Search Through Grants for BIPOC in Massachusetts in the U.S.

Arts and Creativity Program

Arts and creativity are essential for vibrant, vital, and engaged communities.

Elevating the arts and enabling creative expression to engage and inspire a dynamic, thriving Massachusetts.

Great art transforms the way we engage with the world. It brings beauty into our lives. Through creativity we can transcend conventions and generate new ideas, alternatives, and possibilities. Arts and creativity have the power to connect us with each other, to help us understand our dynamic environment, and to imagine new, better, different futures.

Against a backdrop of rapidly changing demographics, technological advancements, and evolving art forms, Barr’s Arts & Creativity program seeks to invest in bold ideas and leaders. Our overarching goal is to elevate the arts and enable creative expression to engage and inspire a dynamic, thriving Massachusetts. We will pursue this goal through three strategies:

• advancing the field’s capacity to adapt, take risks, and engage changing audiences in new ways;
• fostering opportunities to connect the arts to other disciplines and sectors; and
• activating public support for the arts.

Arts & Creativity Strategies

To achieve our goal of elevating the arts and enabling creative expression to engage and inspire a dynamic, thriving Massachusetts, we pursue three strategies:

• Adapting boldly
• Spanning sectors
• Activating public support

Grantmaking

You can learn about current investment priorities for Barr's Arts & Creativity program below:

• ArtsAmplified Initiative: Powerful art. Bold leadership. Vibrant communities. We're partnering with 15 accomplished arts organizations across Massachusetts to amplify their leadership in communities. Learn more here.
• Powering Cultural Futures Initiative: A six-year partnership with 15 community-rooted organizations to support BIPOC arts and communities, and advance a more equitable Massachusetts arts sector. Learn more here.
• Creative Commonwealth Initiative: Barr and eight Massachusetts community foundations are advancing diverse, equitable arts and creative expression through a ten-year initiative. Learn more here.
• Barr-Klarman Massachusetts Arts Initiative: A $25 million investment over six years in 29 Massachusetts arts organizations to strengthen financial health and capacity to adapt to change. Learn more here.

Charitable Contributions

Costco Wholesale’s primary charitable efforts specifically focus on programs supporting children, education, and health and human services in the communities where we do business. Throughout the year we receive a large number of requests from nonprofit organizations striving to make a positive impact, and we are thankful to be able to provide support to a variety of organizations and causes. While we would like to respond favorably to all requests, understandably, the needs are far greater than our allocated resources and we are unable to accommodate them all.

Warehouse Donations:

Warehouse donations are handled at the warehouse level - please consult your local warehouse for up-to-date information regarding their donations contacts and review process.

Grant Applications

If the request is under consideration, you may be contacted by staff for any additional information needed. Applications are reviewed within 4-6 weeks, and decisions are made based on several factors, including: type of program; identified community need not otherwise available; indication that evidenced based data will establish measurable results of intended outcomes; community collaboration; broad base of financial support; project budget and operating expenses.

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.

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.

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.

Climate Impact

Our strategy is to invest US$100 million in Cisco Foundation funds over the next decade to help reverse the impact of climate change, working toward a sustainable and regenerative future for all.

The commitment includes both grant and impact investment funding for early-stage climate innovation. Both categories of support will be focused on bold climate solutions, and the grants side will also concentrate on community education and activation. Grants will go to exceptionally aligned nonprofit organizations, while impact investments will go to highly promising for-profit solutions through the private sector and climate impact funds.

Funding comes from the Cisco Foundation and will focus on:

• Identifying bold and innovative solutions that:
  • Draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere
  • Regenerate depleted ecosystems and broadly support the transition to a regenerative future
• Developing curricular initiatives to spur community engagement that can lead to measurable behavioral change and collective action

We will prioritize organizations that can achieve, measure, and report outcomes such as:

• Reduction, capture, and/or sequestering of greenhouse gas and carbon emissions
• Increased energy efficiency and improved mapping and management of natural resources, such as ecosystem restoration, forest treatments, reforestation, and afforestation that also will help repair our water cycles
• Transition to inclusive, just, coliberatory, and regenerative operating models, ways of being, and ways of organizing economies
• Creation of, and increase in, access to green jobs and job training
• Changes in community and individual behavior that lead to carbon footprint reduction, community climate resilience, and localized roadmaps to a sustainable shared climate future for all

The Labcorp Charitable Foundation

We believe every person deserves equitable care and education.

