Search Through Grants for International Development in Africa in the U.S.

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.

Global Impact Cash Grants

Identifying and incubating innovative early-stage solutions. We identify, incubate, and develop innovative early-stage solutions with the highest potential for impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We're looking for programs that fit within our investment sectors, focus on the underserved, and use technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services.

We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. A brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application. Please expand and carefully review each of the three sections below to learn more

Our priority social impact sectors

We focus on investing in innovative, tech-enabled solutions to the challenges and opportunities that matter most to communities in need, prioritizing four social impact sectors:

Cisco Crisis Response

Mobilizing to provide essentials to communities in need and those in crisis, including food, housing, secure connectivity, and disaster relief

By leveraging Cisco’s people, technology, financial resources, and strategic partnerships, we help strengthen community resilience and drive long-term recovery from crises.

Education

Supporting students, teachers, and schools by increasing engagement, building skills, promoting subject mastery, and expanding their capacity to thrive

Cisco is committed to inclusive access to digital skills training and supporting those who use technology to educate. Through programs like Cisco Networking Academy and social investments in education, we create new opportunities for individuals to thrive.

Economic Empowerment

Transforming communities through skill development, long-term career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and access to financial products and services

Strategic grants that unlock economic prosperity and growth for individuals and communities.

Climate Regeneration

Building an inclusive, regenerative, and resilient climate future through education, regenerative agriculture, conservation, protection, and clean energy solutions

Our efforts began in 2021, when the Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years to fund nonprofit grants and impact investing in climate solutions. 

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Grants

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation only accepts unsolicited proposals for specific areas within the education, family economic stability and childhood health sectors in select countries where we work, namely the United States, India and South Africa.

As a guideline, the foundation does not fund more than 25% of a project’s budget or more than 10% of an organization’s total annual operating expenses.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has always recognized the power of providing grants to partner organizations that we knew were already working hard to improve the lives of urban children living in poverty. By aligning with organizations that are already making a difference, we continue to make an immediate impact on the lives of thousands of children.

Foundation priorities:

We fund social enterprises that directly serve or impact children or youth from urban low-income communities in the areas of education, health, and family economic stability (including livelihoods and financial inclusion). These social enterprises may be structured as for-profit or nonprofit entities.

Partnerships

We collaborate with a range of organizations focused on creating opportunities for children and families living in urban poverty, with a deep emphasis on measuring impact. Our funding advances projects already making an impact in education, health, and family economic stability. Through these enduring and long-standing partnerships, we create lasting change together.

Save the Rhino International focuses on Key 1 and Key 2 populations of Critically Endangered rhinos (currently black, Sumatran and Javan), with the long-term aim of the species being down-listed to a lower category of threat in the IUCN Red List. Save the Rhino maintains close relations with its field partners to maximise its technical knowledge and ability to ensure that resources are delivered to the points of greatest need; actively raises funds to disburse to field programmes; facilitates international collaboration and the dissemination of best practice; and actively communicates with key audiences to promote understanding of and support for rhino conservation.

Strategic Priorities

We provide grants according to our seven strategic priorities. Below sets out in detail what these mean for eligibility criteria for future grantees.

Strategy 1: Protection, law enforcement, investigations and intelligence

Objective: To protect rhinos through law-enforcement activities at site level, and support intelligence gathering and analysis to pre-empt and prosecute poaching and trafficking of rhino products

 Activities: Anti-poaching operations; Intelligence and investigations (in range states); Rhino operations (e.g. de-horning); and Translocations (to reduce poaching threats).

Priority programmes and partners:

• Kenya: The APLRS (51 Degrees Ltd); Borana Conservancy; Lewa Wildlife Conservancy; Ol Jogi Conservancy
• Zambia: North Luangwa Conservation Programme; Nsumbu-Tanganyika Conservation Project
• Namibia: the Ministry of Environment and Tourism
• South Africa: Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park; uMkhuze Game Reserve
• Indonesia: Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area; Rhino Protection Unit programme

Ineligible:

• NB: Save the Rhino is not looking to expand the range of field programmes supported
• Field programmes involving privately owned rhinos
• Research and development costs for new technology (hard- or software) to protect rhino populations unless the request comes from and is prioritised by one of the field programmes already supported

Strategy 2: Biological management 

Objective: To implement effective biological and ecological management and monitoring of rhino populations and their habitats to achieve optimum population growth rates

Activities: Conservation breeding (Sumatran rhino only); Habitat management; Range expansion; Rhino monitoring; Rhino operations (e.g. ear-notching, collaring); Rhino-sighting data management; Translocations (for genetic management); and Veterinary interventions

Priority programmes and partners:

• Kenya: The APLRS (Emergency Fund for black rhinos, the Laikipia rhino range expansion project); Borana Conservancy; Lewa Wildlife Conservancy; Ol Jogi Conservancy
• Zambia: North Luangwa Conservation Programme
• Zimbabwe: Lowveld Rhino Trust
• Namibia: the Ministry of Environment and Tourism; Save the Rhino Trust
• South Africa: Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park; uMkhuze Game Reserve
• Indonesia: Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area; the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary

Ineligible:

• NB: Save the Rhino is not looking to expand the range of field programmes supported
• Rhino programmes that have non-viable populations, i.e. fewer than 20 unrelated founders, except for the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, which is an essential part of the Conservation strategy for the recovery of the Sumatran rhinoceros in Indonesia 2015-2020
• Intensively-managed or captive rhino populations, except for the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary
• The hand-rearing of rhino calves, except for those injured, wounded or orphaned at field programmes already supported, and which are to be released back into the wild when weaned
• Ex situ rhino conservation efforts, including extra-limital populations (i.e. managed as an exotic species)

Strategy 3: Stopping illegal markets

Strategy 4: Capacity building

Strategy 5: Coordination

Strategy 6: Societal relevance

Strategy 7: Sustainable, adequate financing

The Charity Commission for England and Wales’ Statement of Recommended Practice requires that any expenditure on Save the Rhino’s communications be shown as a fundraising cost, rather than a grant.

Mission

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

History

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

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

Where We Work

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

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

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

About Us

The Skees Family Foundation, a 501(c)3 private charitable foundation, works with nonprofits (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) serving families in need around the world.

The Skees Family Foundation — family helping families — extends self-help to youth and families to end poverty worldwide. We support organizations in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Central and South America, India, and the Pacific to promote job creation and economic development. We value love in action to create equal opportunity for all. And as a diverse multigenerational group with limited time and funds, we believe that we — and you — can change the world for good.

Mission

Skees Family Foundation works to end global poverty by partnering with community-based organizations to create fulfilling jobs and build job readiness through vocational or entrepreneurial training.

Vision

Skees Family Foundation envisions a world in which every person has the opportunity to lead a self-determined, prosperous life.

Values

Equality. Respect. Trust. Solidarity. Boldness. Innovation. Hope.

Motivation

We wish to reach out in love and respect, to share our time and resources and to learn from other families’ resilience in the face of poverty and adversity. We hope, in whatever small and large ways we can, to advance the freedom, safety, health, and happiness of other families.

Goal

Opportunity for all.

Mission-Aligned Grantmaking

Our mission-aligned grants are focused on organizations whose primary work is outside of the United States. We do this for two reasons:

• Given our relatively small grantmaking budget, funding international programs allows each dollar to go further than it would in the U.S, enabling our foundation to have greater impact with our limited resources.
• We support organizations without geographic limitations through our discretionary board and family grants, both in the U.S. and abroad, that our family members are connected to and passionate about.

These grants are typically distributed every three years, and go out at the start of the new year.

Seed Grants

Seed Grants are two- to three-year grants with increasing amounts each year: $2,500 year one, $5,000 year two, and $7,500 year three, if the organization’s self-determined benchmarks are met after year one and year two. These partners are in their “start-up” phase. Eligibility for this seed funding is generally available only to organizations with an annual budget of $250,000 or less, in order to ensure that the funds have a significant effect on the budgets of selected organizations.

We encourage our Seed Grantees to use these grants for internal capacity building, but we do not place formal restrictions on the funding. By fostering the growth of small organizations that align with our mission, Seed Grants enable our foundation to support and work with social entrepreneurs building early-stage ventures.

About

The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative catalyzing social impact on a grand scale. Every year we select and nurture a group of big, bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges, and with the support of an inspiring group of donors and supporters, come together to get them launched.

Housed at TED, the nonprofit with a long track record of surfacing ideas worth spreading, and with support from leading social impact advisor The Bridgespan Group, the funding collective is comprised of several respected organizations and individuals in philanthropy.

Our goal is to match bold ideas with catalytic resources.

• We encourage the world’s inspirational changemakers to dream bigger than ever before.
• Help shape their best ideas into viable multi-year plans.
• Present those solutions in a compelling way to potential supporters.

The Process

Every year, The Audacious Project works with proven change-makers to surface their best, boldest ideas for tackling global problems.

Sourcing & review

Projects are sourced from public applications and a global network of partners and donors. They are narrowed down to a group of finalists whose ideas are representative of a broad range of geographies and issue areas while elevating leaders with proximity to the communities they serve.

Idea shaping & investment support

Each finalist project goes through a rigorous ideation, due diligence, and investment support process, to ensure their proposal is achievable and compelling.

