Search Through Grants for International Development in Austin, Texas in the U.S.

Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, the Austin Film Society (AFS) creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS supports filmmakers towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

As it's mission, the Austin Film Society empowers the community to make, watch, and love film and creative media.

AFS Grant

Since its inception in 1996, the AFS Grant has awarded more than $2.8 million in cash grants and more than $340,000 in-kind goods and services to 550+ Texas filmmakers to date, creating life-changing opportunities for artists, many from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the film industry and working outside large industry centers. In addition to grants for development, production, and post-production, we provide cash stipends to Texas filmmakers traveling to prestigious film festivals through its AFS Travel Grant program.

AFS Travel Grant

AFS Travel Grant, one of the AFS Grants, is awarded to Texas-based filmmakers to assist with the costs of participation in competitive film festivals around the world. At AFS, we understand that independent filmmakers often have minimal access to financial support during this key moment to share work with future stakeholders and develop relationships in the industry.

The goal of the travel grant is to help filmmakers towards career leaps by supporting their travel to festivals and events that could make a significant impact on their film’s reach and their career in general. After spending most of their funds on completing the film, even filmmakers who are selected for major festivals have little to no funds remaining for festival travel. The AFS Travel Grant aims to assist Texas filmmakers during this critical moment.

Texas-based filmmakers with proof of travel and an official acceptance letter to a festival on the AFS Travel Grant list are eligible to receive $500 for festivals in the US, Canada, and Mexico and/or $1000 for festivals outside of North America. Filmmakers can receive TWO travel grants during the life of their film not to exceed $1,500.  These grants are intended to help offset costs for filmmakers traveling outside the state of Texas. AFS Travel Grant applications are open year-round.

Charitable Contributions

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

Warehouse Donations:

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

Grant Applications

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

Mission

The DanPaul Foundation will use its resources to help train teachers and parents in early childhood development, protect children from abuse and neglect, stimulate children's personal social responsibilities, and offer them opportunities for enrichment and growth.

The Foundation will also encourage children to be concerned and informed about the environment and the underprivileged, particularly with regard to clean air and water, and adequate housing and nutrition for all.

Beliefs

The DanPaul Foundation believes that children should have ample opportunities for enrichment in their lives, and thus strives to provide many different ways to enrich and expand children's minds through direct programs and monetary support to organizations doing similar work.

We have provided or currently provide grants related to the following program areas:

• Workshops, Conferences, + Seminars: We strive to offer educational workshops, conferences, and seminars for parents and teachers on topics related to early childhood development.
• Student Scholarships: We aim to help students attending post-secondary education institutions by providing need-based and academic scholarships.
• Scientific Endeavors: We desire to advance scientific endeavors which seek to improve the quality of life for everyone in the world.
• Clean Air + Water: We hope to pass on knowledge and practical life skills to youth regarding their personal responsibility to the environment, teaching them about issues surrounding clean air and water.
• Child Advocacy: We believe in protecting children from abuse and neglect and particularly love to support programs that provide education and assistance to children as well as organizations advocating or caring for vulnerable children.
• Homelessness: We want to encourage young people to take a personal interest in seeing that adequate housing and proper nutrition, especially for the underprivileged and homeless, are available.
• Poverty + Neglect: We seek to help those in poverty as well as educate youth about their responsibility to consider the underprivileged and take care of those most in need of life's basic essentials like adequate housing and proper nutrition.
• Refugee Enrichment: We wish to help refugee youth by supporting programs that provide them enrichment and help them transition to life in a new country.

The DanPaul Foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by the IRS. The Foundation is interested in providing funding to programs that directly serve the health, education, development, and welfare of the world's youth.

Grants range from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000 per calendar year.

Background

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of underserved communities across the globe by supporting scalable, innovative, and impact-first solutions that leverage existing systems and stakeholders. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic products or services that have a proven ability to positively impact the lives of underserved people, and nurture those organizations at the early stages by providing capacity, capital, and community.

Our application process is designed to be open and accessible, and we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors. Borrowing from our venture capital legacy, we find exceptional entrepreneurs and provide them with: 

Capacity

• The core of DRK’s model is deep and extensive operational and technical support for each portfolio organization, both through dedicated hands-on Board service and specialist capacity-building resources for fundraising, board and organizational development, leadership, financial support, and scaling strategy,

Capital

• DRK provides up to $300,000 USD in either unrestricted grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period, and

Community

• DRK convenes our portfolio and alumni annually, facilitating connections and community. 

What We Fund

DRK Foundation funds early-stage social impact organizations solving the world’s biggest social and environmental problems using bold, scalable approaches.

