NOTE: Oak Foundation has an invitation-only application process. The majority of awards are made to our long-standing partners or are invited to apply based on fieldwork and research.

Although we operate an invitation-only application process, we want to hear about ideas and work that fit within our programme strategies. Therefore, if an organisation believes that strong alignment exists with Oak Foundation’s funding priorities, we encourage the organisation to submit an unsolicited letter of enquiry. We will invite the organisation to apply for a grant if we also find alignment with our funding priorities and if there is available budge

Protecting And Promoting The Human Rights of all People

Since 1948 the global community has developed an extensive body of international law and principles to protect human rights. But the development and implementation of these standards has always faced opposition. There remains a gulf between human rights rhetoric and the lived experience of so many people. We seek to close that gap.

Oak Trustees have a long-standing interest in protecting the fundamental rights of the individual, supporting those who champion that struggle, and ensuring that perpetrators of gross abuses are held to account.

Our Strategy

We support activist organisations involved in creative efforts that support our aims: from documentation, evidence collection, campaigns, strategic litigation and outreach. We also support those who empower human rights defenders, by improving their physical and digital security and enhancing their effectiveness through a range of technological tools. We provide core, project and seed funding in multi-year grants.

Our Priorities

To close the impunity gap for gross violations of human rights by investigating and documenting gross abuses, holding abusers to account and seeking victim redress.

• place accountability for gross abuses on the public and political agenda;
• research, document and collect evidence of gross abuses for accountability processes;
• hold abusers to account by launching prosecutions and civil suits and ensuring justice beyond the verdict or decision; and
• collect and safeguard historical documentation of past abuses; ensure public access to these same records and support innovative efforts at memorialisation.

To uphold fundamental guarantees in international law which prohibit arbitrary detention and torture and ensure the observance of due process guarantees.

We support efforts in the immigration and criminal justice contexts which reduce arbitrary detention by:

• ensuring independent and adequate oversight of detention regimes;
• promoting attitudinal change by the state on the necessity and duration of detention; and
• promoting, developing and implementing alternatives to detention.

We also support interventions which:

• uphold the due process rights of detainees including their right to challenge their detention; and
• uphold the absolute prohibition on torture and ensure that victims of torture can access their right to rehabilitation.

 To ensure that LGBTI communities are free from discriminatory prosecution, persecution and violence.

We support efforts which:

• strengthen the legal framework that guarantees freedom from criminalisation, hate and violence;
• end stigmatisation and build public consensus in support of ending the persecution of LGBTI communities;
• provide legal, psychosocial and protective services for LGBTI victims of hate and violence; and
• build the documentation, advocacy and management skills of LGBTI advocates.

To protect human rights defenders at risk, strengthen their capacity, combat closing civic space and build a strong and resilient human rights movement.

We support efforts which:

• monitor and engage in protective advocacy for human rights defenders at risk, and support a localised, contextual approach to threat analysis and preparedness;
• strengthen international protection networks to ensure a robust, responsive safety-net for human rights defenders under threat;
• reverse the global trend of closing civic space including through the creation of broad coalitions comprising civil society and donors and the amplification of civil society voices through influential media;
• equip human rights defenders with the necessary skills and technological innovations to effectively conduct their work; and
• build a resilient human rights movement, supported by broad constituencies, diverse revenue streams and effective outreach to new audiences.

Our Funding Principles

Our grant-making is underpinned by the following;

Upholding the international legal framework

We support work that is based upon and seeks to uphold, strengthen and implement international human rights law;

Promoting systemic change

We prioritise initiatives that seek to deliver concrete systemic change beyond individual redress;

Supporting activism

We support initiatives that seek to create change through activism (for example, advocacy campaigning and strategic litigation);

Strengthening our partners

Our grant-making is a partnership. We empower and build the capacity of our partners; and

Strengthening the global human rights movement

We support and mobilise diverse constituencies in support of human rights worldwide.

Advancing a New Vision of Justice

For over seventy years, Public Welfare Foundation has supported efforts to advance justice and opportunity for people in need. Today, our efforts focus on catalyzing a transformative approach to justice that is community-led, restorative, and racially just through investments in criminal justice and youth justice reforms.