Funding & launch

Finalist projects are presented privately to groups of donors and are then publicly unveiled at TED. Funded projects then pursue their plans and share regular updates on key milestones reached with donors and the public.

Is Your Idea Audacious?

• Are you a changemaker with a bold vision?
• Are you a non-profit with an experienced team equipped to receive large scale philanthropic support?
• Is your idea a proven concept that aspires to create a better world?
• We look for ideas that cover a wide range of issues, from global health and climate change, to social justice and education.

What Makes An Idea Audacious?

Inspire

• Transformative vision
  • Your idea should capture a bold vision for tackling one of the world's most urgent topics.
• Creating a better world
  • It is your opportunity to take a giant leap forward; you may be tempted to think incrementally, but remember for it to be bold, your idea should offer significant, enduring impact.
  • This vision should bring us much closer to your version of an ideal world in a matter of years rather than generations.
• Innovative and original
  • There should be a unique aspect or creative element to your approach that challenges convention or status quo or changes the narrative for the greater good.

Convince

• Proven concept
  • There should be evidence that the idea will have impact based on a track record of past success, a demand from those that would be affected, and justified confidence that results can be sustained in the future.
• A bold vision that has clear outcomes
  • There should be a sense of where you will be at the end of a multi-year funding term and the strategy, resources and timeline required to achieve it. We want to hear about the changes that would take place because of your idea, not just the components that go into implementing it.

• Established support
  • You and your capable and confident team have the backing of a nonprofit, NGO, or institution (or is part of a collaboration between multiple such entities). This organization should be able to receive philanthropic funds and have the core infrastructure necessary to support the work. (Note: Past projects have had an annual operating budget of $1 million or more.)

Please refer to FAQ for additional guidelines.

Looking for a GRANT?

Are you a Passionate Impact Pioneer, a Risk-Taking Impact Entrepreneur Rebel, or an Early Impact Innovator? Tingari-Silverton Foundation only invests in revolutionary, systems-changing initiatives that amplify positive impacts. We are especially focused on programs that contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

If your initiative/organization is revolutionary, systems-changing with demonstrable amplified positive impacts please answer our Grants “Fit” questions. This is the first critical step to determine if you are a fit for our grant process.

Welcome

The Violet Jabara Charitable Trust was founded in May, 2007, to continue the philanthropic work of its founder Dr. Linda K. Jacobs, and it is named after her mother, Violet Jabara Jacobs. The mission of the Trust is two-fold: to help improve the lives of the people in developing countries of the Middle East and to foster greater understanding of Middle Eastern culture in the United States.

Areas of Interest

The Trust makes grants to organizations which work in developing countries in the Middle East (see below.) Within this geographic focus, the Trust welcomes innovative ideas in the fields of

• International Economic Development, including, but not limited to
• Health
• Environmental Issues
• Peace Initiatives
• Microfinance
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Education
• Reproductive Health
• Women’s Welfare and Livelihoods
• Arts and Culture

The Trust also makes grants to American organizations which promote deeper understanding of Middle East issues and culture (particularly related to those countries listed above) in the United States. Organizations which promote or produce, for example, films, film series, art exhibitions, blogs or popular books are encouraged to apply. Academic research may also be funded. Applicants must present a strong case that their projects will have a broad, positive and lasting impact on American attitudes towards the people or culture of the Middle East.

The Trust looks for non-traditional approaches to the challenge of sustainable development on the one hand, and cultural education on the other, but it leaves it to the grant-seeker to come up with and present those approaches. New and emerging methodologies that can use modest amounts of funding to jump start larger efforts will be given priority. The Trust will not be risk-averse in its approach.

To advance its mission, the Trust makes grants and/or Mission Related Investments that are aligned with funding and programmatic priorities. As such, the Trust gives donations to non-profit groups, both in the US and abroad. Preference will be given to smaller, local organizations over large, global ones. Donations can be made for general operating purposes as well as for specific projects (i.e., both unrestricted and restricted donations) depending on the nature of the request and the capacity of the organization.

Who We Are

World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats.

Working through a network of partner organisations around the world, WLT funds the creation of reserves and provides permanent protection for habitats and wildlife. Partnerships are developed with established and highly respected local organisations who engage support and commitment among the local community.

Mission

Helping people across the world protect and restore their land to safeguard biodiversity and the climate.

The Type of Projects Supported By WLT

WLT funding aims to create long-term and sustainable support for on-the-ground conservation activities, including land acquisition, protected area creation, reserve protection and ecosystem restoration. WLT prioritises supporting projects in countries with high levels of biodiversity and which have the fewest resources available for biodiversity protection – consequently we mainly support organisations based in the Global South.