What stage of growth does DRK Foundation typically fund?

Early stage: Organizations who are early stage, which we define as post-pilot and pre-scale. This typically means: 

• Your program, product or service is already being used in the market or in the field, 
• You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact on the beneficiary populations,
• Your organization is relatively young (ideally between two and five years old, although we will consider both younger and older organizations).

Venture funding: In the case of for profits, we typically support Seed to Series A organizations, and never lead rounds; we also generally but not exclusively refrain from participating in financings exceeding a $15M USD post-money valuation.  

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. 

Community Grants

State Farm is committed to helping build safer, stronger and better-educated communities.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We are committed to auto and home safety programs and activities that help people manage the risks of everyday life.
• We invest in education, economic empowerment and community development projects, programs and services that help people realize their dreams.
• We help maintain the vibrancy of our communities by assisting nonprofits that support community revitalization.

Good Neighbor Citizenship company grants focus on safety, community development and education.

Focus Areas

Safety Grants

We strive to keep our customers and communities safe. That's why our funding is directed toward:

• Auto safety — improving driver, passenger, vehicle or roadway safety
• Home safety — shielding homes from fires, crime or natural disasters
• Disaster preparedness and mitigation
• Disaster recovery

Community Development

We support nonprofits that invest and develop stronger neighborhoods. That's why our funding is directed toward:

• Affordable housing — home construction and repair
• Commercial/small business development
• Job training
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Financial literacy
• Sustainable housing and transportation
• Food insecurity

Education

Our education funding is directed toward initiatives that support the following programs:

• Higher education
• K-12 academic performance
• K-12 STEM
• Pathways for college and career success

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Culture Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

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.

PNC Foundation

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

Vision & Mission

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

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

Foundation Grant

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

Education

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

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

Economic Development

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

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

Mission

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

History

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

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

Where We Work

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

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

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

We have strong partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country that are working to advance economic mobility and social progress in low- and moderate-income communities. Our focus areas include basic needs like food and housing, workforce development and education, and community development. In addition to our philanthropic investments, we also encourage our employees to make a difference by offering robust employee giving and volunteering programs, including the opportunity to direct funds to organizations they support through volunteer efforts, and a matching gifts program that doubles their individual giving to causes they care about. Last year, we invested $350 million in the communities we serve, and employees contributed more than 1 million volunteer hours and directed $65 million through individual giving and matching gifts to support nonprofits.Through our regional U.S. sponsorships, we support the economic, social and cultural life of the places we live and work. We provide an extensive program of arts and sports sponsorships to help maintain vibrant, healthy communities.Sponsorships supporting communitiesBank of America welcomes your sponsorship proposal for opportunities that make our communities a better place to live and work. We are particularly interested in providing support to address needs vital to the health of our communities through a focus on:

• preserving neighborhoods;
• educating the workforce for 21st century jobs;
• addressing critical needs such as hunger and emergency shelter;
• arts and culture;
• the environment; and
• diversity and inclusion programs.

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

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.

Our Mission

The Tony Robbins Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of people often forgotten.

We’re dedicated to creating positive changes in the lives of youth, seniors, the hungry, homeless and the imprisoned population, all who need a boost envisioning a happier and deeply satisfying way of life. Our passionate staff, generous donors and caring group of international volunteers provide the vision, inspiration, and resources needed to empower these important members of our society.

Grants

Dedicated to meeting challenges within the global community, creating solutions and taking action, The Tony Robbins Foundation provides monetary donations to various organizations around the world. Funding requests are evaluated on an ongoing basis. We look for organizations that align with our mission to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of those often forgotten.

Guidelines for Capacity Building Grants

The Webber Family Foundation funds capacity building projects that:

• Are aligned with the Foundation’s mission and one of the four focus areas.
• Build the organization’s capacity to provide expanded, higher quality, and/or more sustainable services.
• Benefit predominantly low-income youth. This means at least 50% of the population served by the organization comes from families earning less than the median US family income, adjusted for family size.
• Benefit predominantly high-achieving youth. This means the focus of the organization or program is to help students who already exceed grade-level expectations develop their full potential. Accordingly, at least 2/3 of the population served exceeds grade-level expectations and/or exhibits superior aptitude.
• Operate in Austin TX.

Currently the Webber Family Foundation is not accepting unsolicited grant proposals from organizations located in and around Washington DC.

Grant Info

The Webber Family Foundation offers grants to organizations that are aligned with its mission of helping lower-income youth perform at the highest levels of achievement in academics and the arts. Currently there are three areas of focus:

• School readiness/early literacy
• Out-of-school time programs for grades 6-12
• Charter schools
• College readiness, access & persistence

Each is discussed below in more detail. The report: Achievement Trap: How America is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students from Lower-Income Families published by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in September 2007 may be useful in better understanding the Foundation’s areas of focus.