In 2020 Labcorp established a private charitable 501(c)(3) foundation to advance our desire to bring quality healthcare access to all by supporting education and our local communities. 

Common grant opportunities include:

• Supporting food pantries and meal programs
• Providing healthcare and patient services for underserved populations
• Encouraging STEM programming
• Advocating for healthy lifestyles through ongoing medical research and screening

PNC Foundation

Strengthening and enriching the lives of our neighbors in communities where we live and work.

Vision & Mission

For decades, we have provided resources to seed ideas, foster development initiatives and encourage leadership in nonprofit organizations where imagination and determination are at work enhancing people's lives everyday.

The PNC Foundation's priority is to form partnerships with community-based nonprofit organizations in order to enhance educational opportunities, with an emphasis on early childhood education, and to promote the growth of communities through economic development initiatives.

Foundation Grant

The PNC Foundation supports a variety of nonprofit organizations with a special emphasis on those that work to achieve sustainability and touch a diverse population, in particular, those that support early childhood education and/or economic development.

Education

The PNC Foundation supports educational programs for children and youth, particularly early childhood education initiatives that meet the criteria established through PNC Grow Up Great. Specifically, PNC Grow Up Great grants must:

• Support early education initiatives that benefit children from birth to age five; and
• Serve a majority of children (>50%) from low- to moderate-income families; and
• Adhere to all other standard PNC Foundation guidelines, as outlined on the PNC Foundation website, applicant eligibility quiz, as well as the Foundation policies and procedures; and
• Include one or a combination of the following:
  • direct services/programs for children in their classroom or community;
  • professional development/workforce development for early childhood educators;
  • family and/or community engagement in children’s early learning
• Additional considerations:
  • The grant focus should include math, science, reading, vocabulary development, the arts, financial education, or social/emotional development.
  • The grant recipient, or collaborative partner, should have early childhood education as an area of focus. If the organization’s focus is beyond birth to age five, the specific grant must be earmarked for birth to age five.
  • Incorporate opportunities for PNC volunteers in classroom or non-classroom-based activities.

Economic Development

Economic development organizations, including those which enhance the quality of life through neighborhood revitalization, cultural enrichment and human services are given support. Priority is given to community development initiatives that strategically promote the growth of low-and moderate-income communities and/or provide services to these communities.

• Affordable Housing
  • The PNC Foundation understands the critical need for affordable housing for low-and moderate-income individuals.
  • We are committed to providing support to nonprofit organizations that:
    • give counseling and services to help these individuals maintain their housing stock;
    • offer transitional housing units and programs; and/or
    • offer credit counseling assistance to individuals, helping them to prepare for homeownership.
• Community Development
  • Because small businesses are often critical components of community growth and help foster business development, the PNC Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations that
    • offer technical assistance to, or loan programs for, small businesses located in low-and moderate-income areas or
    • support small businesses that employ low-and moderate-income individuals.
• Community Services
  • Support is given to social services organizations that benefit the health, education, quality of life or provide essential services for low-and moderate-income individuals and families.
  • The PNC Foundation supports job training programs and organizations that provide essential services for their families.
• Arts & Culture
  • Support is given for cultural enrichment programs benefitting the community.
• Revitalization & Stabilization of Low-and Moderate-Income Areas
  • The PNC Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that serve low-and moderate-income neighborhoods by improving living and working conditions.
  • Support is given to organizations that help stabilize communities, eliminate blight and attract and retain businesses and residents to the community.

Mission

Driven by a philanthropic calling to support marginalized communities throughout the world, the Semnani Family Foundation partners with on-the-ground organizations and leverages its resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner that delivers the maximum benefit.

History

Guided by his grandmother Maliheh’s example and teachings, Khosrow Semnani and his wife Ghazaleh established the Semnani Family Foundation in 1993. The foundation’s first grant was issued through CARE International to an orphanage in Romania that cared for newborns affected by HIV. Over the last few decades, the foundation has continued to build upon its mission to empower the disaffected, partnering with a variety of organizations in different countries who can make the greatest impact.

In addition to its global influence, the Semnani Family Foundation established roots within the state of Utah with the founding of Maliheh Free Clinic in 2005 to provide free healthcare to thousands of uninsured people in the Salt Lake City area.