Issue Areas: Adult Criminal Justice

Reforms at the edges are no longer enough. PWF is committed to funding new alternatives to the justice system in our targeted jurisdictions.

The scale and severity of America’s criminal justice system is a unique problem unmatched by any other developed nation. This crisis disproportionately impacts people of color, and costs the nation $80 billion annually in law enforcement spending and between $55 and $60 billion in lost annual Gross Domestic Product.

Our country’s over-reliance on mass incarceration is a failed experiment that adversely impacts communities and families, and has no positive effect on public safety. It’s a problem that can, and must, urgently be addressed with effective community alternatives. Community-based programs encourage innovative solutions that meet local priorities, foster collective action, and support new leaders who can spearhead efforts to make their own neighborhoods safer and stronger.

It is time to boldly reimagine our nation’s justice system.

Public Welfare Foundation makes grants primarily to groups that are working in its targeted jurisdictions to:

• Advance the redirection and prioritization of state and local resources toward targeted investments that support system-involved individuals in their communities, through research and strategic thought leadership.
• Reduce state incarceration levels and racial disparities through reforms in sentencing, charging, and supervision policies and procedures.

Sentencing Reform

Addressing our nation’s over incarceration crisis begins with advancing sentencing reforms that decrease state incarceration and reduce racial disparities.

Developing Policies & Procedures that Restore Dignity

Public Welfare Foundation aims to decrease state incarceration and reduce racial disparities through reforms in sentencing, charging, and supervision policies and procedures. We envision a future where unjust, racially-charged sentencing policies and procedures are replaced with effective measures that promote fairness, redemption and restoration.

Community Reinvestment

It’s time to shift power and resources from systems to communities.

Investing in Effective Community-Based Solutions

It is time to move from investing billions of dollars in failed prison models to investing in proven, effective community-based solutions. Research shows there is virtually no relationship between incarceration and crime rates – and that spending time in prison may actually increase the likelihood of a person’s return. By contrast, studies reinforce that local interventions have positive impacts on people and improve community safety.

The solutions to over incarceration lie with those who are most proximate to the issues. Heroes exist in the very neighborhoods that are most often relegated for being riddled with crime and violence. These models need to be resourced and replicated around the country.

Issue Area: Youth Justice

Prison is no place for kids. Investing in effective community-based visions of justice is good for kids, for families, for communities, and for public safety.

Today across the United States, thousands of children – disproportionately youth of color – languish in locked facilities. It is a sober reminder that our nation continues to choose to warehouse our most valuable asset: our children.

Children are too often referred to a punitive criminal justice system for misbehaviors that would more appropriately be handled within families, schools and communities. Despite research showing that incarceration leads to high youth recidivism rates, as well as poor education, employment, and health outcomes, prosecutors and the courts often fail to use alternatives to incarceration that have been shown to be more effective at rehabilitating young people. Youth of color are disproportionately likely to suffer the harms of these failed policies and practices.

There is a better way.

Public Welfare Foundation supports organizations working in its targeted jurisdictions to advance a fair and effective community-based vision of youth justice, with a focus on ending the criminalization and incarceration of youth of color. In particular, the Foundation makes grants to groups working to:

• Advance state policy reforms that dramatically restrict youth incarceration, abandon the youth prison model, and adopt community-based approaches for youth in the juvenile justice system;
• End the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth in the adult criminal justice system; and
• Support innovative strategies to counter structural racism in the youth justice system, with a particular focus on front-end reforms.

Closing Youth Prisons

• Shifting resources from warehousing youth to investing in effective, community-based solutions.

Shifting Funds to Effective Community-Based Models

Given the grave damage incarceration does to youth and families, as well as its abysmal public safety outcomes, communities are calling for an end to the youth prison model. A national movement is advancing to shift resources away from simply warehousing kids and instead investing in communities to provide youth with the tools they need to succeed.

Public Welfare Foundation supports programs that advance state policy reforms to dramatically restrict youth incarceration, abandon the prison model, and adopt community-based approaches for youth in the juvenile justice system.

We don’t need more youth prisons, and we certainly don’t need to put more taxpayer dollars into a failed model. Working with our partners, Public Welfare Foundation is forging a new path forward that empowers communities to provide proven and effective supports for its young people

Racial Disparities

• Investing in innovative strategies to countering structural racism in the juvenile justice system.

