Sociological Initiatives Foundation Grant

The Sociological Initiatives Foundation supports social change by linking research to social action. It funds research projects that investigate laws, policies, institutions, regulations, and normative practices that may limit equality in the U.S. It gives priority to projects that seek to address racism, xenophobia, classism, gender bias, exploitation, or the violation of human rights and freedoms. It also supports research that furthers language learning and behavior and its intersection with social and policy questions.

The Foundation supports research that focuses on improving services and systems and increasing positive social and physical conditions through:

• Policy development
• Placement and shaping of the policy agenda
• Policy adoption or implementation
• Policy blocking
• Increasing advocacy capacity and political influence
• Shaping public sentiment
• Addressing challenges related to language and literacy

Language issues include literacy, language loss and maintenance, language policy, language and national security, bilingualism, language and gender, language and law, language disabilities, language and health, language and education, different language cultures, and second language acquisition.

In the context of social and racial inequality dating back centuries, the Foundation supports projects that address institutional rather than individual or behavioral change. It seeks to fund research and initiatives that provide insight into sociological and linguistic issues that can help specific groups and or communities expand opportunities and challenge injustices.

Grant sizes normally range from $10,000 to $20,000. We look for projects that have an explicit research design and a concrete connection to public or community impact. It is not enough to just write a report or add a focus group to a social change project. The research should build an organization or constituency’s potential to expand public knowledge, impact policy, and create social change.

Current Thematic Focus: Violence and Society

 The Sociological Initiatives Foundation seeks to support community-based research in the Southern United States focused on the broad topic of violence and society. It invites requests to support research and advocacy efforts that move beyond the familiar conceptualizations of what violence is, how we experience it, how we talk about it, and how we advocate for freedom and safety.

Background

The Sociological Initiatives Foundation has supported a wide range of community-based research projects. Most of the activist-scholar projects have addressed structural race, class, and gender inequities. As the Foundation sharpened its emphasis on addressing systemic racism and racialized violence against Black people, however, it recognized a common but less-interrogated thread in many of the projects it has supported over the years. Many projects contend with the raw brutality of everyday violence in communities – a pressing reality that is often made invisible, individualized, or ignored as a form of structural oppression.

The scale and pervasiveness of this violence is staggering. With the rise of gun violence, gender-based violence, police-brutality, the carceral state, religious extremism, hate-crimes, and so on, there is an opportunity to develop more imaginative and innovative ways to understand these complex realities and create new spaces to investigate, theorize, and take action. More importantly, the various methodologies of community-based research present an opportunity to involve the people and communities most deeply affected by violence in shaping theory, narrative strategies, policies, and social movements.

What the Foundation looks for in a project:

The Foundation will continue to give priority to projects that link research with action and involve community members throughout.

It will invite proposals that communicate:

Insight. Challenges “common-sense” notions of activists, policymakers, and institutions.

Intersectionality. Addresses the multilevel and intersecting nature, and structural foundations of violence in our institutions – especially for racially marginalized women+ and girls+

A learning orientation. Builds critical literacies and new narratives/framing that illuminate the embeddedness of violence in legal, political, social, and cultural systems.

A civic agenda. Creates alternative public spheres for dialogue and deliberation about violence.

Urgency. Has a sense of urgency and express a readiness for strategic action; and addresses the lack of deep sociological engagement in questions of violence.

Some examples of desired applicants are:

• community-led academic partnerships
• advocacy or community groups that conduct research that can withstand challenge in academic and policy arenas
• academics allied with a constituency through their research

About the Foundation

A firm handshake, a clear steady gaze, a welcoming smile, a persuasive energy and a dynamic achiever… this was Frank Doyle. He attended Fordham and Rutgers Universities and he, along with his wife Gertrude R. Doyle combined education with a dedication to the belief that when opportunity knocks, it’s wise to open the door. From New Jersey to Nevada, Florida to California, Frank found challenges and embraced them with a zest and vigor that never said, “it can’t be done.” The seventh son of immigrant parents his was a life well lived. After the passing of Frank M. Doyle in 1996, Gertrude R. Doyle founded The Frank M. Doyle Foundation, Inc. Initially, the foundation provided scholarships to students in the Huntington Beach, California area. As described by Gertrude R. Doyle,

“The Frank M. Doyle Foundation offers your community a unique and unsurpassed opportunity. There is no minimum grade point average; there is no income cap. Age is not a factor. Both need based and merit scholarships are awarded. Our recipients attend trade schools, community colleges, state universities, the University of California system, the University of Nevada system, schools outside of California and Nevada, both public and private. They school to become beauticians and graphic artists as well as doctors and lawyers. The foundation’s focus is to enable students to pursue further education in order to encourage the endurance of a productive, prosperous, and resourceful community.”

