Search Through Education Grants in New Orleans, Louisiana in the U.S.

Mission

The DanPaul Foundation will use its resources to help train teachers and parents in early childhood development, protect children from abuse and neglect, stimulate children's personal social responsibilities, and offer them opportunities for enrichment and growth.

The Foundation will also encourage children to be concerned and informed about the environment and the underprivileged, particularly with regard to clean air and water, and adequate housing and nutrition for all.

Beliefs

The DanPaul Foundation believes that children should have ample opportunities for enrichment in their lives, and thus strives to provide many different ways to enrich and expand children's minds through direct programs and monetary support to organizations doing similar work.

We have provided or currently provide grants related to the following program areas:

• Workshops, Conferences, + Seminars: We strive to offer educational workshops, conferences, and seminars for parents and teachers on topics related to early childhood development.
• Student Scholarships: We aim to help students attending post-secondary education institutions by providing need-based and academic scholarships.
• Scientific Endeavors: We desire to advance scientific endeavors which seek to improve the quality of life for everyone in the world.
• Clean Air + Water: We hope to pass on knowledge and practical life skills to youth regarding their personal responsibility to the environment, teaching them about issues surrounding clean air and water.
• Child Advocacy: We believe in protecting children from abuse and neglect and particularly love to support programs that provide education and assistance to children as well as organizations advocating or caring for vulnerable children.
• Homelessness: We want to encourage young people to take a personal interest in seeing that adequate housing and proper nutrition, especially for the underprivileged and homeless, are available.
• Poverty + Neglect: We seek to help those in poverty as well as educate youth about their responsibility to consider the underprivileged and take care of those most in need of life's basic essentials like adequate housing and proper nutrition.
• Refugee Enrichment: We wish to help refugee youth by supporting programs that provide them enrichment and help them transition to life in a new country.

The DanPaul Foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by the IRS. The Foundation is interested in providing funding to programs that directly serve the health, education, development, and welfare of the world's youth.

Grants range from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000 per calendar year.

Background

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of underserved communities across the globe by supporting scalable, innovative, and impact-first solutions that leverage existing systems and stakeholders. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic products or services that have a proven ability to positively impact the lives of underserved people, and nurture those organizations at the early stages by providing capacity, capital, and community.

Our application process is designed to be open and accessible, and we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors. Borrowing from our venture capital legacy, we find exceptional entrepreneurs and provide them with: 

Capacity

• The core of DRK’s model is deep and extensive operational and technical support for each portfolio organization, both through dedicated hands-on Board service and specialist capacity-building resources for fundraising, board and organizational development, leadership, financial support, and scaling strategy,

Capital

• DRK provides up to $300,000 USD in either unrestricted grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period, and

Community

• DRK convenes our portfolio and alumni annually, facilitating connections and community. 

What We Fund

DRK Foundation funds early-stage social impact organizations solving the world’s biggest social and environmental problems using bold, scalable approaches.

What stage of growth does DRK Foundation typically fund?

Early stage: Organizations who are early stage, which we define as post-pilot and pre-scale. This typically means: 

• Your program, product or service is already being used in the market or in the field, 
• You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact on the beneficiary populations,
• Your organization is relatively young (ideally between two and five years old, although we will consider both younger and older organizations).

Venture funding: In the case of for profits, we typically support Seed to Series A organizations, and never lead rounds; we also generally but not exclusively refrain from participating in financings exceeding a $15M USD post-money valuation.  

First Horizon Foundation

Through the First Horizon Foundation we are constantly investing in organizations across our footprint that do important work every day to make the places we serve better and stronger.

Contributions from the Foundation include the following areas:

• Arts and Culture
• Education & Leadership
• Environment
• Financial Literacy
• Health & Human Services

Our contributions are targeted to strengthen these pillars of the communities we serve:

• Improving the well-being of our communities
• Investing in the financial future
• Educating and developing the next generation of leaders
• Promoting excellence and enrichment in the arts
• A more sustainable tomorrow and future

Global Impact Cash Grants

Identifying and incubating innovative early-stage solutions. We identify, incubate, and develop innovative early-stage solutions with the highest potential for impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We're looking for programs that fit within our investment sectors, focus on the underserved, and use technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services.