Developing Racially-Just Youth Systems

Pervading our nation’s youth justice systems are gross racial and ethnic inequities that cannot be ignored. Despite similar offense rates across demographic groups, youth of color are more likely than their white peers to be referred to and incarcerated in the juvenile justice system, and to be tried and sentenced as adults.

Public Welfare Foundation supports innovative strategies to counter structural racism in the juvenile justice system, with a particular focus on front-end reforms.

Raising the Age

• Working to end the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth in the adult criminal justice system.

Working to Treat Kids Like Kids

Public Welfare Foundation makes grants to groups who are working to end the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth in the adult criminal justice system.

In the last two decades we have vastly increased scientific knowledge about adolescent brain development. However, in that same time we have accelerated the incarceration of children in direct contravention to what we have learned from the scientific community. Public Welfare Foundation is committed to ensuring that all adolescents and emerging adults are treated in ways that maximize their growth and development to help keep our communities just and safe.

Grants Overview

Public Welfare Foundation awards grants to nonprofits that honor the Foundation’s core values of racial equity, economic well-being, and fundamental fairness for all. The Foundation looks for strategic points where its funds can make a significant difference and improve lives through policy and system reform that results in transformative change.

Current focus areas include:

• Organizations developing innovative, transformative approaches to youth and adult criminal justice reform.
• Black-led movement building focused on dismantling the structures that have caused generations of harm to Black people, building power amongst local Black community members and advancing efforts to reinvest in communities.
• Organizations and projects focused on investing in community-based solutions that reduce the over-reliance on mass incarceration
• Reframing the narrative and fostering greater transparency and urgency around the U.S. criminal justice system through storytelling, journalism and other targeted efforts

Grant Types: How We Fund the Work

General Support Grants

General support grants are for day-to-day operating costs or to further the work of your organization. These grants are not earmarked for a particular program or project.

Program or Project Support Grants

Program or project support grants support a specific program or activity of the organization. These are restricted grants and must be used for that program or project.

Special Opportunities Grants

The Special Opportunities Program supports projects reflecting the Foundation’s mission and underlying values. These are one-time only grants that are especially timely and compelling. At times, this kind of grant serves as a laboratory for new ideas.

Alkermes Inspiration Grants

Alkermes is currently accepting applications for its Alkermes Inspiration Grants program. This competitive grants program will provide up to a total of $500,000 in grants to assist nonprofit organizations in their work to address the needs of people living with addiction, serious mental illness or cancer. This program will prioritize funding for proposals that are designed to address the needs of historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities. 

The program will support innovative and impactful initiatives designed to address acute and long-term challenges for people living with the diseases in our therapeutic areas of focus. As in previous years, proposals that are designed to address the needs of historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities will be prioritized for funding.

Areas of Interest

Alkermes is interested in funding programs that are designed to address challenges for people living with alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, melanoma or ovarian cancer and which promote health equity for diverse communities.

Applicants are encouraged to be creative and innovative in proposing new programs that will make a difference for patient communities. The committee will also consider significant expansions and improvements to existing programs, and/or the resumption of truly innovative programming with a proven track record that was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following examples describe some, but not all, areas of interest:

• New and innovative programs to address the needs of people affected by alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, melanoma or ovarian cancer
• Substantially reworking, improving or enhancing support or resources (e.g., helplines, mobile outreach)
• Addressing the unique needs of caregivers in one or more of the disease areas listed above
• Innovative efforts to meet educational needs of patients, their families and caregivers in historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities to help advance health equity
• Education and/or support to help people living with addiction and/or serious mental illness return to work and/or transition out of criminal justice settings 

At the core of the Roddenberry Fellowship is the belief that we can solve today’s most pressing issues through deeper connections and smarter networks.

Roddenberry Fellowship

The Roddenberry Fellowship is rooted in the revolutionary power of relationships and networks, because the way we work must mirror the world we want to create.

Individually, Fellows are innovative, optimistic, and impact-driven. Collectively, the Fellowship community is constantly adapting to provide relevant resources, connections, and solidarity.

To date, there are over 100 Roddenberry Fellows across the country, working on critical issues from immigrant detention and voting rights to healthcare and domestic abuse. Together, their collective efforts are creating a more diverse, inclusive country for all of us.

