Search Through Grants for Grassroots Organizations in the U.S.

Background

Supports midwives, doulas, and birthworkers of color leading innovative direct service delivery, advocacy, and organizing efforts to make high-quality midwifery and doula care and training accessible to communities of color and low-income communities.

The Confluence of Service and Strategy

Groundswell Fund’s Birth Justice Fund addresses the alarming rates of poor infant and maternal health outcomes in communities of color by mobilizing donors and supporting strategies to make midwifery and doula care and training accessible.

The Birth Justice Fund (BJF) supports care services, training, and policy efforts that are making high-quality midwifery and doula care and training accessible to women of color and low-income women.

These are key strategies in addressing alarming rates of poor infant and maternal health outcomes in communities of color.

How Are Birth Justice Funds Distributed?

The Birth Justice Fund advisory committee awards over $1 Million annually to organizations using direct service delivery, grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy to make midwifery and doula care and training accessible to women of color, low-income women, and transgender people.

Investing in Financial Resiliency

The Birth Justice Fund provides capacity-building offerings in addition to grant funding. This includes training and coaching support focused on increasing financial resilience and addressing the unique sustainability challenges of Birth Justice Fund grantees. Most Birth Justice Fund grantees are led by Black and Indigenous women, transgender, and gender-expansive folks. Therefore, our capacity-building programs address and acknowledge the historical disinvestment and undercapitalization of Black-led and Indigenous-led organizations, in particular. GF’s Birth Justice Fund’s financial resilience program includes a mix of webinars, technical assistance, and 1:1 coaching. We seek to set our grantees up for success by positioning them to best leverage the increased resources flowing into the perinatal health sector at this time.

How to apply for Birth Justice Funding

The Birth Justice Fund has one primary grantmaking round in the spring of each year. The fund provides general operating grants, capacity-building grants, and project grants, with grant sizes ranging from $10,000-$200,000.

What We Stand For | Our Giving Priorities

We practice the discipline of being Good Company—cultivating meaningful awareness, driving sustainable action, and setting a new standard for how businesses and communities impact the Greater Good together. A grassroots appeal guides our efforts in food and the arts, while a holistic approach integrates commitment to learning and the environment. Compassion is extended from the inside out with actionable goals and a global perspective. We create mutually enriching philanthropic experiences for our CoStars, guests, investors and the community. And, although we are located in Las Vegas, we are home all around the world.

We take part in several charitable and community events throughout the year, many focused on our community giving priorities:

• Food and Hunger Relief - Providing food and nourishment, especially to those that are low-income or homeless.
• Learning and Student Enrichment - Enhancements to schools and programs that help students succeed in school.
• Accessible Art - Providing opportunities for the community to engage with and create their own expression of art.
• Military - Programs and services that support the military, veterans and their families.
• Diversity and Inclusion - Programs and services that support minorities and the LGBT Community.y.

Organizations may request cash or in-kind donations.

Democratic Practice 

The Democratic Practice program seeks to strengthen the vitality of democracy in the United States and in global governance. The program’s core ideas—that for democracy to flourish and deliver on its promises, its citizens must be engaged, empowered, and assertive, and institutions of governance must be inclusive, transparent, accountable, and responsive—provide a frame for the Fund’s Democratic Practice work in the United States and on global challenges.

Democracy in the United States

Democracy in the United States is facing myriad challenges as persistent and deep divisions continue to undermine the nation’s social, economic, and political vitality. The current U.S. political system suffers from outsized influence of money in politics, extreme partisanship, retrenchment of voting rights, issues with outdated and inefficient election administration, and concentrations of power in narrow segments of society not reflective of the larger population. Alternatively, new opportunities for systemic reform are developing and gaining traction. The nation is seeing a resurgence of grassroots political activism, protest, and a democratization of both traditional and social media. Digital resources are fueling different kinds of engagement and activism that are reaching people in entirely new ways. Further, the ability to leverage creative investigative and solution-based journalism and broadly available government and election data to improve both democratic systems and grassroots civic engagement provides exciting opportunities to build a vital and inclusive 21st-century democracy.

The Fund recognizes that the gaps between rich and poor, and white and non-white, are widening, while the diversity of elected officials remains misaligned with the electorate, fundamentally undermining the quality of representative democracy. Exorbitant amounts of private money spent on political campaigns and lobbying by a very small percentage of the electorate profoundly distort the political system. Others without the financial resources to influence public policy are further marginalized, undermining the ability of voters and constituents to hold elected officials accountable and fostering public cynicism and distrust of elected officials and public institutions.

The quality of our political culture continues to deteriorate. Consequently, there are fewer and fewer examples of true bipartisanship and constructive compromise in state and federal legislatures. Additionally, partisan actors, with a goal of achieving partisan supremacy rather than ensuring democratic fairness, exert disproportionate control over voting rights, poll access, and redistricting. Participation in national elections remains below that of most advanced democracies, and turnout for local elections is persistently low. Moreover, fair, efficient, and effective election administration is undermined by inaccurate voter rolls and outdated processes and technology. In addition, eligible voters have been kept from the polls by restrictive voting laws, or worse, by overt voter-suppression efforts.

Meaningful and informed public participation in all phases of democracy in the United States provides the foundation for a truly vibrant democracy. The Fund believes that innovation in traditional grassroots organizing strategies, development of opportunities for underrepresented populations in civic leadership, and effective integration of digital media and communications into civic life are promising ways to improve public participation in governance. Authentic public participation in democracy lays the groundwork for substantive policy reforms that are a true reflection of our representative democracy.

Goal: Advance a Vital and Inclusive Democracy in the United States

In the United States, the Fund supports innovative strategies to strengthen and broaden participation in the practices and institutions of democratic governance, foster greater transparency, accountability, and responsiveness of government institutions, and promote social, economic, and racial justice in our democratic systems.

Strategies:

• Supporting innovations in systems and practices to strengthen equality of representation and disrupt corruptive influences, including money and privileged relationships.
• Increasing opportunities for meaningful citizen participation in democratic systems through election and voting reforms, including improvements in voting rights, election laws, redistricting processes, and election administration.
• Supporting movement-building strategies for systemic reform of democratic institutions to advance economic and racial justice.

The Democratic Practice–U.S. program works to enhance the quality of American democracy through support for high leverage opportunities at the federal, state, and local levels (including New York City as the Fund’s home).

Global Challenges

The dramatic increase in cross-border flows of capital, goods, and people and their values and ideas—“globalization”—is producing deep interdependencies and changes in power relations. It is a defining process of the 21st century, offering both challenges and opportunities.