We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. A brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application. Please expand and carefully review each of the three sections below to learn more

Our priority social impact sectors

We focus on investing in innovative, tech-enabled solutions to the challenges and opportunities that matter most to communities in need, prioritizing four social impact sectors:

Cisco Crisis Response

Mobilizing to provide essentials to communities in need and those in crisis, including food, housing, secure connectivity, and disaster relief

By leveraging Cisco’s people, technology, financial resources, and strategic partnerships, we help strengthen community resilience and drive long-term recovery from crises.

Education

Supporting students, teachers, and schools by increasing engagement, building skills, promoting subject mastery, and expanding their capacity to thrive

Cisco is committed to inclusive access to digital skills training and supporting those who use technology to educate. Through programs like Cisco Networking Academy and social investments in education, we create new opportunities for individuals to thrive.

Economic Empowerment

Transforming communities through skill development, long-term career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and access to financial products and services

Strategic grants that unlock economic prosperity and growth for individuals and communities.

Climate Regeneration

Building an inclusive, regenerative, and resilient climate future through education, regenerative agriculture, conservation, protection, and clean energy solutions

Our efforts began in 2021, when the Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years to fund nonprofit grants and impact investing in climate solutions. 

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Grants

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation only accepts unsolicited proposals for specific areas within the education, family economic stability and childhood health sectors in select countries where we work, namely the United States, India and South Africa.

As a guideline, the foundation does not fund more than 25% of a project’s budget or more than 10% of an organization’s total annual operating expenses.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has always recognized the power of providing grants to partner organizations that we knew were already working hard to improve the lives of urban children living in poverty. By aligning with organizations that are already making a difference, we continue to make an immediate impact on the lives of thousands of children.

Foundation priorities:

We fund social enterprises that directly serve or impact children or youth from urban low-income communities in the areas of education, health, and family economic stability (including livelihoods and financial inclusion). These social enterprises may be structured as for-profit or nonprofit entities.

Partnerships

We collaborate with a range of organizations focused on creating opportunities for children and families living in urban poverty, with a deep emphasis on measuring impact. Our funding advances projects already making an impact in education, health, and family economic stability. Through these enduring and long-standing partnerships, we create lasting change together.

Our Mission

The Tony Robbins Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of people often forgotten.

We’re dedicated to creating positive changes in the lives of youth, seniors, the hungry, homeless and the imprisoned population, all who need a boost envisioning a happier and deeply satisfying way of life. Our passionate staff, generous donors and caring group of international volunteers provide the vision, inspiration, and resources needed to empower these important members of our society.

Grants

Dedicated to meeting challenges within the global community, creating solutions and taking action, The Tony Robbins Foundation provides monetary donations to various organizations around the world. Funding requests are evaluated on an ongoing basis. We look for organizations that align with our mission to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of those often forgotten.

Wells Fargo and the Wells Fargo Foundation collaborate with a wide range of nonprofit organizations that align with our strategic funding priorities. We prioritize our funding to activities and programs that have a broad reach and support the needs of underserved communities. We aspire to have a positive impact on the communities we serve by using our financial and volunteer resources and business expertise in collaboration with community organizations to help solve complex societal problems.

• Financial health
• Housing affordability
• Small business growth
• Sustainability

We may also support other local needs in eligible communities such as disaster relief, arts and culture, civic engagement, education, human and social services, and workforce development. However, opportunities are limited as our intent is to direct the majority of our giving within our major focus areas.

Wendell & Anne Gauthier Family Foundation Grant

A family foundation is one whose funds are derived from members of a single family. At least one family member, but usually more, serves as an officer or board member of the foundation. The family members play a significant role in governing and/or managing the foundation throughout its life. Family foundations tend to reflect the personal concerns of the individual families that govern them. Grantmaking areas and how funding is granted vary widely from one family foundation to the next.

Areas of Focus

Cultural Economy

Coastal Louisiana has an outsized presence in the public consciousness. Leveraging this soft power is more than just fun and games; it’s a key path to building a better tomorrow for the region. The foundation supports the highest levels of performance excellence through grants to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS), and others while also supporting culture-makers more directly through Culture Aid NOLA and the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts.

