NOTE: Organizations that believe they meet these criteria can submit an organizational profile at any time. If your organizational profile falls within our priorities, selection criteria, and funding availability, we will follow up to learn more about your organization. Due to the volume of inquiries, we cannot respond to each organization individually.

Global Fund for Children invests in grassroots organizations around the world to help children and youth reach their full potential and advance their rights.

Our Model

We find.

• We research, explore, and identify innovative groups working with children and youth around the world.

We fund.

• We invest wisely, funding our partners’ life-changing programs for children and youth and keeping a watchful eye on how those funds are put to use.

Together we strengthen.

• We advise, mentor, and guide our partners. We build mutual trust, accountability, and enduring relationships. We provide tools for self-assessment. We support and help our partners grow.

We build networks.

• We connect our partners to each other and to national and regional networks. We bring together brilliant minds to share knowledge, fuel advocacy, and build movements of social change.

And when our partners graduate, we stand proud.

• Our greatest joy comes from knowing that we played a part in helping our partners grow strong enough to continue their important work for children without us.

Eligibility Criteria & Selection Guidelines

At Global Fund for Children, we invite you to join our growing grassroots network if you have shown great potential to improve the lives of children and youth who face poverty, injustice, and discrimination. As we embrace learning and collaboration, we hope you will serve as a model and resource for other community-based partners dedicated to the same big goals.

Focus Areas

Together with our partners, we are building a future where all young people enjoy equal resources and opportunities in society and can live to their full potential.

Our work advances the rights of children and youth across four focus areas and five regions. We have a deep commitment to courageous organizations that support young people facing poverty, injustice, and discrimination.

We support grassroots organizations that are not afraid to tackle the root causes of poverty with innovative, local solutions. Most offer holistic care to comprehensively address the needs of each child. Many become regional and national leaders in children’s rights—raising awareness, influencing policy, and ultimately impacting thousands of children and youth beyond their doors.

Education

Poverty and injustice—and the many hardships that accompany them—deny millions of children the opportunity to learn. We promote the right of all children to access high-quality education, regardless of their circumstances.

Worldwide, 124 million children and adolescents are out of school. Millions more who do attend school do not acquire basic skills in mathematics and reading. And every day, conditions beyond their control—gender, ethnicity, economic status, geography, conflict, disaster—force children and youth to drop out. But giving up on them isn’t an option.

At Global Fund for Children, we believe that educating children and youth is the key to building a more peaceful and just society. When we equip young people with education and skills, we unlock their potential to contribute to their families and transform their communities.

We support education from children’s earliest years to secondary school and on through university or vocational training. We place a strong emphasis on girls’ education to address the current and historical disadvantage for girls, improving access and quality and ensuring that girls have safe, girl-friendly places to learn. For refugees, children with disabilities, child laborers, and more, we prioritize inclusive, innovative educational programming that meets children and youth where they are and addresses their unique needs. For older youth, we support life skills, vocational, and entrepreneurship education so that they are empowered to make smart decisions, build financial resilience, and shape their own futures.

Gender Equity

Young people have the right to protect their bodies, raise their voices, and define their futures. But millions are denied these rights every day. We work to ensure that all children—regardless of their gender or their sexual identity—can be safe, learn, lead, and thrive.

Around the world, girls, young women, and LGBTQ youth—particularly those who are ethnic minorities or refugees, live in rural areas, or belong to other highly marginalized populations—face exclusion, violence, and discrimination. Too often, they are left out of decisions that determine their futures. At Global Fund for Children, we defend the right of all children to live free from discrimination and harmful gender-based attitudes and practices.

We believe that investing in girls delivers invaluable returns to the girls themselves, their families, and their communities, while confronting historical inequalities in societies worldwide. In fact, it’s essential to ending poverty and injustice. We also believe that traditional gender norms limit the full range of possibilities for boys and young men.

Through the work of our grassroots partners, we support girls’ education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, redefining masculinity, and the eradication of gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting. Our strategies engage entire communities—including parents, schools, community leaders, and local and national governments —to work collectively toward gender justice. We equip girls with knowledge and skills that will help them lead independent lives and empower them to become agents of change, while ensuring the men and boys in their lives are engaged in building a more equitable world.

We also support programs that specifically address the needs of LGBTQ youth and help them achieve equal rights around the world.

Our grassroots partners provide shelter to LGBTQ youth who are fleeing violence or persecution, run LGBTQ support groups and summer camps, and offer essential health information and services. Our commitment to gender equity also values advocacy on sexual rights and sexual and gender identity, helping to create a safe and welcoming world for all children and youth.

