Search Through Grants for Mentoring Programs in the U.S.

About Us

AJA Foundation seeks to help those who have done everything society asks of them, yet for whom access to essential resources and the probability for advancement that comes from them remain elusive at best and structurally impossible at worst.

We know that the “playing field” of opportunity tilts substantially and unfairly towards those coming from advantage and that nobody succeeds on their own. AJA Foundation is dedicated to leveling the playing field by investing globally in organizations addressing what we see as fundamental human rights with a focus on equal access to clean water, quality education and essential healthcare.

What We Fund

Water

Billions of people lack access to clean water. This affects health and hinders education, employment, economic growth, and gender equality.

Having access to clean water not only saves lives and leads to better health outcomes, it creates a domino effect of positive change throughout entire communities by improving access to education, food, employment, gender equality, and mitigates the effects of climate change.

Over the last 15 years, AJA Foundation has invested approximately $3 million to support five clean water initiatives. Some have been multi-year commitments.

Education

Access to primary education is inequitable. Children who are economically disadvantaged lack access to curriculum and support necessary to thrive academically.

Education is the critical tool for upward economic mobility. Students who are structurally denied necessary coursework and critical support like tutoring, mentoring, and scholarships cannot reach their full potential.

The AJA Foundation has invested over $4 million to date in programs that empower deserving students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Investing in the potential of these students not only improves their financial future, it unlocks broader economic opportunities for entire communities and fosters future leadership.

Health

Half of the world’s population lacks access to essential health services. This not only puts the individual's health at risk, but also the stability of communities, societies, and economies.

Billions of people do not live close enough to medical centers or providers to access basic healthcare or are too poor to afford it. As a result, far too many medical conditions that are routinely treated in the developed world go untreated in the developing world. The same is true for prevention.

Because where you are born should not determine access to healthcare, the AJA Foundation has invested over $1.8 million in organizations delivering quality healthcare in developing countries. In addition to prevention, health services include maternal, newborn, and pediatric medicine and treatment of common diseases.

Foundation Purpose

Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne seeks to contribute to the development of a vital culture of excellence in classical music and to help attract new audiences to the field. To achieve these objectives, the Foundation sponsors international academies and master classes conducted by established instructors.

In addition, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne supports outstanding event series or festivals with visionary programming and innovative modes of outreach and communication to foster the public’s engagement with classical music. In general, the Foundation focuses on the promotion of new and contemporary music, although projects on music from other eras are by no means excluded.

Focus Areas

Visual Arts

Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne’s concept of «Visual Art» encompasses not only the classical genres of art such as painting, sculpture, graphic art, drawing and photography, but also new forms of expression and media such as performance, experimental film and video. The Foundation provides funds for regular and special exhibitions as well as their accompanying catalogues at publicly accessible, well established museums and art collections provided that the exhibitions funded are international in their orientation, relevant from an art historical perspective, and carefully curated. Furthermore, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne supports innovative und interactive projects that explore new approaches to fostering art education so as to attract new audiences. In principle, the Foundation also provides funds for the involvement of modern media in the expansion or presentation of significant pieces of art in the context of major museum projects.

Music

Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne predominantly supports contemporary classical music projects. However, projects on music from other eras are not excluded as a rule. In its effort to contribute to the development of professional music culture, the Foundation supports international academies and master classes conducted by established instructors. Furthermore, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne supports various series of music events or festivals that explore new ways of fostering the public’s engagement with classical music in an attempt to attract new audiences. In principle, professional orchestras and ensembles or music centers may also submit a project request for the equipment of rehearsal rooms, the acquisition of instruments or other infra-structural needs.

Cultural Education

In the area of Cultural Education, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne supports projects that bear a significant relation to Visual Art or Music. The target group includes children and teenagers, particularly from underprivileged backgrounds, who are introduced to art and music in the context of curricular or extracurricular activities. In this way, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne offers support to teenagers in their personal development and, at the same time, trains the next generation of artists as well as a future audience. A project request can only be submitted provided that the programs are developed, conducted, and realized by a professional artist or a recognized public institution. Furthermore, the projects should have a long-term horizon and be accessible to as wide a group of participants as possible. Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne funds both expansion and continuation of ongoing projects as well as the launch of exemplary pilot projects.

