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.

Hearst Foundations' Mission

The Hearst Foundations identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States have the opportunity to build healthy, productive and inspiring lives.

Hearst Foundations' Goals

The Foundations seek to achieve their mission by funding approaches that result in:

• Improved health and quality of life
• Access to high quality educational options to promote increased academic achievement
• Arts and sciences serving as a cornerstone of society
• Sustainable employment and productive career paths for adults
• Stabilizing and supporting families

Funding Priorities

The Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of interests – culture, education, health and social service – and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Culture

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those which enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent.

Types of Support: Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Education

The Hearst Foundations fund educational institutions demonstrating uncommon success in preparing students to thrive in a global society. The Foundations’ focus is largely on higher education, but they also fund innovative models of early childhood and K-12 education, as well as professional development.

Types of Support: Program, scholarship, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Health

The Hearst Foundations assist leading regional hospitals, medical centers and specialized medical institutions providing access to high-quality healthcare for low-income populations. In response to the shortage of healthcare professionals necessary to meet the country’s evolving needs, the Foundations also fund programs designed to enhance skills and increase the number of practitioners and educators across roles in healthcare. Because the Foundations seek to use their funds to create a broad and enduring impact on the nation’s health, support for medical research and the development of young investigators is also considered.

Types of Support: Program, capital and, on a limited basis, endowment support

Social Service

The Hearst Foundations fund direct-service organizations that tackle the roots of chronic poverty by applying effective solutions to the most challenging social and economic problems. The Foundations prioritize supporting programs that have proven successful in facilitating economic independence and in strengthening families. Preference is also given to programs with the potential to scale productive practices in order to reach more people in need.

Types of Support: Program, capital and general support

About Us

As a family team, we’ve been working together for over 15 years to make happiness possible for underserved communities by promoting basic education, proper nutrition, secure housing, and a healthier environment through our nonprofit organization.

Our Mission

The RNP Foundation is committed to increasing the overall well-being of our neighbors and beyond. As long time meditation practitioners, we believe the path to lasting happiness is through spirituality, but before establishing self-transcendence, an individual must have their basic living, education, nutritional, and environmental needs met. Our mission is to nurture a safer, healthier world in which every person can achieve lasting happiness that spans for generations.

Our Pillars

At the RNP Foundation, we’re driven by the five core pillars of our organization: addressing homelessness, promoting better education, caring for the environment, providing nourishment, and fostering a sense of spirituality.

• HOMELESSNESS - We believe that we are all interconnected, so no part of society should be isolated. Therefore, we help combat the issue of homelessness in our community by being a part of the Kern County Homeless Collaborative.
• EDUCATION - We believe in the power of education and the impact it can have. Therefore, we do what we can to make it easier for people in the community to obtain an education.
• ENVIRONMENT - We believe that protecting the environment is imperative to our society. To do this we make sure we invest our resources in people and organizations that promote the well being of our planet.
• NUTRITION - We understand the importance and impact of good nutrition on the mind, body, and spirit. We love this community, so we are committed to the health of the people who live here. We work with a non profit cafe who promotes these beliefs and values.
• SPIRITUALITY - We believe that true happiness is connected to our spirituality. Therefore, once we help provide the basic necessities, such as a home, food, and education, we can focus on our spirituality.

Our Work 

Our work is centered on the pillars of environment, nutrition, education, housing/homelessness, and spirituality. We try to serve in these areas through starting and running our own programs anywhere in the world from Kern County to India, partnering with others on projects for doing such work around the globe, or stepping out of the way and simply giving grants to impactful organizations. We find that to create impact effectively it is important to know which problems to get involved with directly and which ones to trust others to be able to take care of.

Despite our pillars, we are willing and able to pivot in times of need. During the Covid-19 crisis we shifted a large portion of our efforts and funds towards alleviating the effects and bringing us out of the pandemic. Being that our team has a large amount of knowledge, experience, and infrastructure in health care we were able to pivot outside of our typical focus.

We try to balance between being focused on our areas of knowledge and responding to the ever changing needs of the world.

We have strong partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country that are working to advance economic mobility and social progress in low- and moderate-income communities. Our focus areas include basic needs like food and housing, workforce development and education, and community development. In addition to our philanthropic investments, we also encourage our employees to make a difference by offering robust employee giving and volunteering programs, including the opportunity to direct funds to organizations they support through volunteer efforts, and a matching gifts program that doubles their individual giving to causes they care about. Last year, we invested $350 million in the communities we serve, and employees contributed more than 1 million volunteer hours and directed $65 million through individual giving and matching gifts to support nonprofits.Through our regional U.S. sponsorships, we support the economic, social and cultural life of the places we live and work. We provide an extensive program of arts and sports sponsorships to help maintain vibrant, healthy communities.Sponsorships supporting communitiesBank of America welcomes your sponsorship proposal for opportunities that make our communities a better place to live and work. We are particularly interested in providing support to address needs vital to the health of our communities through a focus on:

• preserving neighborhoods;
• educating the workforce for 21st century jobs;
• addressing critical needs such as hunger and emergency shelter;
• arts and culture;
• the environment; and
• diversity and inclusion programs.