School readiness/early literacy for age 3 - grade 3

The objective of this initiative is to increase the number of lower-income students who enter Kindergarten as high-achievers (at or above grade-level norms) and achieve reading proficiency by third grade.

Grants will fund quality preschool programs that provide structured, school- or center-based education for children ages 3-5, with a focus on early literacy and parent engagement. Grants will also fund early literacy programs – for students in Kinder to 3rd grades – working to decrease the post-PreK fadeout that can occur once children enter the public school system.

Out-of-school time enrichment for grades 4-12

The objectives of this initiative are to increase the number of lower-income students who:

• Develop academic and artistic skill during out-of-school time enrichment.
  • We define enrichment as activities that extend learning beyond the content/expectations of the school curriculum.
• Enrichment could be academic (robotics clubs, book clubs, summer space camp, etc.) or in the arts (music lessons, screenwriting workshop, dance program, etc.).
  • Not included are remedial programs to help struggling students achieve grade-level expectations.

Grants will fund long-term, intensive programs that serve lower-income students in grades 4-12 who are exceeding grade-level norms. Specific interests include:

• Enrichment programs that help students fulfill their potential through academics and/or the arts. This initiative does not include development of leadership and/or social skills, mentoring (except in the context of academics or the arts), nor remedial programs to help struggling students achieve grade-level expectations. In the arts, grants will fund programs that allow students to study music, dance, visual arts, and/or theater in depth. Artistic skill development – not exposure – is the goal.

The objective of this initiative is to expand the capacity of outstanding charter schools that serve predominantly lower-income students. Grants will fund schools serving grades 4-12 that produce exceptionally well-prepared graduates.

Charter Schools for grades PreK - 12

The objective of this initiative is to expand the capacity of high performing charter schools that serve predominantly lower-income students.

Grants will fund schools serving grades PreK-12 that produce well-prepared graduates.

College Readiness, Access & Persistence for grades 6-12+

The objective of this initiative is to increase the number of exceptionally well-prepared graduates who enroll in and succeed in college.

Grants will fund college preparation and access programs serving middle and high school students. Grants will also support college persistence initiatives for organizations working in the 6-12 space.

Grant Sizes

Capacity Building Grants are one-year grants that allow an organization to improve its systems and/or operations in order to work better and more efficiently. Capacity building grants can benefit both direct-service organizations as well as backbone organizations leading systemic work in one or more of the Foundation’s current focus areas. Grant request amounts range up to $25,000 per year.

Georgia-Pacific Foundation

Established in 1958, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation sets aside resources to improve life in the communities where we operate. We’ve worked with thousands of outstanding community-based programs, service projects and disaster relief efforts, focusing our investment in four areas we believe make the most impact:

• education
• entrepreneurship
• enrichment of community
• environment

Investment Priorities

• Aligns with GP’s mission and values
• Aligns with GP’s Four Focus Areas of giving: Education, Environment, Enrichment of Community and Entrepreneurship
• Serves communities where GP has manufacturing facilities
• Creates value by contributing to and positively impacting long term well-being and sustainability of GP communities

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

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.

Heritage Preservation Grant

The Heritage Preservation Grant promotes tourism through historic preservation projects and activities rooted in local history and heritage. 

Grant funds support capital projects or heritage events that expand access to historic places and heritage resources and market the site's history to engage new audiences and tourists. All capital projects require a historic designation. 

Program goals include to increase Austin's heritage tourism; preserve and open access to historic spaces; bring local history to life through interpretation, activations, and storytelling; and support jobs in the creative economy.

With Historic Designation

Heritage Events with Local, State, or National Designated Historic Location (Maximum Award: $150,000)

Support proposals that expand access to historic places and heritage experiences by highlighting local history and storytelling, connecting communities, and drawing both residents and tourists. While bids are not required for Heritage Events, a proposed budget breakdown is required as part of the application process. 

Sites must be historically designated or previously approved by the City Council as a heritage district or corridor.

Heritage Event Project Types

• Events, festivals, or programs at a historic designated location or within a historic district and marketed regionally, nationally, or internationally
• Heritage, historic, or interpretive history-focused exhibits
• Historic marker (applications must indicate eligibility from the Texas Historical Commission in advance)
• Projects or activities in heritage districts with historic assets previously approved by the City Council (includes the Red River Cultural District, African American Cultural Heritage District, and the 5th Street Mexican American Heritage Corridor)
• Tour development: historic, heritage, legacy business, and natural resources

Heritage Preservation Grant

The Heritage Preservation Grant promotes tourism through historic preservation projects and activities rooted in local history and heritage. 