Who we’re looking for:

The Roddenberry Fellowship is for US-based individuals working toward social justice who meet the following criteria:

Lived Experience

Fellows are an integral part of the community they’re working with

Intersectional

The work addresses the inherent intersectionality of entrenched issues

Innovative

The approach builds on existing knowledge in a new and potentially impactful way

Relational

Fellows are seeking a community of their peers - and have capacity to contribute to the community as well

Leadership

Fellows are founder/co-founder of their org and are currently in key decision-making role (ED, CEO, etc)

Growth Potential

Organizations have <$2mil annual budgets and have been in operation for <4 years

How it works

The Roddenberry Fellowship application process has three rounds. This allows us to ask for minimal information in the first round, and invite a smaller group to share more information in the second round, ideally saving candidates time and energy. The final round consists of short, virtual interviews that allow us to get to know candidates, and candidates to share more about their work as well as ask questions about the program.

The Fellowship Experience

Each Fellow’s initiative has significant potential to create lasting change, and yet each Fellow is so much more than their work. To this end, the Fellowship is designed to make sure that Fellows get the resources they need to move their initiative forward as well as feel personally supported in the process. This holistic approach benefits from the deep Fellowship network, and allows the ongoing cultivation of a cross-sector network of activists, community leaders, advocates, and changemakers.

LA retreat

Fellows meet in person in Los Angeles for a facilitated week of sharing stories, identifying potential collaborations, and building the foundation for deeper connections and relationships.

Fellowship year

Throughout the year, Fellows continue to deepen the connections with each other and alums through monthly calls, weekly emails, learning groups and local, in-person meet-ups. Fellows also meet with coaches and external experts who can support their work.

Fall retreat

At the fall retreat, alumni join the current cohort to mix and mingle, participate in peer-led sessions, and meet people working in the local community.

Alumni network

As the first year of the Fellowship draws to a close, Fellows are welcomed into the alumni network, and, through ongoing engagement, have access to benefits ranging from coaching to conference panels to Q&A sessions with funders and experts.

Our North Star

The diversity of our country is our greatest strength, and yet it’s at the crux of today’s most heated debates, harmful policies, and divisive politics.

The Roddenberry Fellowship is rooted in Gene Roddenberry’s belief that we must not just “accept differences between ourselves and our ideas, but enthusiastically welcome and enjoy them.” What could be possible if we embrace our differences? If disagreements were seen as a beginning instead of the end? If all people were “enthusiastically welcomed” and allowed to thrive?

The Roddenberry Fellowship embodies Gene’s vision of a more diverse, optimistic, inclusive world, one that is rooted in trusting relationships and honest conversations and a belief that a better world is possible, but only through connection and collaboration.

The Impact Fund

Our mission is to provide grants, advocacy and education to support impact litigation on behalf of marginalized communities 

Grants

The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and/or small law firms who seek to advance justice in the areas of civil and human rights, environmental justice, and/or poverty law. 

Since being founded in 1992, the Impact Fund has granted more than $8 million in recoverable grants. We award grants four times per year, most within the range of US$10,000 to US$50,000.

Funding Sectors

Social Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants and legal support to assist in human and civil rights cases. We have helped to change dozens of laws and win cases to improve the rights of thousands.

The cases we are funding allege that:

• In California, police used excessive force against #BlackLivesMatter protesters.
• In Colorado, female police officers face losing their careers because they can’t do enough push-ups and sit-ups.
• In Ohio and New York, a gun manufacturer knowingly sells to dealers that arm criminals.
• In Massachusetts, prisoners with Hepatitis C are going untreated.
• In North Dakota, Native Americans can’t vote because of a recent voter suppression law.
• In Florida, prisoners who request mental health services are abused and, when they complain, the abuse gets worse.

Environmental Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants to support local litigation for environmental justice, with a focus on marginalized comunities. These are often cases no one else will support. 