Mission

The mission of the Henry E. Niles Foundation is to help in the nurturing and uplifting of people in need. The Foundation strives to support humanitarian efforts, including faith-based endeavors, that:

• strengthen education including special education, literacy and others; 
• fight economic hardships through self-help opportunities;
• enhance public health and sanitation on a global basis.

Primary Program Interests

The Board is currently highlighting the following areas:  

Education – Included in this interest area are primary, secondary and higher education for those motivated individuals who are unable to obtain the benefits of quality education without assistance.

Economic Self-Sufficiency – This program area includes but is not limited to: job training, the encouragement and support of entrepreneurialism, mentoring, and micro-credit initiatives.

Health & Independence – Special interests here include medical and public health assistance for the elderly, the poor, the disadvantaged and the disabled.

Guiding Principles & Considerations

• Favors programs addressing long-term solutions to the causes of problems, as distinguished from programs that simply treat the symptoms.
• Added emphasis on programs and organizations that address the intersection of its various program interests.
• Encourages pilot initiatives that test new program models.
• Particular interest in organizations that promote collaborative efforts among groups and organizations.
• Qualities sought by the Foundation in its grantee organizations are: effective and dynamic personnel; passionate leadership; a bias against bureaucracy; prudent management & governance practices; and commitment to results and overall assessment of program impact.

Grants range from $2,500 up to $50,000. In unique circumstances, the Foundation does consider a more significant grant for a program having a major impact in one or more of its areas of interest.

Journalism & Media Grant

The Journalism and Media program seeks to promote and amplify just and inclusive news and narratives, based on the belief that accurate and compelling media plays an important role in informing, engaging, and activating individuals and groups to take part in democratic practices and processes.

To build and strengthen organizations creating and disseminating just, accurate, and inclusive news and narratives, the program supports work in three areas:

• Professional Nonprofit Reporting
• Nonfiction Multimedia Storytelling
• Participatory Civic Media

In each of the three areas, the program pursues the following objectives:

• Build strong, independent, and sustainable organizations and networks that exemplify leadership and innovation in a rapidly changing media ecosystem and comprise the media infrastructure required to meet the democratic ideals of a multiracial, multiethnic America.
• Address barriers that limit the creation of, access to, or participation in media activities, including the legal, safety, digital security, and technological challenges facing organizations and individuals.
• Promoting learning, leadership, innovation, and field-building opportunities that explore timely and emerging issues related to the production, dissemination, and engagement with journalism and media.

Our Journalism and Media program supports U.S.-based nonprofit institutions with national reach and influence. In a few cases, we support regional and place-based organizations that are exemplars in their fields and provide a model for others to replicate.

We also support journalism and media in Chicago, where the Foundation is located, and in 2021, in partnership with MacArthur’s Technology in the Public Interest Program, we began supporting a small portfolio of organizations and activities focused on combatting racialized disinformation and conspiracy.

Indigenous Peoples

The idea that underpins Foundation programs in this area is that we strive to catalyze economic development by investing in entrepreneurship and business education and investing in capacity building for business and entrepreneurship in Indigenous communities. The Foundation has 30 years of experience with programs that work to give life to this idea.

Since 1992 our Entrepreneurship Scholarship program has provided scholarships to Indigenous students who study business or entrepreneurship. We invest about $500,000 annually on scholarships and another $100,000 to $500,000 on endowment building. The program began with students at tribal colleges, but the Foundation now funds Indigenous students at other institutions as well. Those institutions have a high number of Indigenous students and graduates.

In 2001 the Foundation requested that Gonzaga University develop an MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship, and the Foundation provided full-ride scholarships for Indigenous students to attend. Since its inception, the program has produced more than 80 graduates. We know of no comparable program in the country.

The Foundation also has made capacity-building grants to aid the establishment of business and entrepreneurship training in Indigenous communities. Grant recipients include American Indigenous Business Leaders (AIBL), Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity through Entrepreneurship (CAPE) Fund, Lakota Funds, and the Native CDFI network. The expectation is that these will complement our investments in education by enhancing the conditions and opportunities for entrepreneurs and business owners.

JSF Grant Making Strategy

JSF makes grants to organizations that help people overcome barriers to education and employment. Addressing these barriers enables them to graduate and find good jobs, thereby contributing to and enriching their communities.

JSF assists people indirectly by making grants to schools, universities, and non-profits, and funds initiatives such as scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and internships. Grants are focused on three areas: individuals with disabilities, individuals with financial need, and Indigenous peoples.