The main project activities supported by WLT are the creation of protected areas and the protection and restoration of threatened habitats. Project activities may include land acquisition through a range of mechanisms including land purchases, leases, conservation easements, community reserves the legal declaration of protected areas (gazetting).

WLT’s core focus is on bringing new areas of land into conservation protection, but we also support activities that support this core objective including habitat protection (e.g. rangers and patrols), habitat restoration, community activities that are essential for the success of new areas, research and monitoring, and income generation activities that support the financial sustainability of newly created areas or organisations. These latter activities are unlikely to be funded on their own and would only be considered if they are part of a wider conservation project with the creation or expansion of reserves as the main objective.

All WLT funded projects need to have clear benefits, and no net negative impact to biodiversity, communities and the climate.

Clinical Cancer Research

Our ambition is to establish a new norm in clinical cancer research, where patients are treated as partners, from the creation of research questions to the dissemination of results.

Patient Involvement

The importance and merit of patient involvement in research are widely acknowledged. When patients are involved, everyone benefits, because it ensures clinical and medical research work is performed more effectively and advances the delivery of what patients really need. This can only be achieved based on the collaborative identification and understanding of patients’ unmet needs. Receiving patient input throughout the design, implementation, and evaluation of clinical trials helps improve the discovery, development, and evaluation of new treatments.

Funding Approach

Our funding approach is based on the following main principles :

Patient Centricity: We only support research designed according to our principles of patient involvement and bringing new ways to improve patients’ quality of life during their cancer treatment journey.

Short time frames, maximum impact: We fund interventional clinical trials that would not be funded by commercial organizations (Pharma/Biotech/Start up). Research projects should demonstrate patient impact within 3 to 5 years and start within 6 months upon official award notification.

Strategic Focus Areas: Designed together with an international expert group, our strategic focus areas form the core of our philanthropic funding approach.

Partnerships to maximize reach: We partner with other funding organizations to leverage resources and accelerate the improvement of patient treatment options and quality of life everywhere. We expect applicants to submit a co-funding plan describing their proportion secured support or a strong fundraising plan.

Focus Areas

Improved Patient Outcomes

This overarching Focus Area supports research advancing therapeutic approaches that produce the best possible outcome with the least toxicity possible. The focus area also includes effective interventions that support symptom management during and after treatment.

Science of Early Detection and Intervention

This Focus Area supports novel strategies for high impact clinical research in prevention, early detection, and interception of precursors or early cancer.

Advancing Cancer Research in Underserved Areas

There is a global need for quality research in underserved areas. RTFCCR is piloting a patient-centered clinical cancer research grant-making program.

• Therapy Optimization
• Disease and Treatment Burden
• Implementation Research
• Science of Early Detection
• Science of Early Intervention
• Advancing Cancer Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

About Pure Ocean

Pure Ocean is an international endowment fund based in Marseille and Lorient. Its main mission is to mobilize civil society in order to support ambitious and innovative scientific projects for the protection of biodiversity and fragile marine ecosystems.

Through an international call for projects, then an analysis carried out by the five eminent researchers who make up the scientific committee, Pure Ocean selects projects with a strong innovative dimension, whether technological, ecological or social.

Pure Ocean also raises public awareness of the situation of endangered ecosystems by highlighting solutions to protect them through conferences, the promotion of races and sporting challenges or the provision of “La Goutte Bleue” waste collection kits

4 Major Themes : The Pure Ocean Challenges (Based On The The United Nations 10 Ocean Decade Challenges)

• Understanding marine pollution and combating its origins
• Protecting biodiversity and restoring degraded marine ecosystems
• Strengthening the resilience of marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them in the face of climate change
• Improving our knowledge of the ocean-system

Special Features of the 2025 Call for Projects

This year, special attention will be given to :

• Developing marine conservation initiatives managed by local communities and indigenous peoples
• Exploring nature-based solutions for the preservation of blue carbon ecosystems
• Operating in key oceanic areas
  • the French littoral, Middle East/Asia and Africa coasts

Our Mission

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

The Founder

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

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

Our Mission

The mission of the Tomberg Family Philanthropies is to support well run and effective programs that make a difference in the areas of poverty alleviation, the environment, health and education. Our focus is on supporting projects that help their recipients build capabilities themselves that will last far beyond the end of the specific project.  

We agree with the Nobel Committee that “every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life.”