Public engagement in decision making across all levels of governance must contend nowadays with powerful global actors, forces, and institutions, presenting profound challenges to democracy. Economic interests have largely overshadowed democratic practices, social equity, and environmental concerns in the evolution of global institutions. Powerful international trade and financial institutions remain opaque and exclusive, and the power and reach of multinational corporations often escape public scrutiny or effective regulation. Thus, although the impact of global forces on peoples’ lives is growing, they face enormous impediments to both defend their existing rights and engage to meet new global challenges.

At the same time, globalization has opened up new opportunities for building cross-border, citizen-based coalitions, which are finding innovative ways to frame, address, and resolve global problems. Evolving understandings of planetary limits and the drivers of climate change have given rise to citizen groups pressing for economic and environmental rights. Common experiences of inequality and the erosion of democracy have led to demands for changes in how rules of the global economy are written—and in whose interest. New technologies and ways of organizing undergird citizen networks working across languages, geographies, and cultures. These novel combinations of grassroots, professional, public, private, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental organizations are analyzing global processes, articulating alternatives, and advancing in democratic practice and accountability to address global challenges.

Mission

The Frankel Family Foundation believes that all people should live in a world of equal opportunity and on a healthy, sustainable planet. We are dedicated to promoting a just society that protects the planet and its inhabitants.

Foundation Priority Areas

The Frankel Family Foundation supports organizations working in the environment. We are particularly interested in supporting organizations that are taking a leadership role in high impact grassroots organizing and advocacy to change government funding and policy in the United States in favor of sustainable energy and decreasing carbon emissions on a significant scale. The Frankel Family Foundation is deeply concerned about the changing climate conditions on our planet and the developed world’s dependence on fossil fuel as an energy source. The FFF believes we are at critical juncture in this impending crisis and that the United States can and should take a leadership role in the movement to decrease global carbon emissions.

The Foundation also invests in work that reflects the particular interests of individual board members. This includes a continued interest in supporting refugees around the world with an emphasis on advancing access to quality post-primary education and supporting youth development and mental health in the communities where Foundation Members live.

Because the Frankel Family Foundation is informed and inspired by Jewish values and the concept of “tzedak” meaning justice or what is right, we will continue to engage in “Jewish” giving, supporting organizations that inform and strengthen the Jewish community, combat anti-Semitism and hatred, and promote a democratic and peaceful Israel as a homeland for Jews and all who live there.

Award Information

The Frankel Family Foundation awards grants up to $100,000.  Multi-year requests will be considered when rationale is provided. The Frankel Family Foundation provides the following types of grants:

• General Operating
• Project or Program
• Capacity Building
• Capital Campaigns

The Frankel Family Foundation funds organizations working nationally rather than local efforts. We generally don’t support place-based environmental initiatives.

Japan-U.S. Global Partnerships Small Grant

• Grant Type: Prepaid grant
• Funding opportunity: Institutional funding for U.S.-based institutions/organizations with 501(c)(3) status
• Benefits: Maximum of $10,000

This grant aims to support to create and develop networks between Japan and the U.S. on grassroots level, and to support Japan-U.S. collaborative efforts to help resolve issues of common concern. Projects that fit in one of the following two categories are eligible for consideration.

• Category A: Creation or development of network(s) between Japan and U.S. organizations on grassroots level. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Develop a partnership between two organizations in Japan and the U.S. to deepen mutual understanding at the local level and build capacity for Japan-U.S. exchange

• Category B: Japan-U.S. collaborative project that contributes to resolving an issue of common global concern and supports individuals who organize and participate in these projects. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • Host symposium, conference, or workshop to support dialogue and networking on a specific issue of common global concern
  • Create and develop a new project with sister city organizations around a shared issue (e.g., revitalization of local communities, aging population, environmental issue, peace study, etc.),
  • Policy-oriented projects that explore contemporary issues common to Japan and the U.S. that involve cooperation among academics practitioners, civil servants, and civil society organizations

Please reach out to us with your project ideas; we can help guide you to the grant program that best suits your project.

Projects are required to have the following elements:

• Begin by March 31, 2025
• At least one symposium, conference, workshop, or seminar to support dialogue and networking
• U.S.-Japan collaboration
• Category A: Japan-based collaborator(s) involved throughout the entirety of the project is required
• Category B: Strong Japan component as a core of the project (e.g., participants and/or collaborators depending on the nature of the project) is required.
• A minimum of 20% of the total project budget secured from non-JFNY sources such as the applying institution or other sources

We believe those most impacted by inequity and injustice are in the best position to develop solutions. Our intent is to achieve a better future for all by providing support to community-based, grassroots organizations confronting social and environmental injustice. We are inspired by Civil Rights icon John Lewis’ admonition, “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

The National Grassroots Organizing Program (NGO) offers two-year unrestricted, general operating support grants of up to $30,000 per year, with an average grant size of $20,000 per year, to small (budgets under $350,000), constituent-led grassroots organizations throughout the United States and its territories.

Our Approach to Funding

While our broad goals are to further social and environmental justice, our primary purpose is to support the local leadership and grassroots organizing activities of our grant partners rather than any specific issues the organizations are addressing. We are interested in supporting groups that are carrying out activities that build support and collective action to address impacts of inequity and injustice in their communities.

While our broad goals are to further social and environmental justice, our primary purpose is to support the local leadership and grassroots organizing activities of our grant partners rather than any specific issues the organizations are addressing. We are interested in supporting groups that are carrying out activities that build support and collective action to address impacts of inequity and injustice in their communities.We are guided by common principles of community organizing which we look for in proposals. In general these are:

• The organization is led by the people directly impacted by the issues the organization works on, and those people have clear decision-making power.
• A plan with clear goals to gain rights, win collective political power and create positive community change.
• An assessment of the problem being addressed and best tactics to employ.
• Outreach, networking, and ally gaining activities that build support and momentum.
• Educational activities and events that inform and motivate and build support.

We know that organizing can take many forms. Some grassroots organizing activities might include but are not limited to:

Community & ally outreach

Consistent, multi-faceted efforts to recruit and engage people in your work. Examples include sharing information and resources, public forums, canvassing, workshops, tabling at events, phone-banking, and media engagement.

Leadership development of constituents

Investing time, training and resources to cultivate innate leadership assets within people who historically haven’t had access to civic and community engagement opportunities or positions of power.

Constituent empowerment & decision-making

The organization is driven by the people impacted by the problem. Constituents define core values, identify and prioritize issues, and determine the appropriate course of action to solve them.

