and character development to train capable, ethical, and altruistic leaders who contribute to the betterment of their families, communities, and ultimately their nation.

The role of Mona Foundation is to find and support educational programs that meet the following criteria:

• The program is founded and operated by residents.
• The program addresses a vital and significant deficit in the basic needs of children which prevent the full development of their capabilities as productive members of the society.
  • These needs must include education but may also include housing, food, and a nurturing environment in support of education.
• The program serves students of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity, religion, and economic status.
• The program has a focus on education of girls and women and teaches all students the lessons of equality, oneness and service.
• The program seeks to develop human resources for the community, and trains capable, ethical, and altruistic students who contribute to the betterment of their families, communities, and ultimately their nation.
• The program has a history of success, having been established and functioning at least for three years.
• The program enjoys the support of the local community
• The program administrators have shown a long-term commitment to the development of the program, including not only ongoing maintenance but also capital development and expansion.
• The program administrators have the capacity to effectively manage funds received from external agencies.
• The program administrators are active participants in developing and implementing plans, and require and enjoy the participation of the community members in the long-term self sustainability of their program.
• In cases where the program delivers needed services to the marginalized segment of the population where financial sustainability is not feasible, community members participate and support the program in variety of other ways as their capacity may allow.

To foster collaborative relationships with our partner organizations, we carry out site visits prior to adopting new programs either by members of our Board, or designated representatives of the Board.

Our cohort-based program is designed to help emerging nonprofit founders create sustainable growth and measurable impact in our communities.

If you are a nonprofit founder, you've probably realized by now that running a nonprofit isn't easy!

Besides the specific legal requirements of running a 501c3, this work requires you to understand how a nonprofit board works, how to fundraise for your nonprofit, stay in compliance, and how to market your work, among SO MANY other things. That can be overwhelming.

After many years of working with nonprofits at different stages, we've designed the Nonprofit Incubator Program to teach founders how to run scalable nonprofits that make a difference. During the eight weeks of the program, our team will guide you step-by-step through the process of growing an organization, navigating the world of nonprofits, and securing the funds you need to realize your mission. 

We partner with Givebutter to provide 20 nonprofit organizations with the tools and resources they need to grow. Thanks to Givebutter, selected organizations will receive a full scholarship to participate in the program and the opportunity to apply for up to $4,000 in grant funds after completion of the incubator. 

Our Program Includes:

• Eight (8) live workshops on nonprofit management, including one workshop from our partner, Givebutter, to help with attracting and engaging individual donors on their platform.
• Review of your fundraising campaign by the Givebutter team.
• Access to our Fundraising Challenge and the opportunity to receive matching funds from Mockingbird Nonprofit Incubator.
• Lifetime discounted access to all our additional events in nonprofit management and development.
• Recordings and extra resources are available on our Teachable digital learning platform.
• Access to our network of expert nonprofit professionals and founders and our growing incubator cohort alumni group.
• One of our participants will have the opportunity to win our $3,000 seed grant after completing the program.How much does it cost?

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Overview

To support the use of contemplative approaches by grassroots change-makers addressing urgent community needs, Mind & Life launched the Contemplative Changemaking Grants program in 2022.

Contemplative Changemaking Grants, of up to $10,000 for a 2-year period, fund small-scale, impact-oriented work undertaken by individuals, community workers, and non-profit organizations that ground themselves in contemplative practices to achieve real impact in people’s everyday lives.

Inspired by the Francisco J. Varela Research Grants—established by Mind & Life in 2004 to support scientists and scholars conducting contemplative research—the Contemplative Changemaking Grants are a critical component of Mind & Life’s work to “inspire action toward flourishing.” Through the grants, we encourage the expansion of contemplative practices and their benefits beyond the individual and into the community.

Given the unprecedented challenges of our time, proposals will be encouraged across broad domains, including civic engagement, climate action, economic empowerment, education, physical and mental health, and social inclusion. In the face of growing climate-related stressors, including eco-anxiety and eco-grief, Mind & Life is increasingly interested in nature-based contemplative practices. We encourage projects with a focus on mindfulness in nature and nature connectedness to apply. Our hope is to support those seeking to integrate contemplative approaches into their work as a means of building resilience and agency for their community.