Education

Education transforms lives. The Gauthier family’s largest contributions have been to provide chairs at Loyola and Tulane as well as spaces for learning, including a 16,000 sqft four-story wing of the Loyola University School of Law, an Auditorium at Tulane’s Law School, a section of the new Louisiana Children’s Museum in City Park, and a combination stairwell/art gallery at the Metairie Park Country Day School.

Equity

Equity is at the root of all the priorities of the foundation. However, it is given a special emphasis to honor the ways the Gauthier Family has greatly benefited from equal access to opportunity. In an effort to bridge equity gaps in our community, the Gauthier Family Foundation funds initiatives that ensure community members have access to needed services. In previous years, the foundation funded: Bridge House & Grace House, Culture Aid NOLA, Second Harvest Food Bank, Angel’s Place, New Orleans Women & Children Shelter, and Lighthouse for the Blind.

Urban Resilience

Coastal Louisiana consistently perseveres in the face of adversity, much in part to our communities’ resilience. The Gauthier Family Foundation is dedicated to investing in initiatives that strengthen the capacity for the Gulf South to flourish and thrive despite future challenges. The foundation recognizes that green space is an integral part of Urban Resiliency and supports NOLA Trees Project, Friends of City Park, Audubon Nature Institute, and the New Orleans Botanical Gardens Foundation.

Funding

We prefer smaller grants ($500-$5,000) that more directly support individuals or specific projects.

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation 

Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation was established in the Last Will and Testament of Collin’s C. Diboll dated August 13, 1984. The foundation’s mission is to provide charitable and educational benefits for the New Orleans community. 

The Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation (the "Foundation") is a private charitable foundation operating in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Foundation primarily makes grants to charitable organizations that have been recognized by the IRS as being described in Section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or 509(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Program Areas

The Foundation supports programs that work to strategically resolve societal problems and promote the arts, education and health.  

Grants range from $1,000 to $250,000 annually. Applicants may apply for one-year or multi-year grants for their project.  

The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work, and compassion.

The Foundation considers applications for grants in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Health care
• Civic and cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

The majority of our grants are made in the U.S. However, like Dr. Scholl, we recognize the need for a global outlook. Non-U.S. grants are given to organizations where directors have knowledge of the grantee.

Mission

The Trustees of the Keller Family Foundation have, from its inception, been most concerned with using its resources to help sustain and improve the Greater New Orleans community. With each change in membership of the Board of Trustees, the Foundation's direction and priorities change to reflect the input and priorities of the new members. The current Board has keen interests in education, youth development, human services, and public affairs. The Foundation's primary region of interest is New Orleans, Louisiana and its surrounding communities.

While we have no formal Mission Statement, the close relationships among the members of the Board give the Foundation a synergy that allows us to work by consensus.

Mission

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc. promotes, preserves, perpetuates, and encourages the music, culture, and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs, and other cultural, educational, civic, and economic activities.

Community Outreach Ticket Program

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation’s Community Outreach Ticket program provides tickets to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell (Jazz Fest), the Foundation’s main fundraising event.

The purpose of Community Outreach Tickets is to provide access to Jazz Fest for those Louisiana residents who otherwise could not afford to attend the festival.

Community Outreach tickets are distributed through nonprofit social service organizations that provide direct, ongoing services to low-income residents of Louisiana. These may include educational, religious, government, and community agencies – but only those that provide direct, ongoing services to low-income clients.

Tickets are to be distributed based on financial need and availability, and, in certain approved cases, as rewards or incentives for the clients’ good behavior. Any organization granted Community Outreach Tickets that is found to violate Community Outreach Ticket guidelines will be permanently barred from receiving tickets through this program in the future.

Our Mission & Our Purpose

Now in its fourth decade, the Arts Council New Orleans is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting arts and culture in the city. Our mission is to improve quality of life in New Orleans by supporting, activating, and investing in our city’s greatest natural resource: our artists, cultural producers, and creative community.

Our Vision: Art in Everything.