Over the years, the foundation expanded the scholarship application pool to include students from Orange County, California Community Colleges, Washoe County, Nevada students, and certain vocational school students to its application pool. The foundation also branched out beyond the academic world and began providing grants to nonprofit organizations in an effort to fulfill Mr. and Mrs. Doyle’s dream of a better world for all. In late 2008, after the passing of Gertrude R. Doyle, the foundation adopted the name, The Frank M. and Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation, Inc., and in 2018 became “The Doyle Foundation, Inc.”

The Doyle Foundation, Inc. awards grants for the betterment of life.

NOTE: CASE will review up to the first 250 applications.

About the Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact

The Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact (F. M. Kirby Impact Prize) is an annual global prize of $100,000 USD in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of enterprises working to scale their impact on social or environmental problems around the world.

Background

The Institutional Challenge Grant supports university-based research institutes, schools, and centers in building sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.

The grant requires that research institutions shift their policies and practices to value collaborative research. Institutions will also need to build the capacity of researchers to produce relevant work and the capacity of agency and nonprofit partners to use research.

We welcome applications from partnerships in youth-serving areas such as education, justice, prevention of child abuse and neglect, foster care, mental health, immigration, and workforce development. We especially encourage proposals from teams with African American, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American members in leadership roles. The partnership leadership team includes the principal investigator from the research institution and the lead from the public agency or nonprofit organization.

Greater Toledo Community Foundation, is a public charitable organization created by citizens of our community to enrich the quality of life for individuals and families in our service area. The Foundation serves northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan with a particular emphasis on the greater Toledo area. The mission of The Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio is to live the Gospel in joyful servanthood among the people and as messengers of peace to commit themselves to works that reverence human dignity, embrace the poor and marginalized and respect the gift of all creation. Greater Toledo Community Foundation and the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation have partnered to support programming through the Sisters of St. Francis Foundation Donor Advised Fund (“Sisters of St. Francis Fund”).

Consistent with their mission statement, grants from the Sisters of St. Francis Fund support a variety of organizations and programs which are working in one or more of the following areas: (1) aiding in the fight against human trafficking and/or offering support to its victims; (2) offering support to immigrants and refugees; and (3) broadly advancing social justice and equal access to opportunity through other programs and strategies. 

• Human Trafficking – funding will be awarded to support survivor-informed activities including, but not limited to, comprehensive service delivery; economic opportunity and asset-building programs; physical and mental health supports; education initiatives and/or other kinds of anti-trafficking efforts that reach for systemic solutions and promote the respect and dignity of all. 
• Immigrants & Refugees – funding will be awarded in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, citizenship and naturalization efforts; economic opportunity and asset-building programs; physical and mental health supports; diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; civic participation activities; education and workforce development initiatives; workers’ rights and civil legal aid activities and/or other kinds of efforts that promote the well-being of immigrants and refugees. 
• Social Justice & Equal Opportunity – funding will be awarded in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, activities that promote equal access to housing, employment, education and health care; equitable and sustainable neighborhood development; civil and/or environmental justice work; and/or other approaches that promise to uplift the ability of marginalized or underserved communities to define their own futures and access opportunity. 

The Sisters of St. Francis Fund envisions communities in which all members have equal opportunity to thrive. Grants are provided primarily for programming but, in limited cases, may support general operations or capital projects. The Sisters of St. Francis Fund anticipates making multiple awards ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. Grants are typically awarded for a one-year project period. Funds are limited and will be awarded on a competitive basis.  

Funding Opportunity

Wallace is seeking expressions of interest from groups of organizations that are working together to promote youth development, are seeking financial support to strengthen their work and can help us determine new directions for our Learning and Enrichment programs.