Where We Work

The Semnani Family Foundation focuses primarily on promoting health, education, and disaster relief for marginalized communities all around the world. Driven by a clear mission to adapt and serve at the global level, we have leveraged our resources to make a meaningful impact in the following countries so far:

• Afghanistan
• Bosnia
• Colombia
• England
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Guatemala
• India
• Iran
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Romania
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Tonga
• Uganda
• United States
• Yemen

At the heart of the Foundation lies a fervent commitment to human welfare, always prioritizing health and the needs of society’s most vulnerable.

The Sidney Stern Memorial Trust is devoted solely to the funding of charitable, scientific, medical and educational organizations.

The Board endeavors to support soundly-managed charitable organizations that give service with a broad scope, have a substantial effect on their target populations, and contribute materially to the general welfare. The Board does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

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.

Grants are made at the Foundation’s discretion based on our current funding strategies focused on housing, jobs and hunger. 

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.

Our Mission

Our mission is to continue and further the philanthropic legacy of Gardner Cowles, Jr. and the Cowles family, which includes promotion of education, social justice, health, and the arts.

The Founder

The Cowles Charitable Trust was first established in 1948 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles, Jr. (1903-1985). Born into the Cowles publishing family of Des Moines, Iowa, Mike was the youngest of Gardner Cowles and Florence Call Cowles’ six children. A newspaper editor and publisher by trade, he was committed to his family’s traditions of responsible, public-spirited, and innovative journalism as well as philanthropy. 

The Cowles Charitable Trust supports the arts, education, the advancement of ethical journalism, medical and climate research.

About the Foundation

Jesse W. Couch lived a life of zeal, honor, and dedication to the betterment of his community. The Couch family now humbly stewards the foundation he created to carry on his legacy of service for future generations. We believe that impact is best accomplished through partnerships with local organizations that know the people and communities they serve. We invest in and support efforts to protect the environment, further conservation and preservation initiatives, and save historical architecture that preserves community heritage. We also support initiatives that promote wellness and mental health and organizations seeking to provide and further education for all communities.

Annual Grant Focus

Each year, we seek to partner with and support non-profit organizations making an impact in the focus areas listed here.  The focus areas for 2025 are:

• Animal Wellbeing: We are dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations that nurture compassion and respect for all living animals. We must have animal-focused organizations that advocate for animal rights and provide humane treatment across all spectrums.
• Early Childhood Education: We are looking for schools that are providing young children with a creative and balanced approach to education. Things we love in early childhood curriculums:
  • Life Skills
  • Collaboration With Their Peers and Teachers   
  • Having Fun   
  • Montessori Teachings   
  • Project Based Teachings   
  • Diversity   
  • More Time Outside   
  • Less Screen Time
• Teachers: Teachers are essential to providing children with the best possible education. We must invest in their future and are always looking for teams that help them succeed in educating future generations.
• Get Outside: Being outside can improve memory, fight depression, lower blood pressure, and more! We support organizations that facilitate and encourage more outdoor activities that help create healthier communities. 

SouthCoast Community Foundation

The SouthCoast Community Foundation offers several competitive grant programs that invest in communities throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, intending to support nonprofit organizations’ causes in our area.

We strive to ensure that our grant-making effectively meets donors’ charitable interests and addresses the community’s changing needs. We view our grants as investments in the community which should be awarded wisely and fairly.

Leadership Equity Fund Grant

The mission of the SouthCoast Community Foundation is to mobilize philanthropy by matching donors and resources with community needs for the benefit of our region. The Community Foundation’s areas of focus include education, arts and culture, and economic opportunity. Woven throughout these areas and all of its work, is the Community Foundation’s is committed to being anti-racist.

The Community Foundation believes that for significant and sustainable racial equity to occur in our community, we must ensure that people of color are given the opportunity and support to lead and influence our community from positions of power and authority. In fulfillment of this intention and through its mission to elevate local philanthropy and strengthen local nonprofits, the SouthCoast Community Foundation has established the Leadership Equity Fund.

The Leadership Equity Fund will seek to address racial disparities and work towards a more diverse, equitable and inclusive society.

Grants from the Fund will support and serve three purposes:

• To support non-profit organizations working to end racism imbed anti-racist policies, trainings, and professional development in their organizations OR
• To support non-profit organizations working to end racism which are run by leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), OR
• Support the professional development of employees of nonprofit organizations who identify as BIPOC to provide the opportunity to lead and influence our community from positions of power and authority

Calling to Serve

Since its inception in 2016, the Robinson Foundation has sought to demonstrate God’s love through sharing the gifts we have received. We understand the often unspoken hardships and struggles that people in and outside of our community face everyday. As such, our contributions are focused on relieving these hardships for the betterment of our world.