Popular education

An educational technique, based on the theories of Paulo Friere, designed to raise the consciousness of its participants and allow them to become more aware of how an individual’s personal experiences are connected to larger institutional or societal problems.

Root cause analysis

The practice of continually peeling back the layers of a problem and asking “why?” each one exists until the root cause(s) of the issue can be identified and targeted for change.

Power analysis

The process of identifying which individuals or entities hold the power to make decisions that positively and negatively affect an issue.

Campaign development

A game plan of action including tactics, materials, timelines and their intended audiences and effects.

Mobilizing constituents & allies

Moving people to take specific action toward achieving a common goal. Examples include attending rallies and protests, tabling at events, testifying at hearings, contacting public officials, speaking to the media and phone-banking.

Coalition building

Partnering with other organizations that have allied missions and interests with the goal of creating power in numbers.

Non-violent direct action (NVDA)

Public forms of protest for the purpose of demonstration, obstruction or dissent.

Who We Are

The Block Foundation is a small family foundation established in 2001 to honor the memories of Harris & Frances Block and their daughter Carol Block Maurer. We are a small, family operated foundation whose ideological makeup reflects our family values.

Mission

The Harris and Frances Block Foundation seeks equitable solutions to social and environmental problems, working with small and emerging organizations to improve our communities and impact the world.

Values

The Harris and Frances Block Foundation holds as values:

Community: Where change begins and grows to scale.

Justice: Both social and environmental.

Equality: Aspiring towards a society that honors the potential of all humans.

Access: Equitable access to systems, resources, and opportunities.

Sustainability: Both social and environmental.

What We Fund

The Block Foundation supports small grassroots not-for-profit organizations with grants that work to foster just and sustainable communities.

Environmental Issues

• Environmental Education
• Environmental Justice

Food and Farm Initiatives

• Farm and Garden Programs
• Farmworker’s Rights
• Food Justice

Mission and Funding Goals

The mission of the Harry Chapin Foundation is to support organizations that have demonstrated their ability to dramatically improve the lives and livelihood of people by helping them to become self-sufficient.

We will fund only 501(c)(3) not for profit programs that operate in the United States that fall within the areas of:

• Arts-In-Education Programs
• Community Education Programs
• Agricultural and Environmental Programs

We make grants covering a one-year period. In some instances, grant renewals are considered but are never automatic. The applicant for a renewal grant must submit a new proposal each year, along with a report of the activities of the preceding year.

Just Health Fund

The Just Health Fund is a Tides Foundation grantmaking initiative that delivers critical resources to community leaders on the front lines of protecting, providing, and ensuring health equity for marginalized groups.

Catalyze a Future of Health Equity and Opportunity

BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities still face discriminatory medical, financial, legal, and environmental barriers to health. Yet the health equity efforts they lead routinely lose out to national legacy organizations on funding. The erosion of healthcare access has only exacerbated existing inequities, posing a serious threat to the health of communities of color and LGBTQ+ people and putting countless lives at risk.

The Just Health Fund makes bold, well-informed grants toward community-led solutions. Just Health Fund grants advance many facets of health equity, from reproductive justice and LGBTQ+ rights to racial justice and mental health.

Funding Priorities

We are committed to shifting power and resources to proximate leaders with subject matter expertise, lived experience, and grassroots connections to create localized solutions to generational healthcare challenges.

Advancing Health Equity

The health of marginalized people is in peril. Policies nationwide are increasingly criminalizing healthcare providers who serve them. The Just Health Fund works alongside legal experts to award bold, risk-aware, and responsive grants supporting culturally affirming care. Our current funding cycle focuses on reproductive justice. Our ultimate vision is to establish long-term support that breaks barriers to health equity by resourcing community leaders who work across health issues, including mental health, LGBTQ+ healthcare, and more.

Centering Community-Based Solutions

Grassroots leaders have both deep knowledge about the healthcare system and intimate experience with the harmful discrimination that has deeply affected marginalized people for generations. The Just Health Fund partners with these changemakers to ensure they have the resources to continue critical community-based work.  

Strengthening Grantmaking That Centers Proximate Leaders

Equipping more organizations to push for reproductive justice will help us make progress faster. The Just Health Fund strives to strengthen the work of reproductive justice and LGBTQ+ organizations that are actively grantmaking in this space.  

Mission & Values

Life Comes From It is a first of its kind grantmaking circle where decisions over funding are made by people heavily steeped in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacemaking. We seek to grow the movement for adopting restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices throughout our society. We have come together around a shared vision of addressing harm through community solutions, without reliance on incarceration and punitive systems.

We aim to strengthen the foundation of restorative, transformative, and peacemaking practices led by people of color.

Our Mission

Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle. We support grassroots movement-building work rooted in lived experience and relationships for restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking.

Funding Values & Criteria

We aim to support projects, organizations and collaborations that embody these values:

• Commitment to working towards replacing criminalization and incarceration with alternative approaches to address violence and repair harm rooted in community solutions
• Prioritizing peacemaking development and indigenous initiatives led by Native people
• Rooting the work in the community’s own culture(s), language(s), place(s), faith(s), and belief system(s) so it reflects the people that engage in it
• Guided by the wisdom of people, families and communities of color
• Commitment to anti-oppression practices
• Supporting the creation of new thinking and language that is holistic, intersectional, interdependent, and liberatory
• Promoting and sustaining collective leadership, collaboration and partnership
• Living the values of the work internally and externally to build community and heal harm within and against communities
• Intergenerational inclusivity - people of all generations: youth, adults, elders are encouraged to apply​

The Four Fields

• Restorative Justice
• Transformative Justice
• Indigenous Peacemaking
• Land Based Projects 

What we Believe

• We believe that human relations can replace the work of institutions.
• ​We are invested in shifting power.
• ​We believe in doing no harm – not further victimizing people who have been victimized in the search for funding. We seek to keep an open door relationship with those who look for funding.
• ​We believe in interdependence and creating a culture where we do not pit one against another.
• ​We strive to build connections between restorative justice, transformative justice, indigenous peacemaking, and "justice, healing and soil."
• ​We hold an intersectional lens
• ​We emphasize the underlying spirit and values of the work rather than the categories we use to define our work. 
• ​Our vision is rooted in lived experience – as community activists, formerly incarcerated people, crime survivors, indigenous persons, and people of color— and has led us to 115 years of experience in restorative justice, transformative justice and indigenous peacebuilding.