Youth Empowerment

Right now, the largest youth population in history is coming of age, and most of these young people live in the developing world. It’s a challenge—and an opportunity—we can’t ignore.

According to the United Nations, 89% of the world’s youth live in developing countries. At the same time, youth unemployment is on the rise. And work alone does not mean prosperity: nearly 40% of working youth live in poverty. Together, these challenges pose an enormous threat to our global economic and political stability—unless we seize the opportunity.

By investing in young people, we advance youth rights and work to transform the youth “bulge” into a powerhouse of innovation, opportunity, and social change.

At Global Fund for Children, we empower thousands of youth by equipping them with the skills and knowledge they need to lead lives of dignity, purpose, and economic stability. Our approach involves engaging young people who are also the least likely to have access to mainstream education and training, including girls, refugees, young people with disabilities, and youth engaged in hazardous work.

But economic opportunity is only part of the picture. We prioritize programs that advance young people’s political and civil participation and rights; that amplify youth voices, increase their decision-making powers, and raise awareness of their rights and needs; and that empower young people to educate and inspire their peers to act.

Freedom from Violence and Exploitation

All children deserve to grow up free from danger and harm—yet millions are threatened by war, trafficking, violence, and abuse. For survivors and children at risk, we work to bring safety and dignity to their lives.

Children and youth who live outside of mainstream society—and who are therefore most at risk of violence and exploitation—are often overlooked. Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse happen behind closed doors; poverty and inequality make children more vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking; war and community violence uproot children and youth from their homes and families. Their physical and psychosocial well-being is threatened. And too often, cultural norms make it acceptable to ignore their suffering.

Not on our watch. Global Fund for Children is dedicated to creating systemic change to end violence and exploitation for children and to help young survivors rebuild their lives.

Our grassroots partners provide protection and holistic care to trafficked children, migrants and refugees, child laborers, and survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation. They work to secure children’s legal identities—a critical step toward ensuring children’s safety and access to social services. They prevent future abuses by educating the public, training service providers, and combating harmful cultural norms and practices. And by pushing for better laws and policies to protect children and youth, they contribute to a growing movement that will not accept anything less than safety and security for every child.

About Natan

Natan inspires young  philanthropists to become actively engaged in building the Jewish future by giving collaboratively to cutting- edge initiatives in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world.

Natan is a giving circle - a  grantmaking foundation where members pool their charitable contributions, set the group’s philanthropic strategy and agenda, and collectively award grants to emerging initiatives, working actively with their leaders to help them grow. We believe that educated, engaged, and entrepreneurial philanthropy can transform both givers and grant recipients.

Confronting Antisemitism

Natan’s Confronting Antisemitism committee requests proposals from organizations that are addressing contemporary antisemitism around the world. The committee is particularly interested in proactive approaches that preempt antisemitism.

Applicants could include initiatives that are:

• developing positive, constructive efforts to understand and expose contemporary manifestations of antisemitism including distinguishing between good faith criticism of Israel and bad faith bigotry that uses criticism as a cover for prejudice;
• utilizing technology and social media to address antisemitism;
• building partnerships between Jews and other minority groups - including, but not limited to, the black, Hispanic, Muslim and LGBTQ+ communities - to navigate antisemitism within their respective circles;
• empowering young individuals (13-23) with the tools, knowledge and critical thinking skills to effectively advocate for themselves and the Jewish people;
• creating new partnerships between organizations otherwise working independently, with a unified mission of fighting antisemitism.

Natan's Focus

In the spirit of “venture philanthropy,” Natan is especially interested in supporting entrepreneurial individuals, startups and fledgling organizations that have not yet received significant support from major funders and that are independent from larger institutions and organizational structures. Natan seeks to catalyze and support innovation that begins on the margins of the Jewish organizational world, with the twin goals of developing new standalone organizations and infusing innovative thinking into larger, legacy institutions for the long term. 

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grants

Grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund advance ongoing preservation activities for historic sites, museums, and landscape projects representing African American cultural heritage. The fund supports work in four primary areas: Capital Projects, Organizational Capacity Building, Project Planning, and Programming and Interpretation. 

Grants made from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund will range from $50,000 to $150,000. In 2022, the National Trust awarded $3 million to 33 projects. Since establishing the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund’s National Grant Program in 2017, the National Trust has supported more than 200 preservation projects nationally.