The impact of the grants—and the stories that emerge from these projects—will help to increase visibility and momentum around the role of contemplative practices in promoting positive social change.  

Funding

Grants of up to $10,000 (USD) will be awarded through a competitive application and selection process. The proposed project should be completed within a two-year period, and periodic progress reports will need to be presented as required by Mind & Life. 

The L’Oréal Fund for Women is a charitable fund launched in 2020 to support frontline organizations in their efforts to help women to get out of poverty, prevent domestic, sexual and gender-based violence against women. The Fund focuses on supporting women and girls’ empowerment, particularly through projects in favor of social or professional integration and education. A specific attention is paid to refugee women and women with disabilities.

Scope:

• The Fund is opened internationally and can support activites / projects based locally or in another country.
• Projects can be in design/ideation phase, in implementation phase, or already in operation phase.

Who We Are

Based in Portland, Oregon and created in 2019 by Dr. Ron Naito, the Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation continues his legacy of healing by supporting nonprofit organizations that strengthen, protect, and transform our communities and our planet.

Our grants support organizations working all over the world to mitigate the climate crisis, reduce health disparities, and build communities that are socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. We also support Oregon-based arts and education initiatives, particularly those focused on under-resourced communities.

Our grants are trust-based. Because we respect the expertise of our nonprofit partners and understand that they know best how to spend their funds, all of our grants are unrestricted.

Current Funding Trends

• Under-represented areas:
  • If you work in these areas and are eligible within our funding priorities and restrictions, please consider applying.
    • Nonprofits that work internationally or domestically outside of Oregon, including regional and national organizations
    • Climate crisis mitigation, especially aggressive efforts to curtail or prevent new greenhouse gas emissions
    • International long-term health equity initiatives and health equity initiatives addressing aging and supporting elders
    • Systemic initiatives and advocacy/policy work in any of our funding priorities
• Over-represented areas:
  • We value these types of work and still seek applications from these categories, but applicants may find these categories slightly more competitive if current trends continue.
    • Arts initiatives
    • Oregon frontline nonprofits across all sectors
    • Frontline services, especially organizations supporting people with mental health or substance use needs and organizations supporting survivors of child abuse and domestic and sexual violence

Funding Area: Health Equity

Our founder Dr. Ron Naito devoted his career to treating the whole patient. Accordingly, we embrace the World Health Organization’s definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

We see significant intersection between this funding priority and our other priorities – all connected by healing. For our health equity funding area, we seek applications from organizations or initiatives that work to improve health outcomes, decrease health inequities, and increase individual and social well-being.

This includes (but isn’t limited to) organizations that:

• Increase historically marginalized communities’ access to sustained health care either internationally or domestically, including both frontline service providers and initiatives that advocate for policy or market reforms.
• Focus on lasting health outcomes, such as eyesight restoration, disability supports, reproductive justice, and other health interventions that impact individuals’ long-term health and capacity to thrive.
• Increase equitable, sustainable access to healthy foods, including sustained nutritional interventions, nutritional policy, and food sovereignty and systems initiatives.
• Improve health outcomes through clean air, water, hygiene, and anti-toxin/-pollutant advocacy, policy, and frontlines interventions.
• Provide ongoing support and empowerment to people experiencing violence, displacement, poverty, and other traumas.
• Combat misinformation contributing to adverse health outcomes.
• Diversify participation in health research, policy, and medical care to advance more equitable health outcomes.

Funding

We tend not to fund organizations with annual budgets over $20 million, although there are some exceptions. We often fund grassroots initiatives. We fund larger organizations ($10m+ budgets) only if they primarily are resource, advocacy, policy, movement-building; if they are regranting organizations; or if they work beyond the local/statewide level (regional, national, international). We also occasionally fund larger organizations working across multiple regions or countries to provide lasting frontline interventions.

We offer unrestricted grants, mostly ranging from $5,000-$40,000. We occasionally fund smaller and larger requests, and we are moving toward more multi-year grants. We try to keep a balance between organizations providing frontline services and organizations working to create and advocate for systemic solutions.

Our grants are unrestricted and can be used for general operating, program/project, capacity building, capital requests (for projects with budgets under $1m), endowment, seed funding, etc.