People with Disabilities

The Foundation makes grants to organizations that educate, mentor or otherwise support students with disabilities. It funds scholarships for students with disabilities at each campus of the State University System of Florida as well as schools throughout the United States and Canada that specifically focus on those populations.

Since the early 1990s the Foundation has funded scholarships for students with disabilities at each State University System of Florida campus and has developed close ties with the disability service offices at each of the 12 campuses. The Foundation also provides scholarships for students with disabilities at Gallaudet University. As in other areas of its programing, the Foundation supports early education, which is especially important for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and blind students. Since inception, the Foundation has made an annual grant to Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and in recent years it has made grants to Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech and Perkins School for the Blind.

The Foundation makes grants to organizations that educate, mentor or otherwise support students with learning differences. Examples of these are Landmark East School, Mount Allison University and Landmark College.

The Foundation also focuses on employment for people with disabilities. Even with good educational qualifications, people with disabilities still have difficulty entering the work force. Therefore the Foundation has developed a portfolio of grants to transition-oriented programs that are designed to help people with disabilities obtain traction in the workplace. These grants are riskier than scholarships but, when they work, often have great social impact. They also resonate with the Foundation’s desire to identify niche areas which may have been overlooked by other educational funders.

JSF Grant Making Strategy

JSF makes grants to organizations that help people overcome barriers to education and employment. Addressing these barriers enables them to graduate and find good jobs, thereby contributing to and enriching their communities.

JSF assists people indirectly by making grants to schools, universities, and non-profits, and funds initiatives such as scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and internships. Grants are focused on three areas: individuals with disabilities, individuals with financial need, and Indigenous peoples.

What We Fund

We view our grantees as partners and work with them to develop sustainable proposals that will catalyze change and growth in their organization and in the individuals served. Grantee partners are usually required to leverage Foundation grants by obtaining matching funds from other sources. The amount of matching money varies according to the circumstances and is negotiated with the grantee partner in each case.

Why Education?

We have chosen education because we believe that it is the best means to empower people to get better jobs, to become more independent and to participate more fully in our society.

Our Grantmaking Strategy

JSF makes grants to organizations that help people overcome barriers to education and employment. Addressing these barriers enables them to graduate and find good jobs, thereby contributing to and enriching their communities.

JSF assists people indirectly by making grants to schools, universities, and non-profits, and funds initiatives such as scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and internships. Grants are focused on three areas: individuals with disabilities, individuals with financial need, and Indigenous peoples.

Economically Disadvantaged Students

Our purpose is to help economically disadvantaged students pursue and achieve success in education so that they can obtain meaningful employment. Our programs to serve that purpose are focused on scholarships.

The Foundation has developed a broad spectrum of scholarship programs. Most of them are leveraged by matching funds (sometimes as much as 4 to 1) and, where available, government grants. Some programs seek to reach students in middle or high school on the theory that preparation and mentoring are necessary if these students are to succeed at the post -secondary level. Others are straight scholarship programs at the university level.

The Foundation’s university and college scholarships to students in financial need are offered at Berklee College of Music, Palm Beach Atlantic University, South Florida University, University of Florida, and University of West Florida. The Foundation also provides scholarship for dependents of UPS employees who attend college or university in Florida.

The Foundation has funded scholarships and endowment building at Florida's state (community) college level and has recently entered into an innovative project with the University of Central Florida and 4 state colleges in the DirectConnect partnership, which allows graduates from those state colleges to go directly to UCF and obtain scholarship support.

Examples of programs that seek to reach middle or high school students are the Johnson Take Stock program in the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, and Providence St. Mel School in Chicago, Illinois. Both of these seek to engage disadvantaged students with a mentoring and scholarship program aimed at helping them to graduate from high school and attend postsecondary institutions.

The Kars4Kids Small Grant Program is dedicated to supporting educational initiatives around the world, helping us impact more children.

Causes We Care About

We’re passionate about helping children develop into productive members of their community.

• Youth Development
• Mentorship
• Education

Our Impact

Through our small grant program, we've helped likeminded charities ensure a brighter future for children & their families.

Our Mission

We’re a national Jewish nonprofit that provides year-round educational and mentoring opportunities and support to develop youth into productive and engaged members of society. Our small grant program enables us to expand our reach to more diverse populations by lending support to local charities doing great work for the children in their communities.