Building on the abundant cultural wealth and creativity of our community, the Arts Council envisions a New Orleans in which arts and culture play a pivotal role in all areas of policy, planning, and placemaking.

In pursuit of a more equitable, joyful, and resilient city, art and artists should be central to all community and economic development efforts – from public health to public safety, education to infrastructure.

Community Arts Grants

Community Arts Grants (CAG) are funded by the City of New Orleans. These grants support 501(c)(3) arts non-profits domiciled in Orleans Parish through the New Orleans as Cultural Capital category. This program provides support for a broad range of arts activities that take place in and have an impact on the residents of Orleans Parish. Arts New Orleans believes that all citizens should be able to participate in a creative life and that the arts drive a vibrant and equitable community. All people, their culture, and their art contribute to the meaning and understanding of our humanity and should be honored and celebrated.

CCR&R SRTC WORKFORCE ECHO GRANT

The purpose of the CCR&R SRTC ECHO GRANT is to provide workforce retention grant funds.

These grant funds can be used for one-time bonuses, salary subsidies for current and new staff. This applies to all childcare staff (teachers, floaters, cleaners, cooks, and admin) but excludes directors and owners. Academically Approved Family Child Care Providers may use the funds to pay substitutes. These funds are not to be used to cover regular payroll. 

Individual Grant Amounts

Each approved site will receive approximately $1K in workforce retention grant funding. Approved sites in Plaquemines Parish, please see special guidance for this grant in your application.

This grant is made possible by funding generated through the Louisiana School Readiness Tax Credits (SRTCs). We thank the many Louisiana businesses who believe in the importance of high-quality early care and education and who make this support possible.

Community Partnership Grants

Since 1979, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has invested proceeds directly into the community with grants to fund projects that support the Foundation’s mission.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is now accepting requests for funding of up to $5,000 to support music and art education programs, cultural events put on by Louisiana arts-based nonprofits, new artistic works that interpret Louisiana culture, and other projects that support the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mission.

Through the Community Partnership Grants program, the Foundation provides grants to schools, artists, and arts-based nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Over the last decade, more than $13.5 million in grants have been distributed to Louisiana communities.

Jazz & Heritage In-School Education Programs in Music, Arts, and Cultural Traditions

This category supports music and arts education in the schools by funding music and art instruction that takes place at Louisiana K-12 schools during the regular school day or after school. Schools (public or private) may apply for money to pay for instruments, instrument repair, sheet music, visual art supplies, or other needed materials to support arts instruction as part of the school’s curriculum. Only one application per school is allowed- teachers must verify with their principal, CEO, or School leadership and colleagues before submitting an application to make sure that no one else in the school is submitting one.

Funding

• The maximum grant amount is $7,500. Grant awards may be – and frequently are –for less than the amount requested.
• All Jazz & Heritage grant funds must be spent in Louisiana.

John Morton Excellence in the Teaching of Economics Awards

Do you love economics? Do you have a unique or exemplary approach to incorporating economics into your classroom instruction? Or do you know someone who does? The Council for Economic Education's (CEE’s) John Morton Excellence in the Teaching of Economics Award is the only national award recognizing teachers like you! 

This award honors teachers of any subject who use exemplary teaching techniques that improve their students’ economic understanding, in and out of the classroom. Annually an award of $1,000 is given to one teacher in each of the following categories:

• Elementary School (Grades K-5)
• Middle/Junior High School (Grades 6-8)
• High School (Grades 9-12)

Aside from applying directly, teachers can be nominated by a teaching colleague, department chair, principal, superintendent, or CEE state affiliate (State Council or University-based Center for Economic Education).

Each awardee will receive:

• $1,000 cash prize
• An opportunity to co-facilitate a session at CEE’s 64th Financial Literacy & Economic Education Conference on October17th-18th, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Recognition of your achievement during the Conference Awards Luncheon
• Covered registration, travel, and accommodation expenses to attend the Conference.
• An opportunity to have their lessons highlighted on CEE’s EconEdLink.
• Recognition on the CEE website and in CEE’s EconEdLink November newsletter
• A plaque certifying this award 

About

The Platforms Fund is a collaborative effort of Antenna, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Regional Regranting Program was established in 2007 to recognize and support the movement of independently organized, public-facing, artist-centered activity that animates local and regional art scenes but that lies beyond the reach of traditional funding sources. The program is administered by non-profit visual art centers across the United States that work in partnership with the Warhol Foundation to fund artists’ experimental projects and collaborative undertakings.