Grant Conditions

Grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund may be used to fund up to 100% of the proposed project. While matching funds are not required for this program, projects that are leveraging additional investments are strongly preferred.

The following grant conditions apply:

• If the project involves a property, the grant recipient must either own the property or have a written agreement with the property owner stating that the grantee has permission to undertake the grant-funded project.
• Grants or any matching funds cannot be used directly or indirectly to influence a member of Congress to favor or oppose any legislation or appropriation.
• Any documents or plans for preservation work that result from the project must conform to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
• Any construction projects must conform to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
• At least three (3) competitive bids/quotes must be obtained for any procurement of services that exceed $50,000. This provision applies only to portions of the project supported by National Trust grant funds.
• Grant recipients must include appropriate acknowledgement of the National Trust and its philanthropic partners’ financial support in all printed materials generated for the project.
• Consultants must be approved by the National Trust before grant funds are disbursed. Board members of the application organization cannot serve as consultants unless appropriate conflict of interest procedures are followed and documented.
• Grant recipients are required to sign a contract agreeing to the conditions of the program.
• Project Planning and Programming-related grants must be completed within one year of the initial grant disbursement date. Capital Project-related grants must be completed within 18 months of the initial grant disbursement.
• Recipients of Organizational Capacity grants to hire new staff, or to increase staff from part-time to full time, will have two years to complete their project. All other Organizational Capacity grant-funded projects will follow a one-year completion timeline.
• Upon the project’s completion, a final narrative report and financial accounting of the expenditure of the grants must be submitted. If the project is not completed in accordance with the contract, the grant funds must be returned.
• Applicants must agree not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin or sexual orientation. This obligation also extends to disabled veterans, Vietnam-era veterans, and handicapped persons.
• The National Trust's philanthropic partners may require additional grant conditions. They will be outlined in the grant contract.

Eligible Activities and Expenses

Grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund are designed to advance ongoing preservation activities for historic places representing African American cultural heritage, such as sites, museums, theaters, sports venues, churches, schools, universities, and landscapes. Grants awards may be made for activities and projects in the following categories:

Capital Projects

• Restoration, rehabilitation, stabilization, and preservation of historic places and structures, including bricks-and-mortar construction and planning costs
• In the case of Capital Projects, up to 15% of awarded grant funds may be used for construction planning such as architectural and engineering services, code review, drawings, specifications, and geotechnical services.
• Applicants can request up to $150,000 and can direct up to 15% of awarded grant funds for construction planning and documents

Organizational Capacity Building

• Hiring new senior/director-level or leadership staff to increase the organization’s preservation stewardship and management capacity (funds can be used to support salaries and benefits for grant supported staff.) Applicants can request up to $150,000 for a two-year period
• Increasing current part-time staff to full-time in order to advance preservation priorities. Applicants can request up to $100,000 for a two-year period
• Convening board, governance and nonprofit management training and organizational development activities such as strategic planning for the organization. Applicants can request $50,000 and can direct up to 10% for indirect support/overhead costs.

Project Planning

• Obtaining the services of consultants with expertise in the areas such as preservation architecture, business development, engineering and environmental studies, legal issues, fundraising and financial sustainability, organizational development, education, etc. to develop plans for implementation by organization
• Development of viable business plans for preservation organizations, pre-development planning activities, feasibility studies for market-driven revitalization projects, preservation plans, engineering and environmental studies, property condition assessment reports with cost analysis, historic structures reports, etc.
• Applicants can request up to $75,000 and can direct up to 10% for indirect support/overhead costs

Programming and Interpretation

• Sponsoring preservation conferences, trainings, and workshops
• Collaborating with artists, creatives, and scholars to re-imagine interpretation and programming, while advancing new approaches to storytelling and public education
• Designing and implementing innovative preservation education,  documentation, mapping, and interpretative programs
• Designing, producing, and marketing printed materials or other media communications
• Designating sites at the local and/or national levels
• Applicants can request $50,000 and can direct up to 10% for indirect support/overhead costs

Grants awarded for Capital Projects and Programming and Interpretation may include funding for both the planning and implementation of those projects.

2021 Focus on Racism and Health

Hillman Innovations in Care Program

The Hillman Innovations in Care (HIC) Program was established in 2014 to advance innovative, nursing-driven models of care that target the health and healthcare needs of groups and communities who have historically struggled against oppression, discrimination and indifference. These populations include Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), the economically disadvantaged, LGBTQ+ people, people experiencing homelessness, low-income rural populations, and others.