Grant funds support capital projects or heritage events that expand access to historic places and heritage resources and market the site's history to engage new audiences and tourists. All capital projects require a historic designation. 

Program goals include to increase Austin's heritage tourism; preserve and open access to historic spaces; bring local history to life through interpretation, activations, and storytelling; and support jobs in the creative economy.

Without Historic Designation

Eligible Properties Without Historic Designation but Pursuing Designation or Historic Location (Maximum Award: $50,000)

Support proposals that expand access to historic places and heritage experiences by highlighting local history and storytelling, connecting communities, and drawing both residents and tourists. While bids are not required for Heritage Events, a proposed budget breakdown is required as part of the application process.

Heritage Event Project Types

• Events, festivals, or programs at a historic designated location or within a historic district and marketed regionally, nationally, or internationally
• Heritage, historic, or interpretive history-focused exhibits
• Historic marker (applications must indicate eligibility from the Texas Historical Commission in advance)
• Projects or activities in heritage districts with historic assets previously approved by the City Council (includes the Red River Cultural District, African American Cultural Heritage District, and the 5th Street Mexican American Heritage Corridor)
• Tour development: historic, heritage, legacy business, and natural resources

Ameriprise Financial Grantmaking

At Ameriprise Financial, giving back is deeply rooted in our culture. We’ve initiated positive change in the communities where we live and work for more than 120 years. We believe our community involvement enables us to actively live our values. Through grant making, volunteerism and employee and financial advisor gift matching programs, we support a diverse group of over 6,000 nonprofits across the country.

Focus Areas

Awarding grant dollars to nonprofits is one way we strengthen our communities and help individuals on a path to financial independence. To ensure we're meeting the needs of our communities and making an even greater collective impact, we focus on three key giving areas when awarding grants.

Volunteer engagement is a priority across all focus areas:

The engagement of Ameriprise employees and financial advisors is a critical component of our philanthropy. Whether it’s serving on a nonprofit board, engaging friends, clients and community members in volunteering or providing skills-based support, our relationships with nonprofits go deep. For this reason, we give priority across all focus areas to applications where there is active volunteer engagement of Ameriprise advisors and employees. 

Meeting Basic Needs

At Ameriprise Financial, we help clients achieve financial security and peace of mind. That’s satisfying, meaningful work. We also help the people in our neighborhoods who struggle to meet basic needs such as where their next meal comes from, where they’ll sleep tonight or how they’ll find a higher wage job. We’re here to help them through the three platforms of our Meeting Basic Needs focus area.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Hunger
• Food banks, food shelves and food pantries, daily meal programs or meal services for the homebound
• Hunger-relief programs targeted to meet the special needs of children, ethnic populations or veterans
• Food programs run by nonprofits where hunger is not their sole focus, for example a youth meal program at the YWCA or a backpack program run by a Boys & Girls Club
• Shelter
• Emergency shelter, including youth homelessness
• Transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and efforts to end chronic homelessness
• Housing-first models (programs quickly providing housing and then addressing needed services)
• Achieving and maintaining home ownership, repair and maintenance efforts helping keep seniors, veterans and other populations in their homes 
• Adult Self-Sufficiency: Programs serving adults age 21 and older that help address the following areas:
• Basic hard and soft skills that help adults achieve economic and family stability
• Basic financial and budgeting skills
• Increase employability and wages, including work readiness and job transitions
• Employment of disabled adults

Supporting Community Vitality

We believe communities should be strong, healthy and resilient. We want livable places for all, where neighbors look out for one another, cultural events are well-attended and people pull together in times of crisis and joy. We work to create economic vitality and cultural enrichment through the following areas of focus.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Community Development
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Economic development
• Strengthening and supporting small businesses and nonprofits through technical expertise
• Cultural Enrichment
• Arts education
• Access for underserved populations
• Diverse artists and performances that spark topical community conversations 

Volunteer Driven Causes: Ameriprise employees and financial advisors are outstanding volunteers who serve in teams and also as individuals bringing personal skill-sets to nonprofits. Volunteering is part of the culture at Ameriprise and we are proud to support communities through contributions of both service and financial resources. 

Funding for Volunteer-Driven Causes is determined by current Ameriprise volunteerism. In general, funding is in proportion to the size of the Ameriprise volunteer team supporting a nonprofit. A team may include employees, financial advisors and/or staff or a combination of any Ameriprise volunteers. 

The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work, and compassion.