PFF Small Grants

Small Grants may help establish new relationships, allowing PFF to learn more about how well an organization's goals align with our own and possibly elevate our support level. Grantee partners may reapply after two years.

• Unrestricted General Operating Support
• Grassroots organizations with budgets up to $1MM
• One-time award
• Streamlined Application - LOI, followed by an interview, and, if warranted, a site visit
• A formal interview will take place at the end of the grant cycle

Grants are awarded in One of Two Ways:

• To build an organization’s capacity to achieve more significant impact or effectiveness
• To deliver or increase direct services to their constituency

Our Vision

We envision a world where individuals on the front lines are empowered to uplift themselves and their communities, where all children have equitable access to a quality education, where young people are empowered to reach their highest potential, where women and girls are free and protected, where our planet thrives in renewed health, and where animals are treated with compassion. It’s a world where humanity’s global diversity is celebrated as a strength that fortifies us all, and a world where local heroes, equipped with the resources they need, stand ready to support each other in times of crisis.

Our Ultimate Goal

Our ultimate goal is to amplify the light within each of us by funding impactful leaders, nurturing strong networks, and collaboratively building systems among talented leaders. In doing so, we strive to foster leaderful movements—movements filled with leaders who possess the capability to drive change from the front, the middle, and the back of the pack.

Our Daily Grant Program

The Pollination Project seeks to unleash goodness and uplift volunteers all over the world. To that end, each year through our pioneering Daily Grant program, we make 365 microgrants of up to $500 each. These grants are designed to kickstart a volunteer’s or grassroots organization’s work and give them the lift their project needs to thrive and grow. Our daily grantmaking began on January 1, 2013 and since then, we have funded a different project every single day. All qualified applicants in any funding area are considered within the guidelines of this program.

What types of projects does the Daily Grant support?

At The Pollination Project, our goal is to uplift volunteers who are creating a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world for all. We work towards that goal through our support of community-driven grassroots initiatives that empower volunteers and inspire others.

This means that rather than narrowly defining the issues or types of work that we fund or the geographical regions in which we make grants, we instead choose to be led by our applicants. So long as a project fits our criteria, we can consider any charitable work anywhere in the world which moves us towards a better world.

Mission

The Richard Davoud Donchian Foundation provides funds to nonprofit organizations whose programs result in the strengthening of the human spirit and the enhancement of personal integrity. The Foundation channels most of its financial resources toward charitable organizations whose attention is concentrated on character development through leadership training, literacy, primary education, business integrity, spiritual enrichment and ethics.

It is the expressed belief of the Donchian Foundation that every individual can become physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually stronger, resulting in the culmination of a more confident and scrupulous lifestyle. The primary objective of the Donchian Foundation's grant making activities is to ensure that its ultimate recipients become empowered to strengthen and build up their families and communities -- passing onto others that which was given to them.

Guiding Principles

The Donchian Foundation's goal is to help effective organizations advance their mission and meet their charitable objectives. Through its endorsement, the Foundation's secondary objective is to create a ripple effect that leverages new partners and greater visibility. Leveraging is a principle that the foundation believes in, and one that is applied to its efforts toward strategic philanthropy. Whether it's leveraging matching funds through challenge grants, or motivating like-minded organizations to participate in a foundation-initiated project, the ultimate intention is to foster the best possible results.

Qualities sought by the Donchian Foundation in its partner organizations are:

• effective and dynamic personnel;
• passionate leadership;
• a bias against bureaucracy;
• prudent management & governance practices; and
• commitment to results and to the documented assessment of program impact.

The Foundation focuses its grant making in three key areas: Literacy & Education; Humanitarian Efforts and Ethics & Personal Development.

Literacy & Education

– With an interest in rethinking and reconfiguring curriculum, pedagogy, and the other academic resources in schools and communities, the Foundation focuses on programs that work toward long-term improvement in all aspects of education, but with an emphasis on literacy.

Humanitarian Efforts

– To improve the lives and spirits of individuals and communities facing pressing circumstances, etc., including efforts to address Children’s Health.

Ethics & Personal Development

– To enhance the moral, ethical, spiritual and physical well-being and progress of mankind. The Foundation's grantmaking activities are centered around the concept of social purpose enterprise that seeks to raise the standards of ethical excellence in society, moral character in the community, faith in the family, integrity in business and grassroots leadership in needy communities.

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

Challenge

Seeking innovative solutions that rethink the delivery, space and place of care for communities with limited availability or proximity to healthcare services.

Background

Underserved communities often experience limited access to quality healthcare services due to various factors, including geographical and physical barriers, lack of available culturally competent care, discrimination and bias, constraints on how care is delivered (e.g., in-person vs. virtual) and more. By rethinking the delivery, space and place of care to expand access to care beyond traditional settings to institutions trusted by communities, community-based organizations can address non-medical factors that influence a person’s health outcomes, commonly known as social determinants of health (or non-medical determinants of health).

Innovative, grassroots solutions have the potential to bridge these gaps, improving access and enhancing the quality of care by meeting communities where they are and providing tailored services to address the specific needs of diverse populations.

Community-based organizations are particularly effective in this regard due to their deep knowledge of local community dynamics, cultural nuances and specific needs. They also have the ability to foster partnerships, collaborations and leverage investments beyond the traditional healthcare system, addressing the socioeconomic and structural factors that drive population health.

The AbbVie Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to drive transformative change and advance health equity in communities worldwide, in partnership with MATTER, has launched the AbbVie Foundation Health Equity Accelerator. We invite applications for innovative, scalable solutions that rethink the delivery, space and place of care for communities with limited access or proximity to healthcare services.

The accelerator will empower nonprofit organizations to drive innovative, community-led solutions to address health disparities by providing mentorship and access to resources to scale their programs’ impact and drive meaningful change.

Benefits of participation

Participants in this eight-week accelerator will gain access to valuable resources, including a dynamic, interactive curriculum delivered by subject matter experts. This program is designed to enhance participants’ solutions, refine their model and strategies and empower them to drive significant impact in health equity.

• Financial support: Each selected participant will receive a $10,000 stipend, recognizing their time and dedication to the program. Additionally, one winning solution will be awarded a $50,000 unrestricted grant to support the implementation and development of their innovative approach to health equity.
• Expert guidance and mentorship: Participants will benefit from tailored mentorship from industry leaders and health equity experts. This guidance will help refine their strategies and maximize their impact.
• Networking opportunities: Engage with a diverse cohort of peers, potential partners, and stakeholders in the health equity space. These connections can lead to valuable collaborations and long-term partnerships.
• Visibility and recognition: Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions to a broader audience. This exposure can open doors to additional funding and support.