This year the HIC program is issuing a special call for submissions that address racism and its impact on health. Racism has been, and remains, the root cause of serious health inequities that unjustly affect communities of color. These disparities include increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, obesity and mental illness; inequitable access to high quality care; inordinately negative outcomes such as infant and maternal mortality rates for Black mothers and babies that are twice as high as those for white populations, and life expectancy that can be as much as ten years shorter than white counterparts living a short drive away. 

The disproportionate harm of the COVID-19 pandemic in Black, Indigenous and other communities of color and police killings as part of a long history of police brutality are other manifestations of structural racism and societal inequities. Addressing and dismantling racism in its myriad forms—structural, interpersonal, and institutional—is a critical and constructive approach to advancing health equity and improving population health.

Goals

The goal of the HIC program is to advance leading-edge, nursing-driven models of care that will improve the health and health care of vulnerable populations, including the economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people, the homeless, rural populations, and other groups that encounter barriers to accessing health-care services.

We seek bold, creative, patient- and family-centered approaches that challenge conventional strategies, improve health outcomes, lower costs, and enhance patient and family caregiver experience.

Program Priorities

The 2021 HIC program seeks proposals for bold, nursing-driven interventions that:

• Seek to mitigate the effects of racism on health and/or narrow gaps in health equity
• Identify and address sources of racism that affect health
• Challenge conventional strategies for delivering and improving care to populations affected by racism 
• Build trust and credibility in programs or systems of care
• Are informed by anti-racism practices
• Present strong preliminary evidence
• Show potential for broad replicability

The Foundation seeks proposals that address the health care needs of the vulnerable populations in the following areas:

• Maternal and child health
• Care of the older adult
• Chronic illness management

 Types of Proposals

• The adaptation of proven nursing-driven models to new or expanded settings or patient populations. The adaptation should be past the pilot phase and demonstrate significant preliminary evidence.
• The expansion of emerging nursing-driven models with early evidence suggesting a strong likelihood for achieving Triple Aim-like outcomes on a broad scale.

All proposals must address the potential for:

• Improving health, lowering costs, and enhancing patient and caregiver experience
• Scalability
• Sustainability

Grant Awards

The program will award two grants of up to $600,000 each, distributed over a 36-month period.

Hillman Serious Illness and End of Life Emergent Innovation

The Hillman Serious Illness and End of LIfe Emergent Innovation (HSEI) Program provides up to thirteen $50,000, 12-18 month grants to accelerate the development of bold, nursing-driven interventions targeting the needs of groups and communities who have historically struggled against oppression, discrimination and indifference. These populations include the economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people experiencing homelessness, low-income rural populations, and other groups that encounter obstacles to accessing quality health care services.

We seek creative, early stage (untested or minimal-evidence) innovations that address health and health care problems in new ways. 

The annual program—a complement to the Hillman Innovations in Care initiative—will award up to thirteen 12-18 month grants of $50,000 each.

NOTE: This is a program/project award for work accomplished, NOT a grant to fund a new project.

General Information

With support from The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation and the Bader Philanthropies, Inc., Family Caregiver Alliance is pleased to oversee the annual Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards program.

Award Background

In the recent past, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation undertook a review of issues facing caregivers of adults with Alzheimer’s disease. In June 2007, the Foundation published an expert panel discussion report, Strengthening Caregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease, which outlined promising practices, research recommendations, and key principles for caregiver support. It is against this backdrop that the Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Awards program was initiated. The program promotes the reports’ principles—and innovation in the field of Alzheimer’s disease caregiving—by recognizing and rewarding organizations that lead the way in addressing the needs of Alzheimer’s caregivers. In 2018, the 11th year of the program, the Bader Philanthropies, Inc. joined as a funding partner as reflected in the new name — Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards.

Award Details

One award of $20,000 will be given in each of the following three categories:

Creative Expression

Programs or projects that use novel, creative approaches to support persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and their family/informal caregivers. Examples include art, music, theater, poetry, multimedia (e.g. film, documentary, radio), or technology used for creative engagement or other types of creative expression.

Diverse/Multicultural Communities

Programs or projects that address a gap or chart a new way to deliver services, support, or outreach to family/informal caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias in diverse racial/ethnic, age, religious/spiritual, LGBTQ+, rural/remote, limited income, and other groups of caregivers with unique needs.

