The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of people and the world around us through innovative strategies, systems changing approaches, and disrupting technologies. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic ideas and nurture them at the early stages with maximum leverage and total commitment.

Prospects for our portfolio of social enterprises come from a vast field of compelling ideas and dedicated leaders. We concentrate our selection on the capabilities of the founder/leader, the scalability of the model, and the potential impact of the organization on the world.

We have an open application process and accept applications year round. Borrowed from our venture capital legacy we find exceptional entrepreneurs, provide them with 3 years of unrestricted capital (totaling $300,000) and provide rigorous on-going support by joining their board of directors for the 3 years and partnering with the leader to help them to build capacity in their organization and scale their impact.

What We Fund

DRK’s hope is to support outsized impact through entrepreneurs and enterprises that create a transformational paradigm shift to meaningfully address a pressing societal problem affecting people’s lives.

DRK Funds:

• Organizations addressing a critical social or environmental issue as the focus of their work.
• Founders who intend to expand their impact significantly over time.
• Organizations operating in Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, and the United States.
• Independent nonprofit and impact first, mission-driven for-profit entities, including US 501(c)3 and its non-US equivalents, C corporations, B corporations, and hybrid organizations.
• Fiscally sponsored organizations in select cases where there is a plan to spin out (in our experience, independence creates stronger enabling conditions for growth).
• Post-pilot, pre-scale organizations. This typically means:
  • Your program, product or service is already in the market or in the field.
  • You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact.
  • Your organization is 3-5 years old (this is not a rule, but a guidepost).
• Organizations with one or more founders who are full-time or intend to be.
  • We believe that full-time leadership from the organization’s founder(s) is critical to an early stage organization’s growth.
  • We recognize that going full-time requires resources that you may still be putting together, and if that is the case we are happy to start a conversation with you in the meantime.
• We value diversity of people proximate to the problem at hand and a commitment to foster justice, equity, inclusion, and belonging practices.

Issues

Issues include:

• Arts & Culture
• Civic Engagement
• Economic Empowerment
• Education
• Energy & Environment
• Environment & Climate Change
• Food & Agriculture
• Health
• Social Justice
• Systemic Poverty

Note: While we’re open to new ideas and projects, funding for unsolicited requests is very limited.

Education - Graduating High School College & Career Ready

We strive to increase high school graduation and college and career readiness outcomes for youth, particularly those in low-income communities.

Every high school student should graduate prepared for work, military service or further education.

How it Works

Mott aims to create a culture in which students have both the aspiration and ability to pursue college or career training after high school graduation. We support promising college and career readiness strategies that help students complete high school prepared to succeed in college, careers and life.

To succeed in life, young people need to acquire a well-rounded education that builds both academic knowledge as well as nonacademic skills. High-quality college and career readiness programming can help young people develop these competencies. In addition to college and career awareness, quality programming can help students develop skills and behaviors associated with success in both educational and employment settings.

Building on our longtime support for community schools and afterschool programs, the Mott Foundation is identifying and filling key gaps for students most in need. Many of the strategies and model approaches that have emerged from our grantmaking not only provide important educational opportunities and supports that assist youth, but also strengthen schools and communities.

To this end, our grantmaking focuses on two outcomes: expanding high-quality college and career readiness programming in afterschool settings, and broadening adoption and investment in innovative strategies, particularly children’s savings accounts. Through these efforts, the Foundation seeks to ensure that more youth have opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviors to be successful in the 21st century.

Currently, our grantmaking is carried out within two objectives:

Expanding Quality Programs

Our funding supports efforts to expand quality college and career readiness programming within the afterschool infrastructure.

We make grants to:

• national nonprofit groups that provide technical assistance and/or regrant funds to state and local groups to support best practices and professional development opportunities that build the capacity of afterschool programs to implement effective college and career readiness strategies.

Advancing Innovations

Our funding seeks to advance effective models that help youth develop the behaviors, mindsets and learning strategies needed to succeed in school and life.

We make grants to:

• nonprofit organizations operating model programs that serve as examples for emerging initiatives;
• national and state-level organizations working to incorporate and embed innovative strategies and practices into relevant networks and systems that serve young people; and
• organizations working at the state and local level to advance public policies that enable scaling and sustainability of innovative strategies and practices.

Global Impact Cash Grants

Cisco welcomes applications for Global Impact Cash Grants from community partners around the world who share our vision and offer an innovative approach to a critical social challenge.

We identify, incubate, and develop innovative solutions with the most impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We’re looking for programs that fit within our investment areas, serve the underserved, and leverage technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services. We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. An initial information form is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application.

Social Investment Areas

At Cisco, we make social investments in three areas where we believe our technology and our people can make the biggest impact—education, economic empowerment, and crisis response, the last of which incorporates shelter, water, food, and disaster relief. Together, these investment areas help people overcome barriers of poverty and inequality, and make a lasting difference by fostering strong global communities.