Funding Areas

This funding cycle we will again be accepting applications in all four of our funding areas, which are:

• Education
• Environment
• Health
• Poverty Alleviation

Conservation, Food & Health Foundation Grant Program

The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation seeks to protect the environment, improve food production, and promote public health in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Types of Support

The Foundation supports projects and applied research that:

• Generate local or regional solutions to problems affecting the quality of the environment and human life;
• Advance local leadership and promote professional development in the conservation, agricultural, and health sciences;
• Develop the capacity of local organizations and coalitions; and
• Address challenges in the field. 

The Foundation funds applied research, pilot projects, new initiatives, training, and technical assistance, rather than ongoing support for programs that are already well underway. An important goal for the Foundation is to provide seed money to help promising projects, organizations, and individuals develop the track record they need to attract major foundation funding in the future.  

Fields of InterestThe following are examples of the Foundation’s areas of interest within the fields of conservation, food, and health, and are not meant to be exclusive.

• Conservation: Conservation grants promote environmental conservation through field research, projects, and advocacy that:
  • Protect biodiversity and preserve natural resources.
  • Help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
  • Build the scientific and technical capacity of local conservation organizations and promote local, regional, and international partnerships.
  • Increase engagement between scientists, local communities and organizations, and decision-makers.
  • Partner with indigenous communities and local people.

• Food: Grants in the food and agriculture program area focus on research-based projects that build capacity for self-sufficiency and resilience to climate change, strengthen local food systems, and support healthy nutrition through projects that: 
  • Enhance food security.
  • Develop and promote sustainable agricultural practices
  • Build the capacity of small-scale farmers.
  • Advance farmer research and research partnerships.
  • Develop environmentally sound and affordable approaches to control pests and diseases affecting important local food crops.
  • Promote indigenous food sovereignty and knowledge systems.
  • Address challenges of uptake and scalability through new methods of extension, education, and technology transfer.

• Health: The Foundation supports efforts that test new ideas and approaches that promote public health, with a special emphasis on reproductive health and family planning and their integration with other health promotion activities. It favors community-level disease prevention and health promotion projects and efforts that help strengthen regional and country public health systems over disease diagnosis, treatment, and care provided by clinics, hospitals, and humanitarian aid programs.
  • Activities that help increase capacity include applied research, program development, technical assistance, and training projects that:
    • Promote reproductive health and family planning.
    • Address issues related to mental and behavioral health.
    • Address issues relating to pollution and environmental health.
    • Increase the understanding of zoonotic and neglected tropical diseases.
    • Address issues relating to nutrition and health.

Key Priorities

In all of its areas of interest, the Foundation gives priority to projects that have the potential to advance the field, build local capacity, promote replication, influence public opinion and policy, affect systems change, and benefit people beyond the immediate project and its local context.

Funding

There is no minimum or maximum grant size. It is anticipated that most grants will fall in the $25,000-$50,000 per year range.

Grants are made for a one- or two-year period. Second-year funding is conditional on the provision of a satisfactory progress report, interim financial report, and work plan. Renewal requests for projects that were not originally approved as a multi-year project may be considered, but require a new application.

Grant awards are made twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, with applications due several months prior.  The Foundation will consider only one proposal from an organization in any calendar year.

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.

Overview and Objectives

The Global Forest Watch Small Grants Fund (SGF) seeks to build the capacity of civil society organizations to effectively use GFW tools and data to reduce illegal or unplanned deforestation. Successful projects translate data into action, applying GFW to overcome challenges in protecting the world’s forests.

Project scope should fall into one or more of the following approaches:

• Advocacy
  • Examples include:
    • Using data and imagery found on GFW alongside community territorial maps to advocate for land titles and other strengthened land rights.
    • Create an open data platform with MapBuilder by crowdsourcing, compiling and publishing data on concessions that overlap with ancestral community lands, and support communities in applying public pressure to get these concessions revoked
• Forest Monitoring and Enforcement
  • Examples include:
    • Develop the capacity of forest monitoring brigades to conduct field verifications of near-real time alerts with the Forest Watcher mobile application and other technologies, and work with enforcement officials to stop unplanned or illegal deforestation.
    • Support Indigenous communities in developing response protocols, formulating legal strategies and compiling evidence of illegal deforestation including satellite imagery, data and analyses, and submitting it to law enforcement through formal complaints or other legal processes.
    • Train police, prosecutors and/or judges to raise awareness as to how satellite imagery and data can be used to provide accurate, timely and cost-effective evidence of deforestation.
• Journalism and Storytelling
  • Examples include:
    • Publish stories, data visualizations, and/or videos highlighting where illegal deforestation is occurring and how it impacts local livelihoods or ecosystems to raise public awareness and put pressure on authorities to respond.
    • Use data found on Global Forest Watch to analyze the direct and indirect impacts of proposed development projects on local livelihoods and forest biodiversity and share these through traditional media outlets and social media channels.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building
  • Examples include:
    • Build the capacity of Indigenous or local communities and/or law enforcement agencies to utilize alert systems accessed through GFW tools to monitor, verify, and respond to forest threats within community lands or protected areas.
    • Work with forest fringing communities to understand their needs for protecting their forest and co-design land defense strategies using GFW and other technologies to protect their forest landscapes.
    • Create an online course that specifically addresses issues of deforestation in your community and teaches non-experts how to use GFW tools to investigate and report on deforestation in their area.
• Informing Land Use Management and/or Policy
  • Examples include:
    • Train a collective of smallholder farmers to monitor and manage their areas using forest, land use and carbon data.
    • Use data and insights found on GFW to conduct high quality research and put together policy briefs to influence land use policy for more sustainable land management and long-term land use planning.
    • Use GFW to identify and establish areas or jurisdictions as nature based solutions, REDD+ or other payment for ecosystem services projects, and monitor compliance.