Public Policy

Programs or projects that advocate for policy or systems changes for the benefit of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and/or their family/informal caregivers. These efforts could focus on legislation, executive or administrative changes, media or public awareness campaigns, advocacy campaigns, or any other actions to strengthen public or private recognition and support of family/informal caregivers.

NOTE: We encourage previous Gilbert Caregiving Legacy Awards applicants — including past winners with NEW programs — to apply again.

GroMoreGood Grassroots GrantThe GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant, brought to you by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and KidsGardening, is designed to bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens to communities across the United States. 160 programs will be awarded in 2023.GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant Award PackagesIn 2023, 160 programs will be awarded $500 to start or expand their youth garden or greenspace. Programs will also have the opportunity to apply for additional funding through the following specialty award categories:

• Plus Specialty Award: Designed to fund new and existing garden programs that have greater funding needs due to, but are not limited to, financial, environmental, safety, health, and regulation challenges. The award will provide five programs an additional $1,000, for a total of $1,500 in funding.

• Pride Specialty Award: Designed to fund new and existing garden programs that serve a majority of LGBTQ+ youth. The award will provide five programs an additional $1,000, for a total of $1,500 in funding.

• Equity Specialty Award: Designed to fund new and existing garden programs led by people of color that serve a majority of youth of color. The award will provide five programs an additional $1,000, for a total of $1,500 in funding.

Since 1986, The Trust for the Meditation Process has encouraged the practice of inner, silent awareness, whether it's called meditation, mindfulness or contemplative prayer. Our financial grants to non-profit organizations renew contemplative Christianity, promote health and wholeness, and bring silence and stillness to a hectic world.  

Contemplative Christianity Grants

Many people think of meditation as an exclusively Eastern religious practice. But Western religion, too, has a long tradition of silent, non-discursive prayer, often called contemplation, which is rooted in a rich mystical literature. Contemporary thinkers are unearthing this tradition. Their fresh encounter with the Gospels and mystics emphasizes that God is a living presence in us – to be known in silence and love and manifested in our acts of compassion.

• Grants made in the Contemplative Christianity Program have these objectives:  
• Introduce or expand the teaching and practice of Christian contemplative practices, such as Christian Meditation or Centering Prayer.
• Focus on silent, non discursive meditation rather than another aspect or method of prayer or spiritual formation.
• Connect with a Christian audience or have a Christian context.
• Identify and support emerging scholars and leaders in Contemplative Christianity and Christian mysticism.
• Raise the profile of Contemplative Christianity, with language and programs that speak to all Christian denominations and that reconnect people to Christian contemplative traditions.
• Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, people of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with low incomes and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.
• Encourage dialogue among contemplative traditions in all religions.

Mindfulness Grants

Thirty years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts medical school adapted classic forms of meditation found in most religions for a modern, secular audience. A simple practice of paying silent attention to the present moment formed the core of their efforts to help people improve physical and emotional health. 

Since then, a large and rigorous body of research has shown that a regular practice of mindfulness meditation can change us in many significant ways: improving immune function, reducing stress, reducing pain and symptoms of chronic disease, improving sleep, improving attention, fostering self- care and compassion, and the list continues to grow. Today, an ever widening interest in the benefits of mindfulness practice has led to its introduction in many fields and professions.  

Grants made in the Mindfulness Program have both of these objectives:

Introduce or expand mindfulness meditation through educational or human service nonprofits or government entities, such as K-12 public schools, colleges and universities, correctional facilities, rehabilitation programs, healthcare, counseling and case management services.

Reach underserved populations, such as children, teens, and young adults, BIPOC and LGBTQ communities, people in the criminal justice system, people with low incomes, and people facing addictions, illness, trauma or loss.

Mindfulness Program grants are highly competitive and we generally receive more applications than we can award. 

Grant Guidelines

Our focus is short-term projects where a small grant can make a credible impact and result in clearly identifiable outcomes. We make 20 to 40 grants annually. Initial awards are typically small – $3,000 to $5,000.

The type of projects we fund includes:

• Meditation courses, workshops, lectures or retreats.
• Trainings, sabbaticals, retreats and other development for meditation teachers.
• Meditation curriculum development.
• Books, supplies and equipment for meditation programs.
• Efforts to expand and build the capacity of meditation programs and address barriers to practice. 
• Meditation research, especially the development of simple, effective, accessible evaluation tools.
• Publications that effectively spread critical perspectives on meditation and meet an important gap in the current literature.
• East/West meditation dialogue.