Education Investments

Our strategy is to inclusively invest in technology-based solutions that increase equitable access to education while improving student performance, engagement, and career exploration. We support K-12 solutions that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as literacy. We also consider programs that teach environmental sustainability, eliminate barriers to accessing climate change education, and invite student engagement globally to positively affect the environment.

What we look for:

• Innovative early grade solutions using the internet and technology to bridge the barriers preventing access to education for underserved students globally.
• Solutions that positively affect student attendance, attitudes, and behavior while inspiring action by students to improve learning outcomes, whether they participate in person, online, or in blended learning environments. 
• Solutions with high potential to replicate and scale globally, thereby increasing the availability of evidence-based solutions that support student-centricity, teacher capacity in the classroom, and increased parental participation to help students learn and develop.

Note: Cisco does not provide direct funding to schools.

Economic Empowerment

Our strategy is to invest in early stage, tech-enabled solutions that provide equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that people need to support themselves and their families toward resilience, independence, and economic security.

Our goal is to support solutions that benefit individuals and families, and that contribute to local community growth and economic development in a sustainable economy.

We target our support in three interconnected areas:

• Skills development to help job seekers secure dignified employment and long-term career pathways in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green jobs.
• Inclusive entrepreneurship with small businesses as engines of local growth as well as high growth potential start-ups as large-scale job creators nationally and internationally, in technology or other sectors, including environment sustainability/green businesses.
• Banking the unbanked through relevant and affordable financial products and capacity building services.

Cisco Crisis Response

We seek to help overcome the cycle of poverty and dependence and achieve a more sustainable future through strategic investments. We back organizations that successfully address critical needs of underserved communities, because those who have their basic needs met are better equipped to learn and thrive.

What we look for:

• Innovative solutions that increase the capacity of grantees to deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently
• Design and implementation of web-based tools that increase the availability of, or improve access to, products and services that are necessary for people to survive and thrive
• Programs that increase access to clean water, food, shelter, or disaster relief and promote a more sustainable future for all
  • By policy, relief campaigns respond to significant natural disaster and humanitarian crises as opposed to those caused by human conflict. Also by policy, our investments in this area do not include healthcare solutions.

Note: UPS does not accept or respond to unsolicited grant proposals. Nonprofit funding is determined in one of two ways: The UPS Foundation solicits grant proposals from preeminent organizations within our focus areas or through a recommendation made by a UPS employee who is actively volunteering with the agency. The best way for your organization to be considered for funding by UPS is to engage UPS volunteers and then ask them to log their volunteer hours in the Neighbor-to-Neighbor tracking system. Any hours logged are open for funding opportunities by our local offices.

The Logistics of Caring

UPS founder Jim Casey established The UPS Foundation in 1951 with a mission to help build stronger, safer and more resilient communities around the world. And that's exactly what we've been doing for more than 60 years now.

To us, giving means more than writing a check. It means combining employees' skill, passion and time with our logistics expertise, transportation assets and charitable donations to make a measurable difference in society. In 2016, we invested nearly 2.7 million volunteer hours and more than $116 million dollars into our global communities. 

As our communities continue to grow and evolve, so do we. The Foundation's current philanthropic approach focuses on four areas that represent the purpose of our mission and reflect UPS's corporate values and expertise.

Focusing Our Efforts

Health & Humanitarian Relief

We improve the well-being of people and communities by tapping into our partnerships and innovative logistical expertise to deliver health and humanitarian solutions for underserved and impacted communities.

Equity & Economic Empowerment

We invest in organizations that address systemic education and economic barriers and create opportunities for underserved women, youth and marginalized communities.

Local Community Engagement

Promoting volunteerism and building capacity within the nonprofit sector.

Planet Protection

We advance environmental justice and a sustainable world.

NOTE: Normally we also support projects in the environment and health areas, but we found that those funding areas had received extra support over the past few years. Therefore, we are only reviewing proposals in education and poverty alleviation for this funding cycle. We will again be supporting projects in the environment and health funding areas in future years. Current grantees may submit requests for continued funding for the project we funded in 2020 – 2021 regardless of the funding area.

Our Mission

The mission of the Tomberg Family Philanthropies is to support well run and effective programs that make a difference in the areas of poverty alleviation, the environment, health and education. Our focus is on supporting projects that help their recipients build capabilities themselves that will last far beyond the end of the specific project.  

We agree with the Nobel Committee that “every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life.”

Our Grants

We make grants to organizations working in the areas of: 

• education,
• the environment,
• health, and
• poverty alleviation.

We look for funding opportunities such as pilot programs, support of new programs, capacity building, evaluations, Etc. that allow us to make a larger difference with limited funds than would be possible otherwise.

We take a ‘pilot’ to mean a first delivery of a new program or offering, intended to serve as a test of the program; test results from the pilot inform the decision to continue delivering the program as is, or with changes.

We normally can only offer support for up to three years for each program we fund.

National Environment

Program goals: to mitigate climate change; make communities more resilient to climate change; protect public health from the hazards of toxic chemicals and pollutants; and preserve biological diversity.