About Us

The mission of Mzuri Wildlife Foundation is to promote wildlife conservation and outdoor sports education worldwide.

Mzuri Wildlife Foundation exists to do the most good possible for wildlife throughout the world. The name Mzuri is Swahili, pronounced “mm-`zuree,” for “good.”  We fund grassroots organizations working at the community level to protect wildlife and their habitats. We invest in programs connecting people, especially youth and women, to the natural world through hunting, fishing and other outdoor sports and outdoor education programs. Our goal is to cultivate future generations who will enjoy, appreciate and safeguard the natural environment. 

Mzuri Wildlife Foundation (Mzuri) enables individuals to protect the wildlife they value and the sporting heritage they enjoy. We mobilize the financial and volunteer resources of our supporters to achieve more than any one person. 

Grantmaking Priorities

Wildlife Conservation

Since our founding in 1969, half of the world’s wildlife has disappeared. Partnering with grassroots organizations around the world, we are working to reverse this trend.

We seek out and support high-performing programs where our grant funds can make a pivotal difference to the project’s success. We invest in programs that protect wildlife populations through on-the-ground habitat enhancement and anti-poaching activities, wildlife research, community outreach, and other natural resource preservation efforts. The wildlife protections we support benefit all species of native plants and animals in the region. Healthy habitats support both flora and fauna that, once lost, are lost forever.

Outdoor Sports & Education Programs

We invest in organizations that cultivate and inspire future generations of individuals who will treasure the outdoors and protect these natural resources. Engaging more youth, women and others in outdoor experiences connects them to the natural world and fosters an understating of the importance of wildlife conservation.

The programs we support:

• introduce and engage youth in outdoor sports and conservation activities,
• encourage more women to participate in shooting, fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports,
• offer hands-on learning opportunities that promote environmental stewardship, and
• build an understanding of the value of wildlife resources within individuals and communities.

Japan – U.S. Global Partnership Grant Program

• Grant Type: Prepaid grant
• Funding opportunity: Institutional funding for U.S.-based institutions/organizations with 501(c)(3) status

Through the “Grant Program: Japan-U.S. Global Partnership”, JF seeks to support Japan-U.S. collaborative projects that will help resolve current global issues of common concern, projects that build partnerships among diverse professions and backgrounds necessary to successfully address those issues, and to support the individuals who organize and participate in such projects.

More specifically, this program targets policy-oriented research conducted jointly by Japanese and American non-profit organizations (universities, think tanks, NPOs, etc.) aimed at resolving the issues of modern society and global issues facing the world, as well as dialogue and exchange projects at various levels, including academic researchers, experts, citizens, and grassroots practitioners. The inclusion of other countries that are important and pertinent to the issue at hand is welcome, provided the project is built on a framework of Japan-U.S. cooperation. The participation of relevant experts from the fields of science and technology is also welcome.

Thematic Areas: (1) Building a resilient society, (2) Developing an inclusive society, and (3) Creating a society enriched by science and technology.

Examples as below:

Climate change, disaster prevention, post-disaster recovery, pandemic, public health, food and energy security, environmental issues, sustainable city, overcoming social and economic disparities, demographic issues such as low birthrate and aging population, societal issues related to children/family and women, rural revitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, bioethics, cyber security, digital transformation, green technology.

Projects outside of the thematic areas can also be eligible if they meet the goals of the grant program.

The Foundation embraces the protection of biodiversity as its overarching priority.

Frank Weeden, the Foundation’s founder and original benefactor, established the Weeden Foundation to address the impact of growing human populations and overuse of natural resources on the biological fabric of the planet. Since his death in 1984, the Foundation has helped preserve more than 6 million acres of biologically important habitat worldwide and provided financing for the first debt-for-nature swap in Bolivia in 1992, a strategy that is now widely used by international conservation organizations. Program efforts have supported projects in environmentally sensitive regions of the western United States, Alaska, Russia, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Belize, Namibia, Mexico, and various Caribbean nations.

Focus Areas

On a more general scale the Foundation supports the following focus areas.

Bird Conservation

Our goal in the Bird Conservation program area is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. In particular we seek to fund grantees that work to prevent bird species extinctions and to prevent declining populations of bird species from becoming endangered. We specifically focus on protecting and restoring public and private bird habitat and we assist in acquiring land for threatened bird species. Finally we support protection of bird migration corridors in North and South America.

Systemic Support program at the U.S. national policy level for wildlife corridors, the Endangered Species Act, and additional wilderness designation.

Our goal in Systemic Support is to improve the effectiveness of environmental efforts through specialized services. Specific objectives include:

• support the Endangered Species Act through litigation, lobbying, grassroots campaigns and public education generally,
• promote organizations providing support for groups engaged in wilderness protection, land conservation, endangered species protection, wildlife corridor issues, and management of public lands, an
• improve federal and state support for environmentally sustainable practices, wilderness designations, and wildlife corridors. 

Global Biodiversity

Our goal in Global Biodiversity is to support campaigns and/or groups in biodiversity hotspots. Specific objectives are to

• protect global temperate rainforests,
• support creation of wildlife corridors,
• land acquisition and protection for endangered species and,
• support projects that involve indigenous peoples in the process and stewardship of conservation projects.

Environmental Education

The Foundation’s Environment Education program area focuses on supporting grantees that will provide future leaders with the tools to effect environmental policies. These policies complement the other grantees of the Foundation including biodiversity and habitat protection. Sustainable environmental policies must include both immediate actions as well as education to anticipate and to prevent future environmental impact.

Marine Wildlife Conservation

The Marine Wildlife Conservation Program Area focuses on helping to protect endangered marine species in the Americas through research, advocacy, policy change, and habitat conservation.

To address the adverse impact of economic and human population growth on biodiversity, the Foundation’s grantmaking includes both Consumption and Population programs.

The Foundation’s Sustainable Consumption program currently focuses on promoting greater use of environmental paper. Grantmaking in this area aims to broaden the market for environmental papers and packaging through markets campaigns, shareholder activism, consumer-targeted education, and dialogue with the corporate sector. This year we have expanded our packaging program to include efforts to reduce plastics in the waste stream, through strategies such as eliminating single use plastic disposables by promoting reusable packaging for grocery stores, take-out, and delivery.

The Foundation’s International Population program area is focused on reducing population growth rates in countries recognized for their rich biodiverse landscapes and that have a total fertility rate exceeding replacement levels. To achieve this goal, the Foundation funds groups that facilitate initiatives related to family planning, women’s education and women’s empowerment in countries with such rich and recognized biodiversity. The Foundation also supports advocacy efforts addressing global population growth in the context of environmental sustainability.