Platform Fund Grants

Platforms Fund Grants are awarded in three categories: Research & Development, Visual Arts Project Implementation, and Culture Bearer Implementation

• Research & Development Grants are awarded to projects in the early stages of research and project development. These projects will submit: project statements, research and organizing methods, Resume, website, images, past work, etc. These projects are eligible to apply for future Project Implementation funding.
• Visual Arts Project Implementation Grants are awarded to projects that are presented throughout the granting period. These projects will submit confirmed partners, final budgets, and an established timeline for implementation.
• Culture Bearer Implementation Grants will fund projects with visual elements of community engaged works that have roots in or pay homage to the cultural creatives and cultural entities, and Indigenous groups of New Orleans. This may include visual documentation, books, educational workshops, the production and sewing of suits, and second line or baby doll costumes. These projects will submit: Project description (concept), budget, community partners, timeline, samples of past work.

Platforms Grants will be awarded in the category chosen at the time of application. You can apply for a Platforms Grant once annually. Should you receive a Research & Development Grant, you are eligible to apply for a Visual Arts or Culture Bearer Implementation Grant the following year. However, should you receive a Project Implementation Grant, you must wait two years to apply for another grant for any project if you are listed as a lead organizer for the previously funded project. You can only apply to one category.

Louisiana Project Grants

Mission

The Louisiana Division of the Arts (LDOA) in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council (LSAC) is the catalyst for participation, education, development and promotion of excellence in the arts.

Vision

It is the responsibility of LDOA to support established arts institutions, nurture both emerging arts organizations and our overall cultural economy, assist individual artists, encourage the expansion of audiences and stimulate public participation in the arts in Louisiana.

Core Values

The arts are an essential and unique aspect of life in Louisiana to which each citizen has a right. Access to the arts should not depend on your geographical location, physical abilities, or income. All residents should have an equitable stake in the arts in Louisiana, which provide a wonderful quality of life and add to our rich cultural heritage.

LDOA Equity Statement: LDOA aspires to intentionally advance diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of our work. LDOA celebrates our state’s diversity and promotes the role of the arts to connect people, bridge our differences, and inspire an appreciation of our shared humanity. LDOA is committed to integrating DEI into the fabric of our organization and our work, from our internal culture to how we partner with communities and other organizations to how we use our resources. We continually seek ways to expand our impact and improve our performance on these measures.

Louisiana Project Grant (LPG) Goals

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Stimulate healthy competition in grant proposal submissions
• Increase the level of creativity, innovation and awareness of new trends in project development
• Encourage professional artists to undertake projects that have meaningful community involvement and collaboration
• Leverage additional local and national support for the arts in Louisiana

LPG Priorities

• Must be an ART project involving dance, design arts, folklife, literature, media, music, theatre, or visual arts
• Must show how the project accounts for the population of the region and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
• Emphasis on Innovation and Artistry
• Risk Taking/Trying something new
• Focus on learning as an outcome as well as quantitative outcomes
• Cross-parish partnerships between larger, urban organizations and their rural counterparts or vice versa
• Projects that have a trajectory to continue to enhance the region beyond the funding period

Artistic Disciplines

Louisiana Project Grants provide funding for arts projects. The artistic disciplines described below are considered eligible art forms:

• Dance - Dance projects can focus on ballet, modern, jazz or ethnic dance. Dance project grants assist artists and organizations to make innovative dance programs that meet a need in their community and are accessible to all.

• Design - Design Arts projects can involve the design fields of architecture; landscape architecture; urban design; historic preservation and planning; interior design; industrial design; graphic design; and fashion design. This project area provides an opportunity for visual arts and design professionals to collaborate on projects involving design practice, media, theory, research, and education about design. Projects may include publications, audiovisual presentations, or conferences. Design arts do not include purchase of plantings, seeds, gardening equipment, construction equipment, or building supplies.