How it works

Are you a 501c3 lay organization with a central focus of doing original work on behalf of America’s children? We want to hear from you. Grants typically range from $500-$2,000, depending on such factors as mission alignment and availability of funds.

Our committee considers each application seriously. We aim to get a response to you within 4-6 months, when possible. Due to the large number of requests we receive, it may take up to a year for us to get back to you with a final determination. We may not respond to your application if it does not meet our criteria for consideration. Determination is made on a case-by-case basis, depending on factors like mission alignment and availability of funds. 

McElhattan Foundation Grants

Welcome to the McElhattan Foundation. We are a Pittsburgh-based grantmaking foundation.

Our mission is preserving and enhancing human life, and we are working toward this by focusing our grantmaking on four program areas: 

End Death on the Job 

The Foundation's interest in preventing death and serious injury in the workplace stems from the family's company, Industrial Scientific Corporation, which manufactures life-saving gas-monitoring devices. The McElhattan family is deeply committed to ending death on the job by 2050, and we expect the majority of our grant budget will be dedicated to this effort. We are especially interested in innovative safety technology, including virtual and augmented reality.

We do not fund applications from nonprofits for employee training or installing/buying safety equipment; we also do not fund road safety initiatives. If you've found us and are seeking funding for any of these things, we wish you the best of luck-- our team is small and it's necessary for us to stay within our particular areas of focus in this program area.

Education

The McElhattan Foundation believes that learning - about oneself and the world around us - is at the core of human life. After all, we learn throughout our entire lives, and in many different settings from school to home and everything in between. Learning brings joy, frustration, resilience, understanding, and purpose to our lives. Unfortunately, many in our region, specifically children living in poverty and children of color, do not have equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities. There are complex and systemic issues of racial and economic injustice at work. To address these issues, our grantmaking is focused on high-need, high-impact areas. Through careful consideration of evidence and urgency, we make grants to support out-of-school time learning and innovative approaches to expand educator diversity. 

Out-of-school-time (OST) Learning  - Research shows that interest-driven experiences in OST settings are key to unlocking the critical learning and life skills that help children to flourish. Because learning does not stop when the school day ends, we support high-quality afterschool, summer, and other informal learning experiences that take place outside the classroom. We fund hands-on learning experiences where youth can connect to positive adult mentors, feel safe to try new things, and have the opportunity to hone new skills. Through our funding, we work to strengthen and expand OST learning in the Pittsburgh region to ensure equitable access for all children.

We prioritize funding for programs that:

• primarily serve children living in poverty and/or children of color; 
• are community-based, rather than operated by schools; 
• primarily serve children in grades K-8; and 
• operate with dependable consistency and high frequency.

We are particularly interested in funding organizations that demonstrate a commitment to implementing critical quality standards, including:  

• social-emotional learning and skill development;
• positive relationship development among youth and with trusted adult mentors;
• youth-centered approaches that help individuals build on their strengths and talents; and 
• strong partnerships with families and schools.

The McElhattan Foundation aims to provide flexible support to grant recipients in the OST area and will direct the majority of our giving through general operating grants. We also will prioritize organizations with annual operating budgets of $10 million or less.

End-of-Life Planning and Care

The McElhattan Foundation believes it is possible for most people to have a higher quality of life at the end of life. Grants in our End-of-Life Planning and Care program area will support initiatives in three strategic areas: Awareness and Documentation, Caregiver/Provider Training and Support, and Technological Innovation. As always, we seek to fund changemakers—visionary leaders and strong teams who will create dramatic, measurable improvement in how patients and their families experience the inevitable process of dying.

• AWARENESS & DOCUMENTATION - We will support initiatives that educate and empower our community—Western Pennsylvania—about end-of-life decision-making, including clarifying the option of hospice care. We are open to funding broad awareness campaigns as well as targeted efforts aimed at reaching specific segments of the population, especially underserved groups. Once an individual understands their end-of-life options and decides upon their preferences, it’s essential for that person to make their wishes known, in advance and in writing, to their loved ones and medical providers. We will support initiatives designed to make recording and sharing this information easier.
• CAREGIVER/PROVIDER TRAINING & SUPPORT - We support initiatives that offer resources, such as respite care, practical training, and counseling, to family and other nonprofessional caregivers. We support programs that train or retrain professional end-of-life care providers—nurses, doctors, social workers, home healthcare aides, etc.—for careers that pay family-sustaining wages. We are particularly interested in improving communication skills around end-of-life care for providers, and in high-quality home-based care. This work too will be focused in Western Pennsylvania.
• TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION - We believe technology can play a role in improving the “quality of death” for many people. Perhaps there is an application for existing technology, like augmented reality, in training caregivers, or perhaps someone can use emerging technology to prevent pressure sores. We would love to see this innovation begin in Pittsburgh, but we are open to applications from end-of-life tech innovators anywhere in the U.S. (To clarify: the bar here is high. We are not funding requests to purchase equipment like VR headsets, iPads, etc. We are looking for game-changing new ideas that could move the entire field of end-of-life care forward.)