The Foundation considers applications for grants in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Health care
• Civic and cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

The majority of our grants are made in the U.S. However, like Dr. Scholl, we recognize the need for a global outlook. Non-U.S. grants are given to organizations where directors have knowledge of the grantee.

Lola Wright Foundation Grant

Established by Miss Johnie Elizabeth Wright in 1954, the Lola Wright Foundation supports children and youth, public health and human services, education and community development, and arts and culture.

The Foundation’s grant making activities are limited to organizations operating primarily within a 50-mile radius of Austin, Texas.

Fields of Interest:

• Children and Youth
• Public Health and Human Services
• Education and Community Development
• Arts and Culture

Calling to Serve

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

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

Areas of Interest

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

Grant Considerations

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

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

Community Partnership Award

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.

Each year, the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors a national competition in which hundreds of organizations demonstrate the value of their partnership to the communities they serve, their ability to be replicated by others and their capacity to stimulate new approaches to addressing significant social issues.

Six organizations are selected by an independent committee to receive the Community Partnership Award.

• The Thomas J. Moran Award is given to the national award-winning program and includes $100,000 and a documentary video about the program.
• The Frances R. Hesselbein Award is given to a partnership that is addressing social challenges in more than one community, or which demonstrates the potential to be replicated in other communities. This recipient receives $75,000.
• Four other organizations are named Honorable Mention recipients for their programs, and each receives $50,000.

Since its inception in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 262 partnerships from cities and towns across America. Like so many of our clients working in the nonprofit community, Mutual of America is dedicated to having a direct, positive impact on society.

Hispanic Impact Fund

Austin Community Foundation believes that when we support the economic mobility and advancement of Hispanic Central Texans, everyone benefits. The Hispanic Impact Fund – a signature program at Austin Community Foundation – works to bridge the racial wealth divide and advance economic opportunity for Latino families in Central Texas.

impact Areas

This grants cycle, the Hispanic Impact Fund will be awarding funding to organizations and programs that fit into one of the following strategy areas:

Early Childhood Education

• The Fund will invest in organizations that provide access to affordable, high-quality Pre-K and early childhood education starting at age 3, building the pipeline from cradle to career for Latino families.

Health & Wellness

• The Fund will invest in organizations that provide preventative, culturally competent health education and access to quality mental and physical health services.​

Job Skills & Entrepreneurship

• The Fund will invest in organizations that assist Latino entrepreneurs in gaining the knowledge and skills needed to expand their businesses.

Leadership Development

• The Fund will invest in organizations advancing Latino leadership and creating pipelines of youth, emerging, and established Latino talent, which are critical to building a thriving Central Texas.

Founded in 1985 by filmmaker Richard Linklater, the Austin Film Society (AFS) creates life-changing opportunities for filmmakers, catalyzes Austin and Texas as a creative hub, and brings the community together around great film. AFS supports filmmakers towards career leaps, encouraging exceptional artistic projects with grants and support services. AFS operates Austin Studios, a 20-acre production facility, to attract and grow the creative media ecosystem. Austin Public, a space for our city’s diverse mediamakers to train and collaborate, provides many points of access to filmmaking and film careers. The AFS Cinema is an ambitiously programmed repertory and first run arthouse with broad community engagement. By hosting premieres, local and international industry events, and the Texas Film Awards, AFS shines the national spotlight on Texas filmmakers while connecting Austin and Texas to the wider film community. AFS is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

As it's mission, the Austin Film Society empowers the community to make, watch, and love film and creative media.

AFS Grant

Since its inception in 1996, the AFS Grant has awarded more than $2.8 million in cash grants and more than $340,000 in-kind goods and services to 550+ Texas filmmakers to date, creating life-changing opportunities for artists, many from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the film industry and working outside large industry centers. In addition to grants for development, production, and post-production, we provide cash stipends to Texas filmmakers traveling to prestigious film festivals.

Generally, the AFS Grant awards funds annually to Texas-based filmmakers working in any style or genre. Filmmakers who live in the state of Texas are encouraged to apply for funds for any phase of production, and a development grant is also available for mid-career artists. The AFS Grant aims to ensure that promising Texas artists have access to funding opportunities right here in their home state.

The AFS Grant for Short Films

For the AFS Grant for Short Films (one of the AFS Grants), projects may apply for up to $10,000 cash for production or post-production of short films under 40 minutes in length. Total cash support from the AFS Grant fund will not exceed $10,000. The grant has been a critical source of structural support for our region’s filmmakers, and there are many success stories of Texas filmmakers who used the AFS Grant to develop shorts that served as a springboard to feature projects. The AFS Grant is funded through donations to Austin Film Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. 

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.