• Folklife - Folklife refers to traditions currently practiced within a community that have been passed down informally over time and not learned through workshops, classes, or magazines. Folklife includes Performing Traditions (music, dance, storytelling) and Traditional Arts & Crafts (occupational, festive and food ways traditions). See definition of folk artist in the glossary. Folk traditions are created within specific cultural contexts that need to be understood to be appreciated. Most folklife projects are greatly enhanced with the services of a professional folklorist or other trained cultural specialists such as those with academic training in folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology or other related fields. Cultural specialists should be involved in planning and implementation phases of a project. Folklife does not include historical re-enacting or living history. Folklife projects are evaluated for the cultural significance of the art form and the involvement of trained cultural specialists (folklorists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists).

• Literature - Literature project grants are intended to support innovative projects that utilize the literary arts such as works of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction to meet a community need and promote diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, the category supports not-for-profit small presses and magazines that publish fiction, poetry, creative prose, or literary criticism for production and distribution projects. Such magazines must have been published at least once.

• Media - Media project grants provide financial assistance to organizations and artists involved in film, video, radio, or related media. Projects should focus on the development of film, video, and radio as art forms where experimentation, technique and, creative processes are included in the project design.

• Music - Music project grants assist artists or organizations sponsoring musical programming or the presentation and development of musicians, composers, and/or music ensembles and orchestras in all genres, including band, chamber, choral, ethnic, jazz, new, opera, orchestral, popular, solo/recital.

• Theater - Theater project grants are intended to use dramatic and musical theater to engage the public, promote diversity, equity and inclusion and help meet a community need or support the development of nonprofit professional and community theater, puppetry, mime, and storytelling.

• Visual Arts and Crafts -Visual Arts and Crafts project grants are intended to support projects or services of museums, art galleries, art centers, and other community organizations concerned with visual arts. This includes drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, glass, ceramics, fiber, wood, metal, mixed media, and art in public places.

Community Partnership Grants

Since 1979, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has invested proceeds directly into the community with grants to fund projects that support the Foundation’s mission.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is now accepting requests for funding of up to $5,000 to support music and art education programs, cultural events put on by Louisiana arts-based nonprofits, new artistic works that interpret Louisiana culture, and other projects that support the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mission.

Through the Community Partnership Grants program, the Foundation provides grants to schools, artists, and arts-based nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Over the last decade, more than $13.5 million in grants have been distributed to Louisiana communities.

Jazz & Heritage After-School and Summer Education Programs in Music, Arts, and Cultural Traditions

This category supports after-school and summer educational arts programs offered by nonprofit organizations. Organizations may apply for money only to pay the professional teaching fees of the artists or educators who provide arts instruction. Only nonprofit organizations in Louisiana may apply.

Community Partnership Grants

Since 1979, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has invested proceeds directly into the community with grants to fund projects that support the Foundation’s mission.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is now accepting requests for funding of up to $5,000 to support music and art education programs, cultural events put on by Louisiana arts-based nonprofits, new artistic works that interpret Louisiana culture, and other projects that support the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mission.

Through the Community Partnership Grants program, the Foundation provides grants to schools, artists, and arts-based nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Over the last decade, more than $13.5 million in grants have been distributed to Louisiana communities..

Jazz & Heritage Media: Documentation + Creation 

This category supports the creation, documentation, or exhibition of artworks that reflect, interpret, document, or preserve the indigenous culture of Louisiana. Individuals and non-profits may apply. Priority will be given to Louisiana-based applicants.

Community Partnership Grants

Since 1979, the Jazz & Heritage Foundation has invested proceeds from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell directly into the community with grants to fund projects that support the Foundation’s mission.

Through the Community Partnership Grants program, the Foundation provides grants to schools, artists, and arts-based nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Over the last decade, more than $15 million in grants have been distributed to Louisiana communities.

In each grant cycle, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation reviews hundreds of requests for funding of up to $7,500 to support music and art education programs, cultural events put on by Louisiana arts-based nonprofits, new artistic works that interpret Louisiana culture, and other projects that support the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s mission.