Economic Development in Knox & Franklin, PA

The McElhattan family's roots are in Knox and Franklin, PA, and we would like to see those communities thrive. We aim to support locally-led initiatives that improve residents' job opportunities, health, safety, and general quality of life. We have, for example, contributed to the renovation of Miller-Sibley Park and the renovation of the Franklin YMCA, and have funded the Knox Area Ambulance Company and the Knox Volunteer Fire Department.

Organizations that serve Knox and/or Franklin as part of a larger geographical service area are eligible to apply for funding, but in your LOI, please estimate what percentage of funds will be spent specifically on community development in Knox and/or Franklin. 

The Russell Foundation

The Russell Foundation supports programs for children and youth that promote their development into confident, competent, and caring adults who will make positive contributions to society.

Our Purpose

To make a positive difference in the lives of children, youth and young adults (thru age 23) so that they can achieve their highest potential.

Our Business

Supporting qualified charitable organizations, projects and research that seek solutions to detrimental issues – individual and systemic – which achieve enduring positive effects on the physical, intellectual and emotional development of children and youth of all ages and socio-economic status.

Our Values

Self-Image, Self-Respect, Personal Responsibility, Confidence, Education, Competence, Healthy Lifestyle, Caring and Respect for Others.

Focus Areas

Award grants focus on six areas supporting children and youth. The distribution of grants awarded each year reflects the Foundation’s current emphasis toward each area. The Foundation’s future emphasis may change, but it will consider grant applications addressing any of these focus areas.

• Education: Advancing the learning skills and academic achievements of children from kindergarten to high school using tutoring, mentoring, and talent-coaching that supplement and complement formal educational systems.
• Development: Building the long-term life skills, awareness, and ambition to have the confidence and motivation necessary to pursue goals for the betterment of themselves and society. 
• Intervention: Providing the short-term framework and resources needed to protect children facing immediate difficulties in their living environments that undermine their long-term development.
• Character: Instilling morals and principles that foster ethical behavior, self-responsibility, respect for others, stewardship of the environment, and caring for those in need.
• Health: Fostering and maintaining the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of children that is essential for positive development.
• Medical: Providing services, resources, and other support for specific treatment / correction of birth defects and physical impairments.

Foundation History

Beginning in 2001, Linda and David Shaheen have devoted their time and energies to advancing the social and physical well being of individuals through support of programs that have a focus on education. It is Linda and David's belief that they can benifit the greatest number of people by empowering them through the dissemination of knowledge and information.

Foundation Goals

Higher Education for Inner City Youth

The Foundation has targeted scholarships for inner city youth in order to help alter the cycle of poverty that exists in their communities. We believe that giving scholarships is not enough to ensure successful graduates. We require our scholarship programs to have a significant mentoring component to help guide students through the complexities of higher education to result in a positive outcome.

AIDS Prevention 

One of the Foundation's goals is to help stop the spread of AIDS and sexually transmitted infections through education programs, idealy before a person becomes sexually active. In order to stop the spread of sexually transmitted disease we feel it is vitally important to impart accurate information to youth so they can make good decisions for their future health and well-being.

Smart Family Fund

We fund early-stage non-profits with the potential for positive, scalable impact that have not yet demonstrated the efficacy needed for growth funding or a sustainable model.

Our Philanthropic Role

Social entrepreneurs often face significant challenges, especially when their initiatives are still in the early stages. Securing funding for innovative but untested ideas can be particularly daunting without extensive performance data to attract large-scale investors.

We are a small family foundation guided by three brothers united in their commitment to fostering social entrepreneurship. Our mission is to discover, support, and mentor emerging nonprofit organizations and their leaders, providing the necessary backing to help them succeed.