NOTE: Check that your organization is located within 15 miles of a TJX store, distribution center or office to be eligible.

If your nonprofit aligns with the Community Mission and Giving Guidelines, please complete the eligibility questionnaire. If you pass the eligibility questionnaire, you will then have the opportunity to submit a Letter of Inquiry. Letters of Inquiry will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Following the submission of the Letter of Inquiry, selected nonprofits will receive an invitation to complete an application for funding. Applications are accepted by invitation only.

For more than four decades, delivering great value to our customers has been at the core of our business. In fact, providing value and caring for others have helped define our culture over the years and these principles extend beyond the walls of our stores and into our local communities around the world. As we considered where our community initiatives could have the most impact, it was important to us to focus on the intersection of these principles and areas of need for vulnerable families. Our global community mission is simple:

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 U.S. Foundation

Our Global Community Mission is to provide value to our communities by helping vulnerable families and children access the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future.

In addition to our support for current national and local non-profit partners, we are accepting letters of inquiry from non-profits seeking grant support in the following areas only:

• Basic needs for those in need (food, clothing, and shelter)
• Access to opportunities outside of school that enable school success for at-risk youth (pre-kindergarten to grade 12)
• Workforce readiness training for at-risk youth (ages 16-24)
• Safety from domestic violence (shelter, prevention, and services)

NOTE: Applications may be submitted at any time during this funding cycle, open from Feb 1 to the deadline above. Please note that applications will only remain active in our system for 90 days, and at the end of this period they will be automatically rejected.

Guidelines

Local Community grants range from a minimum of $250 to a maximum of $5,000. Eligible nonprofit organizations must operate on the local level (or be an affiliate/chapter of a larger organization that operates locally) and directly benefit the service area of the facility from which they are requesting funding.Organizations may only submit a total number of 25 applications and/or receive up to 25 grants within the 2019 grant cycle.

Our Mission

To nourish the potential in every child

Through corporate social responsibility efforts and initiatives, Chick-fil-A supports organizations dedicated to the issues of hunger, homelessness and education. It is our pleasure to support these organizations that are making a meaningful impact in the local communities Chick-fil-A serves.

True Inspiration Awards

The True Inspiration Awards program was created in 2015 to honor the legacy of Chick-fil-A® founder S. Truett Cathy. Through these annual grants, we are proud to celebrate and support nonprofit organizations making an impact in their local communities. True Inspiration Awards grants range from $30,000 to $350,000, with a collective $5 million awarded annually to organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

One organization will be selected as the S. Truett Cathy Honoree. The S. Truett Cathy Honoree embodies the generous, innovative spirit of Chick-fil-A’s late founder — pioneering new ways to solve problems and serve others.

Sixteen organizations will be awarded for their work in these areas:

Caring for People (four winners)

• Programs or projects supporting educational initiatives, including fostering character and leadership development, academic excellence and community involvement in underserved youth. 

Caring through Food (four winners)

• Programs or projects focused on addressing hunger and food insecurity facing children and their families. 

Community (four winners)

• Programs or projects focused on providing housing and other direct services to support young people and their families. 

Caring for our Planet (four winners)

• Programs or projects that show care for our environment and our planet, or that demonstrate environmental stewardship through initiatives directly related to our other True Inspiration Awards categories of food, community and people (i.e., community beautification, education opportunities, community gardens, outdoor classrooms, etc.)

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.

NOTE: TWe began accepting applications at 12 a.m. March 10, 2023, and reached our submission maximum in 14 hours. Submissions for 2023 are no longer being accepted.

About the Foundation

The Olive Tree Foundation, Inc., is an independent philanthropy established in the United States in 1997.

Our mission: The Olive Tree Foundation strives to support U.S.-based nonprofits that provide food, shelter, medical care and education for those in need; make arts and culture more accessible and equitable; invest in community and youth and adult development; and protect the environment.

Grantmaking Focus

Organizations eligible to apply for grants from The Olive Tree Foundation focus on:

Basic necessities

• We support nonprofits that provide food for the hungry, shelter the indigent and infirm and provide medical (physical and emotional) care to those in need.

Youth education and development

• OTF support nonprofits that develop the academic skills of youth. Key objectives should include character-building; fostering ethics, teamwork, self-esteem and self-confidence; broadening horizons and aspirations; strengthening unique abilities and talents; developing community awareness and involvement; improving academic, communication and interpersonal skills.

Adult education and development

• We support nonprofits that promote literacy and workforce development through various programs that empower adults to become self-sufficient and self-sustaining.

Community development

• We support nonprofits involved in the protection of civil rights and the creation of environmental infrastructures that enhance quality of life in the communities they serve.

Arts and Culture

• We support nonprofits that improve the quality of life in communities through arts and cultural enrichment and/or renovate structures that preserve a historical heritage.