Mission Statement

Park Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to advancing a more just, equitable, and sustainable society and environment, both nationally and in our local Ithaca community. We are principled, strategic and fearless in our grantmaking, collaborative with our partners, and nimble and innovative in our approach. We are committed to challenging the powers that threaten an independent media, a robust democracy, and the future of our planet.

Our Funding Priorities

The Park Foundation funds a variety of non-profit partners, from local Tompkins County grassroots programs to initiatives with national impact.

• Environment
• Civic Participation
• Media
• Democracy
• Community Needs
• Sustainable Ithaca
• Animal Welfare
• School Food & Nutrition

Media

The Foundation supports public interest media that raises awareness of critical environmental, political, and social issues to promote a better-informed citizenry in the U.S. It supports quality, non-commercial media that is substantive, fair, and accurate.

Program priorities include:

• Investigative Journalism:
  • Investigative Journalism supports excellence in reporting on nationally significant public affairs issues in the U.S. Competitive proposals will show evidence of groundbreaking content employing multi-platform media tools with the potential to achieve broad distribution and social impact.
• Media Policy:
  • Media Policy supports nationally significant initiatives that promote fair and open media systems and policies in the U.S. The Foundation supports projects that advance universal access to communications, a "neutral" Internet, diverse and independent ownership, public interest media, and the future of journalism.
• Public Broadcasting:
  • Public Broadcasting supports nationally distributed and aired television and radio programming.
• Documentary Films:
  • Documentary Films supports a very limited number of small grants to individual documentary projects related to civil society and democracy, the environment, and animal welfare. 

The FAWCO Foundation Development Grant

The purpose of the program is to fund projects that can make an immediate impact and lead to success for the people they support. The assistance offered should be direct, with a goal of sustainability.

Through The Foundation, FAWCO Member Clubs and FAUSA have been aiding worthy and reputable charitable projects around the globe for over 50 years. Some clubs are working “hands-on” with their projects while others make financial contributions or donations of goods. The Development Grants provide the financial assistance that can help the recipients achieve their goals.

The Foundation encourages FAWCO clubs to nominate grassroots organizations that receive little to no sponsorship or support from other sources.

Grant Categories

Education

For projects:

• promoting literacy and supporting academic studies,
• that build or provide classrooms, libraries or general learning facilities for disadvantaged women/children, 
• that provide training designed to lead to economic and social empowerment for women and girls.

Human Rights

For projects:

• providing vocational training, teaching practical skills, promoting social entrepreneurial initiatives for at-risk/marginalized population groups,
• addressing the critical problems of violence, food and shelter, healthcare, education, poverty, advocacy, human trafficking, prostitution, refugees, including all those impacted by economic, political or other forced migration,
• promoting cultural understanding

Global Issues

For Projects:

• that fall within any of the FAWCO focus areas with which we align our Development Grants i.e., Education, Environment, Health or Human Rights.
• that recognize club’s local charities often overlooked on the world stage, 
• that take place in the nominating club's home country.

Grant-making Philosophy

The Peace Development Fund makes grants to community based organizations working for social justice. We believe that the change in values needed to establish a more just and peaceful world can come about only if it is strongly rooted in local communities that value the importance of building movements to create systemic social change. These are communities that view everyone, especially young people, as a vital force in the transformation of society. We recognize young people’s ability to reshape our society, not only politically, but also spiritually and culturally.

The Peace Development Fund is committed to supporting organizations and projects that recognize that peace will never be sustained unless it is based on justice and an appreciation of both the diversity and unity of the human family. We understand peace to be a consequence of equitable relationships—with our fellow human beings and with the natural environment of which we are a part and on which we depend.

What We Fund

Organizing to Shift Power

• Groups that are creating a power base that can hold leaders accountable to the people who are affected by their decisions.
• Groups that let their membership or constituents take the lead in collective action-planning and decision-making.
• Groups whose leadership comes directly from the people who are most affected by the issues you are organizing around.

Working to Build a Movement

• Groups that organize in the local community, but make connections between local issues and a broader need for systemic change.
• Groups that provide a space for members to develop their political analyses at the same time as taking action for change.
• Groups that break down barriers within the progressive movement, by building strategic alliances between groups of different cultural or class backgrounds or different issue areas.
• Groups that explore the root causes of injustice and have a long-term vision for the kind of social change they are working for.

Dismantling Oppression

• Groups and projects that are proactively engaged in a process of dismantling oppression, confronting privilege and challenging institutional structures that perpetuate oppression (both internal and external to the organization).
• Groups that are proactively making connections between the different forms of oppression (racism, heterosexism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, etc.), and its connections with injustice.

Creating New Structures

• Groups that have alternative organizational structures that allow power to flow “from the bottom up.”
• Efforts to create new, community-based alternative systems and structures (economic, political, cultural, religious, etc.) that are liberating, democratic, and environmentally sustainable and which promote healthy, sustainable communities.

General Support vs. Project Support

The majority of grants awarded by PDF are for general support. We believe that the people on the ground know how best to spend the money. However, if an organization’s mission is not within PDF’s priorities but the organization has a program or project that is within the priorities, i.e. if the organization is a direct service organization, but has an organizing component, then we would recommend that groups apply for a specific program or project.

The Foundation actively supports the advancement of the visual arts through an extensive artist-centered grantmaking program. Our aim is to encourage and facilitate the production of original work that expands and enhances the contemporary art field. Our grants serve the needs of artists by funding the arts organizations and cultural institutions that support them. The grants we provide cover the full spectrum of artistic activity, from grassroots happenings at alternative spaces to contemporary exhibitions at major museums, and every phase of the creative process, from conception and production, to presentation and documentation.

To help grantees best respond to the changing needs of artists in a continuously evolving contemporary art field, we have designed our grantmaking program to support a wide range of opportunities. Project grants are awarded for substantial curatorial endeavors such as solo or group exhibitions, which often involve commissioning new bodies of work and the production of scholarly catalogues. Program grants are generally made over a period of two years to support a combination of exhibitions, public programs, residencies, convenings, publishing projects, networking and other opportunities for creative growth and exploration.

While the Foundation encourages new and groundbreaking approaches, our mission is focused on art that is anchored in the visual, with the understanding that such work can vary widely in format, medium, style, subject, concept, tone, and intention. Above all, we actively support projects that challenge the status quo and push the field in new directions through risk-taking and experimentation—the twin engines that drove Warhol himself.