Award Information

Small Grants Fund at a glance:

• The Small Grants Fund awards organizations between $10,000 and $40,000 USD
• The number of projects selected can range from 8-15, with 12 being the average
• Projects for next year's grant cycle will run from June 1 – May 31.
• Each grantee will be assigned a WRI staff member as an advisor, who will provide virtual technical support and other assistance.

In addition to the financial support and technical assistance, SGF recipients become part of a network of organizations and receive benefits that extend beyond the lifetime of their grant. These include opportunities to connect with others in the GFW network, invitations to GFW events, opportunities to test and provide feedback on new GFW features, and the potential to be featured in blogs, social media, or other WRI communications materials.

Our Mission

Our mission is to champion the power of stories to make complex issues relevant and inspire action.

Background

Climate and environmental issues have been at the core of the Pulitzer Center’s work since its founding in 2006. The Center has supported breakthrough journalism that led to real-world impact: engaging and mobilizing communities, prompting demands for change, influencing decisions to halt environmentally destructive practices, and many more.

Since 2022, the Pulitzer Center has actively participated in the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) to join the climate community in addressing the socio-environmental challenges and opportunities of the present. As an important stage for climate and governance conversations that are at the heart of our work, COP is a key place to address relevant issues brought to life in our programs and stimulate collaboration. For this reason, we are launching an initiative aimed at supporting civil society projects that can feed into the conversations we hope to have at COP.

As Pulitzer Center bridges the gap between information and action, this microgrant aims to support civil society organizations and groups to utilize Pulitzer Center reporting to contribute to a more informed and empowered community, inspiring action on climate change, rainforests, ocean, transparency and governance.

The objective is to have Pulitzer Center-supported journalism as the inspiration for the projects supported by this civil society microgrant. By leveraging this reporting, we expect to build projects that amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement that will lead to impactful conversations at COP.

Topics that will be supported

The civil society organization microgrant builds on the Pulitzer Center’s impactful journalism projects, which focus on the following:  

• Climate and Labor:
  • Exploring the intersection of climate change and labor, including the challenges faced by vulnerable communities and the business sector's response to navigating climate-related impacts on workers’ rights.
• Rainforest:
  • Highlighting critical issues and solutions in tropical forests, such as deforestation, biodiversity loss, the rainforest, and energy transition nexus, and the effects on Indigenous and local communities.
• Ocean:
  • Addressing pressing topics like overfishing, marine pollution, climate change impacts on ocean ecosystems, and the livelihoods of coastal communities.
• Transparency and Governance: 
  • Uncovering governance challenges, good practices in natural resource management, and the ecological and societal impacts of policy decisions.

Type of activities we support

Examples of activities may include, but are not limited to: 

• Multi stakeholder dialogue:
  • Facilitating transparent and meaningful dialogues that bring together affected communities, journalists, decision-makers, and academia to advance climate and environmental action.
• Public forum:
  • Organizing a national forum to foster public debate on key environmental issues, with Pulitzer Center-supported reporting as one of the knowledge or data sources to provoke discussions and inspire solutions.
• Community engagement:
  • Knowledge-sharing activities between journalists and communities to amplify underreported issues and underrepresented voices. 
• Creative campaign:
  • Supporting creative campaigns to raise awareness on climate and environmental issues by amplifying journalism reporting and the diverse voice of affected communities;
• Other innovative projects: 
  • Creative ideas such as art exhibitions or other innovative mediums and platforms are also accepted.