Jazz & Heritage Presenting: Festivals and Concerts in Music and Performing Arts

This category supports job opportunities for Louisiana performing artists through financial support to local nonprofit organizations to facilitate the hiring of Louisiana-based performers for festivals and public cultural events within the state. Eligible organizations for this funding are limited to nonprofits located in Louisiana.

Mini-Grants for Education

Mini-Grants for Education are designed to support K-12 teachers and schools in communities where Freeport-McMoRan has an operational presence. Since 2006, over $700,000 has been granted through the Mini-Grants program for classroom projects ranging from field trips to literacy efforts to incentives for student performance.

Grant Awards and Use of Funds

Grants of $100 to $500 will be awarded to support projects in the project categories below.

• Environment
• Mining, mineral and natural resources
• Reading and literacy
• STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

A school is eligible to receive up to four (4) mini-grants during each application period. Each applicant/teacher/classroom may receive one mini-grant award per school year.

Women's Development Grants Program

We are committed to investing in efforts that increase education and economic opportunities for citizens in our operating communities. In particular, we want to ensure that women have suitable, relevant, functional opportunities to be full participants in economic development and attain greater levels of prosperity. When women gain skills, they gain confidence, increase their productivity, mentor others, raise their income levels and reinvest in their children’s education, their family’s health, and economic activities at the community level.  

The Freeport-McMoRan Women’s Development Grants support organizations providing women and girls with opportunities to:

• Advance attainment, matriculation or graduation via college/career readiness and/or leadership/character development
• Create or expand businesses via small business development training and access to capital programs
• Increase financial capability and employment via education or workforce skills training

Helping Build Better Futures

Our mission is to deliver great value to our customers every day. For over four decades, our deep commitment to the principles of providing value and caring for others has helped define our culture. It extends beyond the walls of our stores, distribution centers, and offices, and into our local communities around the world. The intersection of these principles defines our global community mission:

Deliver great value to our communities by helping vulnerable families and children access the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future.

Our Social Impact Areas

We bring our community relations mission to life around the world by focusing our giving on four social impact areas where we believe we can have the most impact and are critical to helping families and children succeed and thrive.

Basic Needs

We are passionate about supporting nonprofit organizations that help fill critical basic needs such as a warm meal, clean clothing, and a safe place to sleep for vulnerable families.

Education & Training

Our efforts have focused on quality enrichment and extracurricular programs that provide skills, resources, and opportunities to support school and career success for children, teens, and young adults.

Patient Care & Research

We support organizations that deliver services to families and children facing health challenges and life-threatening illnesses.

Empowering Women

We support programs that provide services ranging from help for those fleeing domestic violence, to others that offer education, training, and job placement resources.

Southern Eye Bank Foundation Grant

To improve and restore the vision primarily for residents of South Louisiana with a focus on underserved patients. To support and encourage projects related to the use of medical equipment, education, research, training, and eye care delivery regionally and with a global perspective.

The Southern Eye Bank Foundation envisions a South Louisiana where all residents have access to quality eye care and vision services. The SEB Foundation aims to continue the work started last century by the Southern Eye Bank (SEB). We strive to build on SEB’s legacy to create a broader system of holistic services for the ophthalmic community for generations to come.

Grant Purpose

Grants will support organizations working in the Greater New Orleans Region. Occasionally, we also support programs that simultaneously benefit local and international communities.

Grants are available to organizations serving blind and vision impaired individuals and their families for programs related to the use of medical equipment, education, research, training, and eye care services.

Actual grant amounts will vary according to the need expressed in the application and will range from $5,000 to $100,000.

Collaborative Grants

In 2014, United Way of Southeast Louisiana embarked on a journey to renew our approach to creating lasting change. The journey began with a carefully orchestrated listening process, including community conversations across our seven-parish service area. Participants discussed their aspirations and the challenges they face. Some of the barriers that emerged included low wages, limited education, inadequate health care, and unaffordable housing.

Through research and engagement, it became clear that poverty is the fundamental issue in the region.