The Foundation is committed to fostering a more equitable and inclusive contemporary art field—one that reflects the broader population of the United States—and we encourage proposals that highlight artists and communities that are underrepresented in the cultural sector and beyond. We welcome a variety of organizations to apply, but grant recipients must have 501(c)(3) status. The Foundation does not award grants for projects that specifically relate to Warhol’s life or work

Types of Grants

The Foundation offers three types of grants—Curatorial Research Fellowships, Exhibition support, and multiyear program grants. We also serve the needs of artists through an invitational Regional Re-granting program and two ongoing Special Initiatives: Creative Capital and the Arts Writers Grant.

Grants are made on a project basis to curatorial programs at museums, artists’ organizations, and other cultural institutions to originate innovative and scholarly presentations of contemporary visual arts. Projects may include exhibitions, catalogues, and other organizational activities directly related to these areas. The program also supports the creation of new work through regranting initiatives and artist-in-residence programs. The foundation values the contributions of all artists, reflecting the true diversity of the contemporary art field, and encourages proposals that highlight women, artists of color, and under-represented practitioners.

Scholarly research undertaken in the field of contemporary art is funded through Curatorial Research Fellowships. Curators at any stage of their careers are eligible to apply and must have the formal support of an insitution and its director. It is assumed that research will lead to a significant exhibition, though this is not a requirement. Generally these fellowships are for projects with long lead times and may involve significant travel. Grants to curators do not preclude separate proposals from sponsoring institutions in any given grant round.

Grants are also made to support efforts to strengthen areas that directly affect the context in which artists work. In 2006 the Foundation formally designated one of its grants The Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Award to recognize the work of organizations with a deep-seated commitment to preserving and defending the First Amendment rights of artists. Named in honor of the Foundation’s former Board Chair, the grant rewards outstanding advocacy, legal, and curatorial efforts on behalf of those whose rights to free expression have been challenged.

The foundation believes that freedom of expression is a core principle of an open and enlightened democracy. It welcomes proposals from artist-centered organizations that share this belief, reject bigotry of any sort, and promote inclusive dialogue regarding social, political, cultural, and economic issues affecting not only artists but all people.

About

Welcome to the Clif Family Foundation, an organization we started in 2006 to support grassroots groups led by people with vision and commitment. We believe that much of our nation's needed innovation will spring from grassroots organizations' daily efforts in local communities. The foundation has been proud to support hundreds of nonprofits that are working tirelessly to transform our food system, revitalize the environment, and enhance community health. Now that we’re grandparents, the urgency to build a healthy, just, and ecologically thriving world is even more personal. We look forward to expanding the reach and impact of the foundation in the years to come. This means working with nonprofits that prioritize people-centered solutions and address urgent gaps and historically underfunded priorities. We believe we can all do more good in the world. Together.

Strategic Priorities

• Regenerative and Organic Farming: Accelerate the adoption of regenerative farming practices, including organic, climate-resilient, equitable, and agroecological approaches.
• Food Production Workers’ Health and Safety: Amplify efforts to secure healthy, safe, just, and empowering working and living conditions for food production workers.
• Climate Justice: Expand community-centered solutions to climate change that build resilience and empower those who have been historically marginalized.
• Healthy Food Access: Advance food systems’ changes that make healthy and sustainably produced food accessible, affordable, and culturally appropriate.
• Inclusive Outdoor Access: Catalyze solutions that expand access to safe places to enable healthy physical activity and improve mental health.
• Indoors and Outdoors Safe from Pollution: Promote preventative health approaches by identifying and eliminating toxics from our air, water, soil, and human-made materials.

Open Call

These grants support general operating cost or specific projects and applicants must be registered as (or fiscally sponsored by) a 501(c)3 organization. The Foundation reviews applications twice a year; the deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Grant announcements occur approximately four months after the deadline. Typical grants range from $5,000 - $50,000 and last for one year.

The Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF), based at Borealis Philanthropy, supports the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and other politically-aligned organizations to better shape policy agendas for Black communities, create alternatives to institutions that have been harmful to Black people, and build local Black community power. The BLMF is a donor collaborative that provides a dedicated vehicle for funders to support the ecosystem of grassroots, Black-led power building organizations working towards community safety, justice and liberation. 

The Black-Led Movement Fund is rooted in a commitment to:

• Intersectional feminism and the leadership of Black queer and trans people, as well as women/femmes/girls;
• Funding organizations addressing the root causes of anti-Black racism, misogyny, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia;
• Being adaptive, flexible and responsive;
• Funding work that centers Black joy;
• Resourcing anchor organizations in interconnected movement ecosystems, and
• Solidarity, collaboration, and transparency.

The Black-led Movement Fund will provide $183,300 general operating support grants ($91,650 per year) over a two year period, 2025-2027, to U.S. based Black-led power building organizations that are in alignment with the grant eligibility criteria and funding priorities below.

Who We Are

The Food and Farm Communications Fund is a multi-funder collaborative and pooled grant program organized around a shared belief in the role of strategic communications and narrative to build power and embolden transformative change in our food and farm systems. We believe that working together, with the long view in mind, will help us to invest our time and resources strategically. We find strength in our networks, yet know we have much to learn. To that end, we maintain an open application process and take cues from those closest to the problems we seek to address.

Background

Food & Farm Communication Funds’ Wildseeds Grants program is our primary offering for non-profit, grassroots organizations.

Wildseeds, inspired by the wisdom of writer Octavia Butler, speaks to our community’s commitment to justice and systemic transformation while ensuring thriving communities. Wildseeds possess a resilience that enables them to resist, spread, and flourish, just like our movements. Through Wildseeds Grants, we resource movement organizers by investing in solutions that support the development of their ideas, amplification of their messages, and their long-term movement infrastructure.

The Wildseeds Grants program funds community organizations, strategists and media makers working to uplift frontline stories, build power, and embolden transformative food and farm systems change. We do this all in an effort to grow deeper roots with our grantee partners by making sure they have the infrastructure, communications skills, and strategic support they need to thrive now and forever.