Selection Criteria

• Journalism-inspired: 
  • All projects must utilize at least one reporting and involve one journalist supported by the Pulitzer Center as a central part of the project. 
  • The journalists can be involved at various levels, for project development and consultation, for example, and their participation will need to be confirmed once the project has been selected. 
• Audience-centric:
  • Describe the project's target audience and why this project is important for them.
• Impact-focused: 
  • Designed to achieve short-term outcomes that align with:
    • Improving the awareness and critical thinking of communities on critical climate, environment, and its intersectional issues
    • Contributing to more informed and transparent dialogues and decisions, practices, and policies related to climate, environment, and its intersectional issues
    • Equipping communities with information to take action at the local or global level.

Funding

Grants range from US$2,000 to US$4,000. We expect projects to be implemented and concluded within nine months of approval.

Mission Statement

The Zimmer Family Foundation is a small foundation located in Sarasota, Florida for the purpose of supporting religious, educational and social programs…locally, nationally and internationally…that bring help and hope to the less fortunate, primarily by seeding short-term pilot projects that have the potential of self-support.

Background

The Citi Foundation’s Global Innovation Challenge is an open call for applications or request for proposals (RFP) designed to provide catalytic grant funding to community organizations across the world. This year, the Foundation invites proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24.

Funding Overview

Despite recent progress, young people globally continue to experience challenges in their pursuit of employment, including skills mismatch and gaining access to quality jobs. According to the International Labour Organization, 65 million young people globally are unemployed. Since the Citi Foundation’s inception, advancing youth employability has been integral to our mission of supporting low-income communities globally. The Citi Foundation invested more than $300 million over the last decade alone in programs that supported over one million young people in expanding their skills, experience and networks through its Pathways to Progress initiative. Building on our funding journey, this year’s Global Innovation Challenge is focused on youth employability, and we invite proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24

These innovative solutions could include, but are not limited to:

• Technical and vocational training programs that upskill or reskill low-income youth and move them into employment, which could include paid internships, apprenticeships or formal employment.
• Entrepreneurship programming that specifically focuses on the incubation or scaling of youth-led enterprises to increase job creation and access to selfgenerated income.
• Efforts to embed financial education programming into workforce development initiatives equipping low-income youth with financial skills and access to safe and affordable financials tools. 

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

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

Grant Amount and Types

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

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

Please check back later for information on future funding opportunities. The International Foundation fund US-based non-profit organizations who partner with poor communities in the developing world to improve their health, education and incomes, while strengthening local capacity to sustain their benefits. Our strategy seeks change in the intermediate area between individuals and national organizations, where community members work together toward a shared vision. 

The International Foundation funds grants in three key areas—health, education and incomes. However, each of these areas represents a range of investment opportunities that, if integrated with other program areas, can lead to broader, more balanced and more sustainable results.

The focus of our grant-making combines criteria on the nature of the program, the geographic location, and the level of poverty.

Quantifiable Impact Focus

Our grants support the specific types of programs, in specific geographic regions, that we believe address the most pressing needs in the world today.

Program Focus

We believe each of our priority program categories are linked by our overall goal to benefit an entire region. While grants are awarded to some organizations focused on one category, we look for partners who take a more holistic, community-based approach and are committed to delivering positive and sustained results.

• Agriculture: We support projects working toward agricultural sustainability in developing countries that suffer from the impact of population growth and environmental shifts, poor technology, and policy and management issues. These projects help smallholder farmers with crop management, storage, timely market information, mobile phone-based training services, savings and loan programs, and resource acquisition.
• Education: We support programs that extend the reach of national education systems to remote and undeserved areas. This includes remedial education, access to technology resources, teacher training, and extracurricular projects. We also support formal and informal education programs in information technology and vocational skills in both rural and city communities that prioritize women and girls.
• Environment: We support projects designed to address air and water pollution, environmental shifts, soil degradation, exploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss, deforestation, desertification, and ocean acidification. Our grants focus on projects that ensure water quality and access, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), and eliminating vector-borne diseases and exposure to toxic chemicals.
• Health: We support community primary health programs as well as maternal and child health care. We also support programs that provided general health education including hygiene, family planning, and birth control. Finally, we support programs that extend the reach of healthcare to remote regions and sectors of countries while also working to extend the reach of national health systems.

Geographic Focus

We support US-based organizations serving vulnerable populations and communities in many parts of the developing world. We prioritize countries in which the need is great and the environment allows for successful outcomes.

Latin America & The Caribbean or Africa or South & Southeast Asia

Background

The annual Al-Sumait Prize honors individuals or institutions who have, through their work or research, made significant advances in the fields of food security, health, and education in Africa. An initiative of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the late Amir of the State of Kuwait, it’s goal to shine a light on those making a positive difference to sustainable development in Africa.

Administered by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and a Board of Trustees, the awards celebrate the work and accomplishments of Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sumait, a Kuwaiti physician who spent his lifetime helping the poor in Africa in the field of health and education.