As a family-operated foundation, we pray that our small efforts will not only create immediate change in the lives of our neighbors, but will help set those lives on a course for success in the future. We are thankful for each and every day we have on this earth to use what God has granted us to make a difference.

Areas of Interest

• Animal Welfare
• Children & Families
• Disaster Relief
• Education
• Medical Assistance
• Nature & Wildlife Conservation
• Poverty Relief
• Religious & Spiritual Endeavors
• Veterans' Issues

Grant Considerations

We take many different aspects of applications into account when making grant issuing decisions, however these are some of the high-level questions we ask ourselves during the process:

• How does the organization serve their key audience goals?
• Is the organization fiscally responsible?
• Will a grant have a tangible, meaningful impact?
• Will we see direct results from this grant?
• Does the organization have other financial contributors?

Corporate Contributions

Community involvement and corporate citizenship are an example of Insperity’s mission in action. We are committed to helping the communities where we live and work because together, we know we can make great things happen.

Grants

Philanthropic grants are a strong part of our community outreach and aid institutions needing financial support to meet important service goals.

Event Sponsorship

Fundraising events are an important part of nonprofit support. Insperity provides event sponsorships to approved charities to assist them in meeting their financial and community goals.

Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice 

At New England Foundation for the Arts, we believe that public art has the power to shift public culture and change the future, for the better. Creating positive social change requires collective imagination.

How It Works

Please read all the information below before starting an application.

Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants support teams of Massachusetts-based creatives and community members to do the important work of imagining:

The Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grant aims to support teams that are dreaming up what public artmaking can be as we strive for more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.

A new cohort of Collective Imagination Teams will be selected to participate in a six-month imagination journey, from January through June 2025. Each team will receive a $6,000 grant.

The Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, human services and other causes.

The Lawrence Foundation was established in mid-2000. We make both program and operating grants and do not have any geographical restrictions on our grants. Nonprofit organizations that qualify for public charity status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or other similar organizations are eligible for grants from The Lawrence Foundation.  

Grant Amount and Types

Grants typically range between $5,000 - $10,000. In some limited cases we may make larger grants, but that is typically after we have gotten to know your organization over a period of time. We also generally don’t make multi-year grants, although we may fund the same organization on a year by year basis over a period of years.

General operating or program/project grant requests within our areas of interests are accepted. In general, regardless of whether a grant request is for general operating or program/project expenses, all of our grants will be issued as unrestricted grants.

Purpose:

The Movement Building and Systems Change (MBSC) Grant Program supports nonprofits and community-based organizations that engage in organizing, power building, advocacy and structural change initiatives to transform power and resource distribution systems to advance equitable, vibrant, safe, and thriving communities.

This grant program explicitly seeks to fund organizations engaging in organizing, power building, policy, and advocacy efforts that address the issue areas of educational equity, arts education access and funding, community safety, and criminal justice reform. Because we recognize that these issues may not always be addressed in a siloed fashion, we encourage organizations to seek funding who are working to address them through an intersectional approach or in conjunction with other community-identified goals.   

Goals:

The goal of the MBSC grant program is to partner with organizations that utilize the methods below directly or through a combination of direct activities and partnerships to advance systems change through efforts that involve: 

• Community-driven and asset-based engagement, solution development, and problem solving. 
• Power building through a combination of healing practices, trainings, base and community building activities, including civic and leadership development opportunities. 
• In-depth political, issue, and systems analysis to address the direct issues and underlying historical, racial and systemic inequities. 
• Collective action including public accountability and civic engagement.  
• Unifying and collaborative efforts through coalitions, partnerships and strategic alliances within and across issue areas and sectors.    
• Expanding beyond traditional movement building approaches to include social media, the arts, narrative change work and alternative system development and planning.   
• Measuring progress and implications for impact at the individual, community, cultural, and systems levels with opportunities for routine reflection, redirection, and adaptation as needed to meet the evolving community and political landscape.

Through these integrated movement building approaches, organizational partners will be able to demonstrate the potential or proven ability to influence and foster change at the individual, community, cultural, and systems levels that leads to greater resource allocation and equitable and community-driven policy and systemic reforms in education, arts education, community safety, and criminal justice.