We seek not individual organizations, but groups of organizations working together in formal or informal partnerships to support adolescent youth development. We could fund, for example, a partnership between a school district, the community’s office of health and human services and an out-of-school time intermediary to work with community partners to support unhoused adolescent youth’s physical, mental and educational needs. Each group of organizations selected will receive grants averaging $200,000 for a year of work, as well as access to other supports such as peer learning and technical assistance.

Wallace has three goals for this effort:

• To support innovative partnerships that serve youth and strengthen the communities in which they reside;
• To learn about those partnerships’ strengths, challenges, and opportunities for improvement; and
• To use what we learn during this period – which we are referring to as an exploratory phase – to inform the design of future Wallace initiatives.

What Participation Entails

This one-year, exploratory phase is intended to support and strengthen collaborative strategies communities are using to promote youth development, help Wallace learn more about those strategies and inform Wallace’s future efforts in the area. In particular, we are looking to fund projects over the course of one year that are an element of a broader strategy or effort that would play out over a longer period of time.

Participants will use Wallace support to implement or improve their work, reflect on their progress and identify the resources they need to meet their objectives. Independent researchers, youth development experts and Wallace staff will study the work to help us learn more about the kinds of partnerships that exist, the goals they hope to achieve, the strategies they employ to achieve them, the barriers they confront and the supports they need to make progress. Researchers will share their findings with Wallace and the partnerships selected to participate in the exploratory phase.

We intend to use lessons we learn from this exploratory phase to help design our next initiative in learning and enrichment, which will likely span five to seven years. That initiative will, we hope, produce further insights and evidence that could benefit the broader youth development sector.

We therefore ask grantees to commit to:

• One year of participation by a team that includes representatives from each of the organizations partnering to implement the funded strategy;
• Work with a research team that will study the work by convening focus groups, conducting interviews and/or administering surveys; and
• Host researchers, consultants and/or Wallace staffers for site visits.

If participants request them, we may also offer access to peer learning opportunities and consultants who can provide technical assistance. We expect to have a better sense of offerings and activities once we have selected grantees for the exploratory phase and learned more about their needs. ​

Projects

We anticipate that projects might include:

• Professional development to adults serving youth
• Human resources strategies to recruit, train, and retain high-quality instructors
• Comprehensive cross-sector planning that includes stakeholder engagement
• Mapping existing youth service offerings
• Engaging the broader community
• Giving young people a greater say in programming
• Managing finances and/or mapping of existing funding streams, and
• Planning for continuous improvement, through, for example, identification of required data sources, roll out of a data system, and staff training.

Demographic Information

Wallace is interested in exploring projects that serve adolescents who are facing systemic challenges or who are impacted by structural factors that make it difficult to thrive. For example, this may mean that a young person who is:

• Living in a high-poverty community
• Unhoused
• Systems-involved (e.g., juvenile justice or foster care)
• LBGTQ+
• An English-language learner
• A migrant or an immigrant
• Dealing with a learning difference or a physical, mental or behavioral disability
• And/or others, as identified by communities

NOTE: The Online Pre-Application Survey is the first required step in the SC Ministry Foundation responsive grant process. This is represented by the 'pre-proposal' deadline. 

About SC Ministry Foundation

The SC Ministry Foundation is a public grant-making organization that promotes the mission and ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.

Purpose

Since its formation in 1996, the Foundation has awarded grants to nonprofit organizations where Sisters are actively involved. In addition, the Foundation makes grants to other unrelated nonprofits working to address issues of concern to the Sisters of Charity.

Responsive Grants

Responsive grants are awarded for core programs, planning, pilot programs or program expansion with evidence-based strategies that lead to measurable outcomes. Initial funding requests generally accepted in January, with funds awarded approximately six months later.

The Foundation considers grant requests from organizations demonstrating good stewardship, measurable outcomes and impact in areas of particular concern including education, healthcare, social services and empowerment of women in today’s world. Examples of issues recently supported by grants include:

• Revitalization of Price Hill, Cincinnati
• Care for Creation
• Immigration Reform
• Abolishment of the Death Penalty
• Abolishment of Human Trafficking.