Small Grants Make a Big Difference

Each year, we make grants, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. When we find an organization that is making significant advances, we work with them to grow their programs, and get them ready for more significant funders who can support them through the growth phase.

All applications must be submitted through this application portal. Our goal is to keep it as simple as possible for you to apply and for us to be able to review. 

STEM Higher Education Program

The Foundation believes that increases in human welfare are largely driven by increases in our understanding and mastery of the forces of nature and society. The health of the scientific enterprise is thus an issue of fundamental concern to us. This includes the quality of scientific training and inquiry, the structure of scientific careers, the diversity of the scientific workforce, the strength of scientific educational institutions, and the openness and accessibility of scientific education and training to all.

Priorities

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are the central tenets of our program. As articulated in Sloan’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement, upholding these tenets is a matter of fundamental justice and our path to ensuring that the best science is done.

When educational settings are diverse, they comprise individuals with a variety of life experiences, whether they be racial, ethnic, economic, cultural, religious, geographic, or otherwise.

Equity and equity-mindedness is found in institutions and individuals who understand that while talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not, and thus seek to transform organizational practices, policies, and cultures in order to provide all individuals with the tools, resources, and supports needed to succeed at the highest levels.

Inclusion ensures that everyone, regardless of their backgrounds or held identities, feel belonging in a given environment, whether that be a classroom, laboratory, academic department, or entire discipline.

Six equally important strategic priorities guide our grantmaking. In particular, we seek to:

• Invest in widening pathways to STEM graduate education. The pathway to STEM graduate education is broken for far too many students given systemic barriers faced by individuals and institutions. Among other investments, we seek to support educational pathways from Minority Serving Institutions to master’s and doctoral STEM programs.
• Empower universities to transform graduate education. Increasing diversity is crucial but not enough. Institutions and their STEM departments must also pursue new and creative ways of ensuring inclusive environments and equitable outcomes for their students. Through the Foundation’s University Centers for Exemplary Mentoring and Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership, we seek to empower STEM departmental leadership, faculty, and staff in doing just that.
• Support innovative efforts to increase diversity in the STEM professoriate. Widening the pathway to and through graduate education requires a diverse faculty body, as does the ability of the STEM enterprise to truly innovate. We are interested in investing in efforts by institutions and organizations that seek to transform the culture and climate of STEM departments and disciplines such that more individuals are attracted to the professoriate and supported once there.
• Pursue systemic change. For too long, systemic change efforts have gone underinvested in and understudied, resulting in stagnant progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the STEM disciplines. It’s not enough to promote individual advancement without also seeking to improve the capacity of STEM environments to attend to diversity, equity, and inclusion in their policies and practices, and in the standards and norms carried out by their community members. We seek to empower and equip institutions seeking this kind of change and to support research on how such change happens.
• Examine our own practices. Any grantmaking process also necessitates looking inward at one’s own practices. We commit to regularly revisiting and evaluating how we do things in order to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion at every stage of the grantmaking process – from the proposals we solicit to the reviewers we appoint.
• Coordinate and collaborate with others. We recognize that any one organization has a finite amount of dollars and finite amount of influence. We seek to engage private foundations, federal agencies, and corporate funders in enabling systemic change in STEM higher education and the field at large. This includes internal collaboration at Sloan, working alongside and in support of our colleagues in advancing their own DEI agendas.

Who Can Get Tickets?

Tickets for Kids Charities partners with organizations (agency partners) that serve low-income, at-risk children and youth to supplement their existing programming with ticketed experiences. These programs can include: residential, mentoring, behavioral health counseling, after-school program, summer day camps, and other types of services. TFK ticketed experiences are provided to approved agency partners at no cost to their organizations or clientele.

Aura Cacia Positive Change Project

In communities everywhere, women of courage and determination are working hard to better their lives in the face of seemingly overwhelming difficulties. We’re inspired by these resilient women and created the Aura Cacia Positive Change Project to support them. Together, we’re helping women transform their lives.

Aura Cacia provides meaningful financial support to organizations committed to helping women and girls facing difficult life situations make transformational improvements in their lives. Founded in 2016, the Positive Change Project works to equip women and girls with the resources necessary to further their commitment to live more purposeful lives.