We believe the increased influence on policymaking and systems design will lead to local and state policies that are more just and foster opportunities for local, state, and federal policy influence and long-term opportunities for educational, economic, and social mobility. 

Grant Amounts and Terms

This is a three-year grant. Its annual renewal will be based on activities taken during the previous 12 months, completion of terms in the grant agreement, and availability of funds.

Annual grant amounts per organization can go up to $50,000 per year. 

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.

Centene Charitable Foundation

Successful corporate citizenship happens when companies invest in the local organizations that know their communities best. The Centene Foundation works with our local partners on initiatives that focus on inclusion, the whole person and community development.

Vision

Centene’s purpose is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. The Centene Foundation is an essential part of how we pursue this purpose. We achieve measurable impact for the communities we serve through partnerships and philanthropy efforts that invest in initiatives with holistic approaches to dismantling barriers to health.

Areas of Focus

Reflecting Centene’s commitment to the needs of those who rely on government-sponsored health care and to addressing social determinants of health and health equity, preference will be given to initiatives in three distinct areas of focus.

• Healthcare Access
• Social Services
• Education

New England States Touring (NEST) funds performances, readings, and screenings of work by regional, national, and international artists presented by New England-based nonprofit organizations.

Program Goals

• Expand direct access to high quality artists and aesthetic diversity for all New England communities by artists from New England, the nation, and across the globe.
• Stimulate opportunities for collaboration and partnerships among New England cultural organizations and between artists and organizations.
• Encourage projects that provide meaningful interaction between artists and communities, extending beyond the stage.

NEST Artists

NEST artists are professional artists from New England who meet the NEST artist requirements. They represent a wide range of disciplines, including dance, folk art, interdisciplinary work, media, music, musical theater, opera, poetry, storytelling, and theater. NEST artists must be available for public performances and must maintain a permanent residence in New England.

About the New England States Touring Grant Program

There are three distinct grant opportunities for New England nonprofit organizations: NEST 1, NEST 2, and NEST 3. Organizations serving rural communities and/or deeply engaging Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities are encouraged to apply.

NEST 1

Funds the public presentation and engagement of a New England artist presented by a New England nonprofit organization based in a different New England state from the artist’s home state. 

NEST 2

Funds the public presentation and community engagement activities of a New England artist presented by two New England nonprofit organizations. Tours must include one presenting organization based inside of the artist’s home state and one other organization from outside of the artist’s home state.

NEST 3

Funds tours, including public presentation and community engagement activities, of regional, national, or international artists presented by New England nonprofit organizations. Tours must include a minimum of three New England organizations in different communities presenting the same artist. The organizations applying must be from at least two different New England states. 

• Each organization is responsible for reviewing the program goals and criteria, negotiating the terms of the engagement with the artist, and completing a NEST 3 application.
• Organizations may submit up to three NEST 3 applications.
• The annual deadline is the first business day of March.
• Grants provide up to 60% of the artist fee to a maximum of $10,000.
  • Applications with artist fees under $2,000 may request the full artist fee.
• New England artists must be listed as NEST-eligible on CreativeGround.
• For non-New England artists, an artist work sample must be submitted by one of the touring partners.
• Grant period: Touring projects must occur between June 1, 2025 - August 31, 2026.

Deadlines

NEST 1 & 2 grant deadlines occur three times a year, as follows:

• First business day of August, for projects beginning on or after November 1.
• First business day of December, for projects beginning on or after March 1.
• First business day of March, for projects beginning on or after June 1.

The annual NEST 3 grant deadline is the first business day of March.   

Public Art for Spatial Justice

Supports public art that creatively expresses and embodies a more just version of what’s possible in public.

At NEFA, we believe public art has the power to shift public culture and change the future, for the better.

Public Art for Spatial Justice aims to support public artmaking that helps us see, feel, experience and imagine spatial justice now, while we are still on this journey towards realizing more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.

How It Works

Public Art for Spatial Justice grants support Massachusetts artists and artistic collaborations to create public art in Massachusetts that fosters public imagination and contributes to more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.

Funding Criteria & Priorities

Public Art for Spatial Justice aims to support public art that helps us see, feel, experience and imagine spatial justice now, while we are still on this collective journey towards realizing more just futures for our public spaces and public culture.