We introduced our Blueprint for Prosperity – our plan to eradicate poverty informed by community voices and validated by external research – to present a compelling path toward a stronger, prosperous, and more equitable Southeast Louisiana for us all. As a part of the Blueprint, we also introduced our programmatic grants – designed to support distinct programs or projects – in alignment with our new prosperity outcomes framework (see below).

Today, our grantmaking is rooted in addressing the complex interplay of symptoms and drivers of poverty in the region and supports the vision of equitable communities where all individuals are healthy, educated, and economically stable.

In 2022, we hosted another series of community conversations to listen to residents and refine the most pressing issues in our communities and pathways to maximize local impact. Once again, we were able to identify the emerging barriers to prosperity for households across each of our seven parishes.

As a result, we’re launching our second cycle of collaborative grant process – rooted in equity, community voice, and data – to foster systems-level change across the region. 

Criteria

UWSELA seeks grant requests across five priority areas aligned with our Blueprint’s prosperity outcomes that we believe will produce long-term change to sustain our mission of to end poverty. In particular, we will consider proposals that focus on one or more of our four outcomes and five priority areas and align with our guiding principles.

Prosperity Outcomes

Data, community conversations, and partner convenings conducted in 2014 and 2015 resulted in four interrelated outcomes that describe the region United Way and residents want to see.

• Stability Today: Families have the skills, resources, & opportunities to access basic needs.
• Prosperity Tomorrow: All families have the social, emotional, and financial assets to create a better future.
• Personal Wellness: People of all ages enjoy a high quality of life and well-being.
• Vibrant Communities: All communities are safe, equitable, and thriving.

Priority Areas

Additional community conversations held drilled down into the four prosperity outcomes, resulting in five priority areas for each parish. Once again, we will give priority to those programs that address these areas for each parish.

• Youth Development: Investing in organizations with a primary focus on serving youth, including both academic and recreational programming, to support the learning, well-being, and prosperity of our next generation.
• Mental Health: Investing in organizations that provide direct counseling and substance abuse treatment to expand the capacity of local providers supporting those facing mental health challenges and to create a more supportive and healthy community.
• Financial Empowerment: Supporting workforce development, community-level economic development, and emergency assistance programs to provide all residents pathways to attaining the skills, opportunities, & supports that undergird economic stability for communities and families.
• Access to Resources: Investing in personnel and community-facing platforms to ensure residents are aware of and able to access existing local supports & resources.
• Coordinating & Convening: Supporting efforts to drive coordination between community-serving organizations with the goal of enhancing accountability, information-sharing, and referrals across the ecosystem, resulting in holistic services and solutions for residents.

Guiding Principles

The following six guiding principles represent the core values of our work and, by extension, the work we want to see from and with our partners:

• Connectivity: We coordinate our efforts to create pathways of prosperity that are trusted, culturally appropriate, accessible, and without bias.
• Equity: We strive to lift up all people and to eliminate systemic barriers to prosperity.
• Lived Experience: We amplify the voices of those we are serving and allow their needs and aspirations to guide our work.
• Long-Term Commitment: We commit to continuing our work until the cycle of poverty is broken, communities are thriving, and people are living prosperously.
• Shared Responsibility: We believe success requires the unique contributions of the entire community, including individuals, families, schools, nonprofits, the faith-based community, funders, governments, and the private sector.
• Systems Change: We embrace our work as holistic and dynamic, impacting people, place, practice, and policy.

Funding

Eligible collaboratives must support a group of organizations and stakeholders taking a unified approach to systems change. The grants may be used for: 

• Planning: Up to $25,000 in funding to help collaboratives come together to create a steering committee, common agenda and working groups.
• Infrastructure-Backbone: Up to $50,000 in funding to support backbone organizations or functions.
• Infrastructure-Shared Measurement: Up to $50,000 in funding to support shared measurement systems.
• Implementation: Up to $100,000 in funding to support systems-change strategies developed by working groups.
• Continuous Improvement: Up to $50,000 in funding to conduct evaluations. 

UWSELA intends to be a long-term partner in supporting collaboratives. As such, at the end of a funding cycle, grantees will have the opportunity to reapply for a funding extension based on a successful evaluation of the work. Funding for the second and third year of the grant is contingent on available dollars and the funded collaborative's performance in the previous year.