The cases we are funding are to stop:

• Proposed mining in the Superior National Forest that would contaminate groundwater, damage wetlands, and destroy the local Native American wild-rice economy.
• Unwanted development, after a community garden in New York was bulldozed in the middle of the night.
• Pollution from a lighter fluid factory in New Jersey that is causing illness to residents in a low-income neighborhood.
• Clear-cut logging that is threatening the health and livelihood of the local indigenous community in Ontario.
• Spraying pesticides at will in California.
• A new highway bridge that is the latest in a long history of environmental hazards heaped upon an African American and Latino neighborhood in Corpus Christi, severing it from the rest of the city.

Economic Justice

The Impact Fund provides financial and other forms of support to cases fighting for economic justice. From workers' rights to consumer protection for vulnerable populations, impact litigation is a powerful tool to hold corporations accountable. 

The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Texas, people with unpaid tickets are sent to “debtors’ prison.”
• In California, landlords lose their insurance when they accept Section 8 vouchers from low-income tenants.
• In Idaho, homeless people are jailed for sleeping outdoors, even when there are no shelters to take them in.

Additional Considerations

Is your case set up for success?

No one can guarantee a victory. That's why we look for a coherent strategy and a legal team with sufficient experience and resources to give the case the best chance of success.

Have you collaborated with anyone else?

Legal work can be all-encompassing. But taking the time to talk with others who have argued (or are currently arguing) similar cases can make a huge difference in the long run.

Do you need the money?

You probably wouldn't be reading this if you didn't need financial support, but just in case: We prioritize requests from applicants who need funding to keep their case moving forward.

Have the expenses already been paid?

Our grants can only be used for expenses that have not yet been paid. Raising funds for litigation costs can feel like a juggling act, we know. We’re available to talk by phone if you need help determining when to apply.

Have you estimated what your case will cost?

Litigation costs can be hard to predict, but we’ve found there is value in planning. Once you run the numbers, you might move securing co-counsel to the top of your list. (We can help.)

Have we funded your case before?

Occasionally we will fund a case more than once. In these situations, the case has lasted several years and has a new set of challenges and expenses.

Background 

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

Primary Areas of Funding

Peace with Justice

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

Human Rights

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

NOTE: Applicants must first submit a Letter of Inquiry. Select applicants may be invited to submit a full proposal in the summer.

Sky Ranch Foundation

People never stand so tall as when they stoop to help a child.

Formed in 1961 and building on more than 60 years of tradition, Sky Ranch Foundation ℠ is a tax-exempt charitable organization committed to giving at-risk youth a second chance by identifying and offering grants to efficient and effective programs focused on improving the quality of help available to these youth.

Funding Interests

Preference will be given to organizations that:

• Serve troubled youth between the ages of 11-18, with a priority for programs that focus on youth between the ages of 11-15
• Focus on preventing youth involvement in the criminal justice system, or provide long-term rehabilitation in a residential or alternative setting.
• Provide comprehensive support services to youth that may include education, job training, enrichment activities, counseling and case management.

Proposals that fall outside of the Foundation’s guidelines will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

Geographic Focus

The Foundation funds programs and organizations that work with at-risk youth within the United States, its possessions, and territories, or operated within Native American tribal lands. Requests for programs outside those geographies will not be considered.

Type of Support

General operating, capital and capacity-building.

Award

The typical grant size will be between $5,000 and $40,000. Grants outside of this range will be considered at the discretion of the Directors.

The Foundation for Improvement of Justice, Inc. is a private, not-for-profit organization that was founded for the purpose of improving local, state and federal systems of justice. Our mission is to recognize innovative and effective works and/or programs whose efforts have made positive influential differences in the United States criminal and civil judicial arenas.

Our intent is to encourage further improvement in the various systems of justice in the United States through both recognition and reward.

Awards Program

The Foundation encourages improvement by recognizing and rewarding accomplishment in the following categories:

• Legal Reform
• Crime Prevention
• Child Protection
• Speeding the Process
• Crime Victims’ Rights
• Alternative Sentencing
• Lowering the Cost
• Effecting Restitution
• Other Significant Efforts

The Foundation recognizes and awards up to seven nominees on an annual basis with an award package which includes: the Paul H. Chapman Gold Medal, a check for $10,000, a commendation bar pin, a certificate of appreciation, and an invitation to an awards banquet in Atlanta, Georgia.

Please note that these are awards for successful accomplishments inclusive of innovative programs which have proven effective and can serve as models for others. Recipients are not required to render any further services as a condition of receiving an award.