Eligible projects will be reviewed according to the following funding criteria:

• Artists/Artistic Collaborations share in NEFA’s values and commitment to the work of dismantling the legacies of racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy culture. Priority will be given to projects that:
• Are led or co-led by artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). The path to dismantling the legacies of racism and white supremacy culture includes centering BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color)-led creative exploration and expression in public spaces.
• Disrupt harmful historic narratives that uphold structural inequities, decolonize and/or indigenize spaces, and/or centers BIPOC creativity, imagination and expression in public spaces
• Relevance: Projects creatively engage important public conversation(s) that are or need to be happening in this particular moment, in this particular place. Context is important in public artmaking. Public spaces are not neutral. And public art made in public spaces is not neutral. Priority will be given to projects that are rooted in community and/or demonstrate deep relationship to place –particularly rural places and/or places where folks are experiencing/have experienced displacement.
• Integrity: Projects honor the integrity of the people, places, stories, and ideas – past, present, and future- engaged in the artmaking.  Public art practices that reduce people, places, and stories to tools for artmaking are harmful. Also, artists are collaborators and co-conspirators on this journey towards justice, not saviors.

We recognize that feasibility may vary depending on how public health guidelines evolve during the pandemic. We ask that artists are realistic about feasibility, while acknowledging that this may change as public health guidelines change.

JMAC Access Grant Program

Providing resources to support artists and organizations in presenting their projects at the Jean McDonough Arts Center.

The Jean McDonough Arts Center, in partnership with the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, and thanks to the support of the Barr Foundation, is pleased to announce the continuation of the JMAC Access Grant Program.

The JMAC strives to ensure that every cultural organization, large and small, can have a home in downtown Worcester. The venue has proven especially critical for Worcester’s BIPOC and underserved artists – by helping artists create new work, generate income, and positively impact their community. Through the Access Grant Program, selected nonprofit cultural organizations and individual artists will receive the resources needed to create their stories and programs at the JMAC to share with Central Massachusetts audiences.

Through a two-phase application process, organizations and artists can apply for financial support to present their projects at the JMAC in the near future. The grant covers project development, implementation, and marketing costs incurred by the organizations and artists, as well as the usage costs of the JMAC space desired for the project.

Funding

In both application rounds, the requested budget will reflect only the organization’s or artist’s discretionary expenses, and exclude expenses related to rental or usage of the JMAC. When grants are awarded, recipients will receive direct payment for their discretionary expenses. Concurrently, the JMAC will receive payment for their rental and usage expenses, at the following rates:

• Worcester PopUp, One Day: $2,500
• Worcester PopUp, One Week: $3,500
• BrickBox Theater, Half Day (6 Hours): $3,750
• BrickBox Theater, Full Day (Up to 12 Hours): $6,250
• BrickBox Theater, Two Days: $8,750
• BrickBox Theater, Four Days: $14,250

Since 1986, The Trust for the Meditation Process has encouraged the practice of inner, silent awareness, whether it's called meditation, mindfulness or contemplative prayer. Our financial grants to non-profit organizations renew contemplative Christianity, promote health and wholeness, and bring silence and stillness to a hectic world.  

Contemplative Christianity Grants

Many people think of meditation as an exclusively Eastern religious practice. But Western religion, too, has a long tradition of silent, non-discursive prayer, often called contemplation, which is rooted in a rich mystical literature. Contemporary thinkers are unearthing this tradition. Their fresh encounter with the Gospels and mystics emphasizes that God is a living presence in us – to be known in silence and love and manifested in our acts of compassion.

• Grants made in the Contemplative Christianity Program have these objectives:  
• Introduce or expand the teaching and practice of Christian contemplative practices, such as Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer.
• Focus on silent, non discursive meditation rather than another aspect or method of prayer or spiritual formation.
• Connect with a Christian audience or have a Christian context.
• Identify and support emerging scholars and leaders in Contemplative Christianity and Christian mysticism.
• Raise the profile of Contemplative Christianity, with language and programs that speak to all Christian denominations and that reconnect people to Christian contemplative traditions.
• Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, people of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with low incomes and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.
• Encourage dialogue among contemplative traditions in all religions.

Mindfulness Grants

Thirty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts medical school adapted classic forms of meditation found in most religions for a modern, secular audience. A simple practice of paying silent attention to the present moment formed the core of their efforts to help people improve physical and emotional health. 