Wildseeds Grants support strategic communications efforts including, but not limited to:

• Base building communications projects that increase connectivity and grow collective power
• Integrated communications planning
• Communications-based professional development for staff/ leadership/ members
• Implementing or upgrading communications tools
• Development of content or creative media initiatives including videos, zines, websites, etc.
• Sourcing short-term communications staffing support or outside consulting
• Narrative development, message framing, and integration
• Campaigns, events, or experiences that use communications to foster engagement around food and farm issues
• Language justice planning and implementationFFCF will prioritize projects that are grounded in:

Range and Term of Wildseeds Grants

Wildseeds Grants typically range from $20,000 to $50,000 over a one-year term. The Fund is able to make a very limited number of two-year commitments for projects requiring a longer timeframe of support. Two-year requests are capped at a total of $75,000 over two years. Grant amounts are contingent on demonstrated need, alignment with the Fund’s purpose and criteria, as well as the Fund’s giving capacity in any given year.

The William and Charlotte Parks Foundation for Animal Welfare

The Foundation was established to improve the status of animals worldwide through studies of the science and philosophy of animal welfare/rights and to reduce, through practical efforts and initiatives, the suffering and harm inflicted on animals by human beings.

The Grants Committee makes grants to both animal protection organizations and to individual scholars pursuing work consistent with the goals of the Trust founders.

Types of Grants

The Parks Foundation makes awards, usually not more than $10,000 per annum, to support projects, research, and other activities calculated to advance the welfare of animals.

The Parks Foundation currently ONLY considers applications for Project Grants

The application should describe the need for the project (e.g., how will the status of animals be improved), outline its basic protocols, and discuss its feasibility, the likely chance of its success, and the methods by which it will be evaluated. The applicant organization should provide a projected annual budget and time for completion, and list other entities that have been approached for financial support, and the stage these applications have reached. The qualifications of the project director should also be provided. Proposals will be judged by a number of criteria, including originality, potential impact on animal welfare, the number of animals affected, the project’s time frame, and feasibility, the track record of the applicant, the need for the program or data, the public accountability of the organization, and the likelihood of achieving other sources of funding.

Successful applications include:

• Evidence that the organization or applicant is making a concerted effort to assess the effectiveness of programs;
• Evidence that the organization has been striving in substantial ways to reduce animal pain, stress, and suffering, and to improve animal welfare.

In recent years successful applicants have received project grants to support:

• adoption programs;
• enrichment initiatives;
• animal rescue training;
• research and data websites;
• equipment purchase or small-scale repairs or renovations tied to specific program initiatives;
• canine behavior training;
• public awareness campaigns;
• humane education;
• campaign plans;
• law enforcement training;
• small-scale facility additions;
• cage purchases;
• conference and festivals;
• curriculum development;
• staff training and education;
• anti-cruelty hotlines;
• animal welfare certification initiatives;
• psychology and social psychology research concerning cruelty and kindness;
• habitat enhancement; and
• disaster response and recovery activities. 

Other areas of potential interest to the Parks Foundation grants committee including

• the development of alternatives in education;
• the development of best practices in companion animal care and services;
• application of the “Three R’s” approach (refinement, replacement, and reduction of animal use to reduce animal pain or suffering) in laboratory, agricultural, and other sectors;
• methods and strategies of population control;
• predator protection;
• the prevention of animal cruelty through social or other interventions;
• promoting knowledge and awareness of the science, philosophy, and ethics of animal welfare and animal rights;
• research and survey work concerning public attitudes and behaviors; and animal welfare publishing.

Who We Are

Mona Foundation is a non-profit organization that partners with grassroots initiatives around the world to educate children, empower women and girls, and enable them to transform their own communities.

Our goal is to alleviate global poverty and contribute to creating a just and prosperous world so that no child ever goes to bed hungry, is lost to preventable diseases, or is deprived of education for lack of resources. We believe that universal education, gender equality, and community building are the keys to achieving this goal.

Our Focus

All Mona Foundation activities focus on universal education, gender equality, and community transformation.

Universal Education

Learning is intrinsic to human reality and everyone deserves the opportunity to receive a quality education. Educated communities are healthier, more sustainable, and less vulnerable to economic volatility.

Gender Equality and Women and Girls’ Empowerment

Providing equal educational opportunities to girls and women yield a higher rate of return than any other investment that can be made in our communities. Equality not only guarantees basic rights, it is also vital to promoting the robust, shared growth needed to end extreme poverty. World Bank data demonstrates that gender equality and economic development are inextricably linked and increasing education specifically for girls and women has a direct effect on a nation’s economic development.v

There is also a multiplier effect to educating girls and women. More educated women tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labor market, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better health care and education to their children, all of which eventually improve the well- being of all individuals and lift households out of poverty. These benefits also transmit across generations, as well as to communities at large.

Community Building

All people have the right and the responsibility to lead their own lives and to contribute to the betterment of their own communities. The individuals most affected are the ones most ready to affect change.

Supporting communities in their own self-advocacy promotes empowerment, rather than dependency. Many students we support work with their communities to establish literacy programs, women health centers, parental trainings, cleanliness drives, tree plantations, and many other programs that stimulate harmony and community building in their communities.

Project Selection Criteria

The underlying basis for all the activities of the Mona Foundation is the belief that the key to poverty reduction and the development of human resources lies in universal education and gender equality.

We support grassroots initiatives around the world that educate all children, empower women and girls, train boys in lessons of equality, and emphasize service to the community. These educational programs address a significant deficit within a community (materially, or morally/spiritually) and focus on quality of teaching and learning, fine arts and character development to train capable, ethical, and altruistic leaders who contribute to the betterment of their families, communities, and ultimately their nation.

The role of Mona Foundation is to find and support educational programs that meet the following criteria:

• The program is founded and operated by residents.
• The program addresses a vital and significant deficit in the basic needs of children which prevent the full development of their capabilities as productive members of the society.
  • These needs must include education but may also include housing, food, and a nurturing environment in support of education.
• The program serves students of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity, religion, and economic status.
• The program has a focus on education of girls and women and teaches all students the lessons of equality, oneness and service.
• The program seeks to develop human resources for the community, and trains capable, ethical, and altruistic students who contribute to the betterment of their families, communities, and ultimately their nation.
• The program has a history of success, having been established and functioning at least for three years.
• The program enjoys the support of the local community
• The program administrators have shown a long-term commitment to the development of the program, including not only ongoing maintenance but also capital development and expansion.
• The program administrators have the capacity to effectively manage funds received from external agencies.
• The program administrators are active participants in developing and implementing plans, and require and enjoy the participation of the community members in the long-term self sustainability of their program.
• In cases where the program delivers needed services to the marginalized segment of the population where financial sustainability is not feasible, community members participate and support the program in variety of other ways as their capacity may allow.

To foster collaborative relationships with our partner organizations, we carry out site visits prior to adopting new programs either by members of our Board, or designated representatives of the Board.