Grants are made to promote more environmentally sustainable, resilient, and just communities that:

• Mitigate climate change by:
• promoting energy efficiency and alternative sources of energy for buildings;
• shifting to electric or low-emission vehicles and greater use of mass transit;
• promoting a smarter, more resilient grid and distributed (on site) generation;
• reducing emissions from existing fossil fuel-powered facilities and extraction activities; and
• establishing regional programs, performance standards, and regulations that help reduce emissions.
• Make communities, especially the most disadvantaged, more resilient to a changing climate by:
• creating infrastructure that reduces storm-water run-off and absorbs storm surges;
• protecting shoreline communities by conserving or enhancing natural barriers;
• encouraging more sustainable building design and land use through policy reforms; and
• better planning and preparation for weather-related emergencies, especially for low-income and other vulnerable residents.
• Protect public health from the hazards of toxic pollutants by:
• supporting targeted scientific research that can be used to develop policy;
• promoting safer chemical and heavy metal policies and practices, especially for infants, children and other vulnerable people;
• eliminating toxic chemicals from products through market campaigns focused on retailers and manufacturers;
• enhancing protections for low-income communities near polluting facilities; and
• minimizing the hazards of new and expanded fossil fuel extraction on nearby communities.
• Preserve biological diversity through habitat conservation by:
• establishing, enhancing, and monitoring wildlife migration corridors; and
• supporting functional connectivity between fragmented habitat that enables species to move and live safely.

We encourage initiatives that cut across these program areas, especially those focused on smart growth, sustainable agriculture and regional food systems, and sustainable production.

International Environment

Each year, we make only two or three international grants to U.S. organizations that are building the capacity of government, academic institutions, private sector entities, and nonprofits to:

• Protect biodiversity;
• Improve environmental health; and
• Reduce greenhouse gases around the world.

AARP Community Challenge

The AARP Community Challenge provides small grants to fund quick-action projects that can help communities become more livable for people of all ages. In 2023, the AARP Community Challenge is accepting applications across three different grant opportunities, two of which are new this year.

Flagship Grants

The flagship AARP Community Challenge grants have ranged from several hundred dollars for smaller, short-term activities to tens of thousands of dollars for larger projects. Since 2017, AARP has funded projects ranging from $500 to $50,000 with an average grant amount of $11,900 (83 percent of grants have been under $20,000.) AARP reserves the right to award compelling projects of any dollar amount.

We are accepting applications for projects that benefit residents — especially those age 50 and older. Projects can:

• Create vibrant public places that improve open spaces, parks and access to other amenities
• Deliver a range of transportation and mobility options that increase connectivity, walkability, bikeability, and access to public and private transit
• Support housing options that increases the availability of accessible and affordable choices
• Ensure a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion while improving the built and social environment of a community;
• Increase digital connections by expanding high-speed internet and enhancing digital literacy skills of residents
• Support community resilience through investments that improve disaster management, preparedness and mitigation for residents
• Increase civic engagement with innovative and tangible projects that bring residents and local leaders together to address challenges and facilitate a greater sense of inclusion
• Improve community health and economic empowerment in support of financial well-being and improved health outcomes

NEW! Capacity-Building Microgrants

By combining $2,500 grants with additional resources — such as webinars, AARP Livable Communities publications, cohort learning opportunities and/or up to two hours of one-on-one coaching with leading national organizations — this new grant opportunity will benefit residents (especially those age 50 or older) in the following categories:

• Walkability: Implement a walk audit to assess and enhance the safety and walkability of a street or neighborhood with support from America Walks, using the AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit.
• Community Gardens: Start or enhance a community garden with support from 880 Cities, using the new AARP publication Creating Community Gardens for People of All Ages.

NEW! Demonstration Grants

By supporting demonstration efforts that encourage the replication of promising local efforts, this new grant opportunity will benefit residents (especially those age 50 and older) by:

• Advancing solutions that build capacity towards transportation systems change. This opportunity for grant funding of approximately $30,000 to $50,000 per project is sponsored by Toyota Motor North America.
• Implementing accessory dwelling unit (ADU) design competitions that increase public understanding of this housing option and encourage the implementation of ADU supportive policies. This opportunity for grant funding will provide approximately $10,000 to $15,000 per project.

Community Partnership Award

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.

Each year, the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors a national competition in which hundreds of organizations demonstrate the value of their partnership to the communities they serve, their ability to be replicated by others and their capacity to stimulate new approaches to addressing significant social issues.

Six organizations are selected by an independent committee to receive the Community Partnership Award.

• The Thomas J. Moran Award is given to the national award-winning program and includes $100,000 and a documentary video about the program.
• The Frances R. Hesselbein Award is given to a partnership that is addressing social challenges in more than one community, or which demonstrates the potential to be replicated in other communities. This recipient receives $50,000.
• Four other organizations are named Honorable Mention recipients for their programs, and each receives $50,000.

Since its inception in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 256 partnerships from cities and towns across America. Like so many of our clients working in the nonprofit community, Mutual of America is dedicated to having a direct, positive impact on society.