Since then, a large and rigorous body of research has shown that a regular practice of mindfulness meditation can change us in many significant ways: improving immune function, reducing stress, reducing pain and symptoms of chronic disease, improving sleep, improving attention, fostering self- care and compassion, and the list continues to grow. Today, an ever widening interest in the benefits of mindfulness practice has led to its introduction in many fields and professions.  

Grants made in the Mindfulness Program have both of these objectives:

Introduce or expand mindfulness meditation through educational or human service nonprofits or government entities, such as K-12 public schools, colleges and universities, correctional facilities, rehabilitation programs, healthcare, counseling and case management services.

Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, BIPOC and LGBTQ communities, people in the criminal justice system, people with low incomes, and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.

Mindfulness Program grants are highly competitive and we generally receive more applications than we can award. 

Grant Guidelines

Our focus is short-term projects where a small grant can make a credible impact and result in clearly identifiable outcomes. We make 20 to 40 grants annually. Initial awards are typically small – $3,000 to $5,000.

The type of projects we fund includes:

• Meditation courses, workshops, lectures or retreats.
• Trainings, sabbaticals, retreats and other development for meditation teachers.
• Meditation curriculum development.
• Books, supplies and equipment for meditation programs.
• Efforts to expand and build the capacity of meditation programs and address barriers to practice. 
• Meditation research, especially the development of simple, effective, accessible evaluation tools.
• Publications that effectively spread critical perspectives on meditation and meet an important gap in the current literature.
• East/West meditation dialogue.

Redefining Community Wellness Grants Program

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have inadequate access to culturally responsive programming that addresses substance use and are disproportionately affected by policies that do not consider their needs. In response to this challenge and the lack of diverse representation, experience, and perspectives among currently funded grantees, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH) Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) has launched the Redefining Community Wellness Grants Program to intentionally center BIPOC voices throughout the grantmaking and capacity building process.

The goals of this program are:

• To support organizations that are BIPOC-led and that primarily serve BIPOC communities including CBOs, FBOs, and TIPSOs to redefine community wellness and address the negative impacts of substance use in their communities through a wide range of programming that help improve health, wellness, and quality of life for community members; and
• To provide capacity building to improve organizations’ ability to apply for future funding, which ultimately helps increase BIPOC representation in receiving grants beyond this program.

In designing this program, HRiA and BSAS collaborated with a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of BIPOC residents and organizations that were geographically diverse with a range of personal and work experiences with substance use and related services, to guide decisions regarding priority populations and scope of work for the Redefining Community Wellness grants.

Tribal Cohort

Goal of the Funding

The goal of this funding is to support tribes and nonprofits that are Native led or primarily serving Native American populations that address substance use directly or indirectly through focusing on social determinants of health (SDOH). Additionally, this funding will help build funded organizations’ capacity for organizational development and sustainability.

Funding

We expect grants to be up to $160,000.

• Planning phase: 3 months, $30,000
• Implementation phase: 12 months, $130,000

Overview:

The City of Boston, through the Environment Department’s Air Pollution Control Commission (APCC) is seeking proposals from nonprofit organizations for community-based projects that reduce air pollution in the City of Boston. This grant program aims to improve public and environmental health while addressing local impacts of climate change.

About the Air Pollution Control Commission (APCC):

The APCC is responsible for developing and implementing clean air policies and programs within the City of Boston. This grant is funded by the Pollution Abatement Fund, established in 1984 to support pollution abatement programs through fees collected from environmental permits and fines. The Fund has primarily received permit fees from the parking freezes and has been used to support air quality initiatives under 310 CMR 7.33 and the Federal Clean Air Act.

Air Pollution in Boston:

Air pollution disproportionately affects historically marginalized communities in Boston, particularly those near highways and major transportation infrastructure. Exposure to pollutants such as particulate matter (PM), ozone, and greenhouse gases contributes to higher rates of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Additionally, greenhouse gases like methane, ozone, and carbon dioxide contribute to climate change, leading to more severe flooding, storms, and heat waves. These climate impacts will disproportionately affect socially vulnerable populations, including black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), low-income residents, older adults, and individuals with limited English proficiency.

To explore where climate risks are most significant, applicants may refer to the Massachusetts 2020 Environmental Justice Populations Map, which identifies environmental justice (EJ) block groups based on state-defined demographic criteria. 

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 $75,000.
• 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 262 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.