The objective of the prizes is to recognize best studies, scientific projects, applied research, and innovative initiatives that have a significant impact and lasting influence on advancing progress to economic and social development in Africa.

Call for nominations for the 2025 prize in Health are Open

The Prize is to be awarded to individuals or institutions who through their research projects or initiatives have made significant advancement within one or more of the following areas (or other related fields):

• Developing new seed, crop, or livestock varieties to enhance food security and nutrition in Africa.
• Increasing the shelf life, caloric, and nutritional value of locally produced and consumed food.
• Improving smallholder farmers’ access to agricultural inputs, techniques, technologies, and markets to ensure the availability of nutritious food for vulnerable communities.
• Enhancing farmers’ resilience to climate change and extreme weather variability to secure sustainable food production and nutrition.
• Reducing food waste and food loss across Africa’s agrifood systems.
• Advancing alternative agrifood systems to increase productivity while reducing water footprints, especially in marginal environments.
• Promoting the adoption of modern business strategies, digitalization, and marketing in the field of food security and nutrition.
• Implementing innovative and sustainable solutions to combat food insecurity and malnutrition.
• Addressing gender equality and women’s empowerment in achieving food security.
• Developing strategies to improve agricultural livelihoods, food security, and nutrition during pandemics.

Conditions and requirements:

• The nominated candidates’ research and development work or projects and initiatives must be innovative and have achieved high-impact in the African continent.
• The submitted work must be of paramount importance in promoting significant economic, social, human resources and infrastructure development within the announced field of the prize, education.
• The submitted research work of a nominated candidate should be composed of studies and applied research, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and recognized at a global level within the announced field. The research outcomes need to have been applied after publication in African countries within the past ten years. Adequate supporting evidence needs to be provided.
• Nominations are accepted from competent regional and international institutions and scientific centers (universities, institutes and centers of scientific research) as well as from UN organizations, former winners in the field of the prize, or former evaluation members.
• All submissions must be submitted in English. If the work is carried out is in another languages, a comprehensive summary of the nominated work in English must be submitted.

Our Philosophy

The Bess Spiva Timmons Foundation, a family foundation, was established by Mrs. Timmons in 1967, to enable her children and grandchildren to carry on an already existing program of assistance in the areas of education, health, medical research, the arts, and programs with emphasis to benefit minority groups, social services, and ecology. Consideration is also given to experimental ventures in these designated areas. 

Grants generally range from one to five thousand dollars.

The African Women's Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) is a U.S. Department of State initiative that aims to increase access to business capital and capacity-building resources for African businesswomen to promote their participation in international trade. This funding opportunity aims to solicit applications from entities that can develop a project to increase the export capabilities of AWEP members via capacity-building and technical assistance trainings as well as grants. The services may be offered in person or online. There are over 30 AWEP chapters in Africa which serve as business associations for African business women and will provide the beneficiaries of the project.

Gupta Family Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, USA. Our mission is to support organizations that provide focused intervention in the lives of people who have been disadvantaged in some way to help them become self-reliant. We take a very broad view of “disadvantage” to include anything that holds a person back from realizing their potential, such as poverty, physical or mental disability, social alienation, etc. The foundation also supports relief agencies that serve people affected by emergencies such as natural disasters.

The foundation evaluates and awards annual and multi-year grants ranging from $5,000 to over $250,000 (USD). Our focus is on funding smaller organizations all around the world that are led by individuals with a deep personal commitment to their missions. 

Our selection criteria include:

• Mission alignment
• The organization is run by the founder or, if not, by a successor who embodies the original inspiration, passion and commitment of the founder.
• At least 90% of grant monies reaches the intended beneficiaries.
• The organization is non-sectarian, i.e.,
  • It does not, directly or indirectly, support or condone the proselytization of any religion,
  • It is not supported by or affiliated to a religious organization.

Our Mission

The Hansen Family Foundation provides opportunities to domestic, international, secular, and non-secular organizations that support the American way of life, which is defined by the principles of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

Causes

Children

The Hansen Family Foundation supports causes dedicated to helping children both home as well as abroad. Learn More

Education

The Hansen Family Foundation believes that a decent education should be made available to everyone, young or old, the world over. Learn More

Animals

The Hansen Family Foundation believes in helping those who cannot speak on their own behalf. Learn More

Environmental

The Hansen Family Foundation is dedicated to preserving the world we all share. Learn More

Humanitarian

The Hansen Family Foundation views the plight of our fellow man as an opportunity to actively engage and effect change. Learn More

Arts & Culture

The Hansen Family Foundation supports all forms of artistic and cultural endeavors. Learn More