Programs supported through the Positive Change Project, are those that help women and girls through one or more of the following measures: enable disadvantaged women and girls become more stable and self-sufficient, employ strategies to help them live healthfully and purposefully, reinforce positive self-image, self-respect and self-confidence in women and girls, or creates opportunities for women to drive curriculum or programming that can be applied to program development and mentoring other women.

A portion of every sale of an Aura Cacia product goes back into the program, so you know that when you purchase from Aura Cacia, you are giving back to those in need. Since beginning the program in 2016, the Positive Change Project has given back more than $1 million.

Organizational Priorities

• Provide resources and services directly to women and/or girls facing significant barriers to sustaining their commitment to positive change.
• Empower disadvantaged women/or girls who are motivated to create lasting change to achieve greater stability and self-sufficiency.
• Maintain an annual organizational budget between $2 million and $8 million USD.

Program Priorities

• Implement strategies that support and reinforce women’s and girls’ positive change by promoting healthy, purposeful living.
• Foster positive self-image, self-respect, and self-confidence in women and/or girls.
• Create opportunities for women/program participants to lead and shape curriculum or programming, enabling them to contribute to program development. 

The Challenge

Basic necessities like clean water and safe, affordable housing, or opportunities in education and fair government representation are not equally accessible to all people. Climate change exacerbates the challenges that many people but especially women and historically underserved communities face as resources are strained and climate change protections are often inadequate. Generative AI has great potential to address these issues and reduce inequality, improving people’s lives.

Be a part of a new era in responsible AI. For the 2024 Call for Code Global Challenge, we’re calling on students, developers, and problem-solvers from universities and companies around the world to build innovative AI tech solutions with IBM watsonx that address specific challenges of equitable access to essential needs. Help show the world that AI can be trusted and used responsibly.

Prizes:

Teams of 1-5 people can compete for the following prizes:

Grand prize winners

• GRAND PRIZE:
  • $50,000.00 USD 
  • Option for solution implementation support from the Call for Code ecosystem
  • Opportunity for open source support from The Linux Foundation
• First runner-up
  • $25,000 USD
  • Opportunity for open source support from The Linux Foundation
• Second runner-up
  • $10,000 USD
  • Opportunity for open source support from The Linux Foundation
• University grant
• $30,000 USD
• total to the top scoring university team’s school(s)

Any university students in the top 3 winning teams are also eligible for:

• Exploration of IBM job opportunities
• Option to be matched with an IBM mentor​ ​

In addition to prizes, participants can grow their AI, cloud, and other emerging tech skills through access to expert technical mentors, training resources, and events.

Challenge

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

Background

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

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

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

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

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

Benefits of participation

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

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

Delta believes data is powerful and anyone should be able to use it for change in their community. We partner with non-profits and communities all over the world to build technical capacity that generates positive social impact.

Background

Delta Analytics is community of 90+ data scientists, economists, analysts, and software engineers seeking to leverage their data skills for the welfare of the community. While our primary background is in the private sector, we apply our skill set to facilitate progress in the nonprofit world. We find the data questions of the social sector fascinating and address them with an eye towards high impact and sustainability.

Delta Data Grants

Every year, Delta Analytics partners skilled data scientists, engineers and analysts with nonprofits around the world for free. We provide a wide range of data-related services catering to non-profits big and small. Very few projects are straightforward but all start off with a question. Where is my funding coming from? How did my free after-school mentoring program impact test scores? How many people have we reached in the past 6 months?

Armed with a clear question, we can decide what services best illuminate an answer. That is why we start off with an application -- we want to work with nonprofits who have a well-defined sense of what they want to achieve. Our potential services are described in more detail below.

Data Management

If you have data but are unsure what to make of it, we can help transform the data into something meaningful. We can set up data management systems that let you pull important insights from the information at your fingertips.

Data Analysis

Delta can run statistical analysis to help assess impact on measurable variables. For instance, we can tell an environmental organization how much waste it has reduced per dollar spent.

Marketing Metrics

Understanding who you work with is crucial to maximizing your influence; Delta can analyze data to help you categorize your market. For example, we can track characteristics of donors, clients, or volunteers, and provide insights on the demographics of stakeholders.

Data Visualization & Presentation

Delta creates engaging graphs, charts, and tables to help you visualize data. These can be utilized for internal processes or to show off your organization's impact to the world.

Funding

The data grant is not a monetary grant. The data grant provides the organization with access to data analytics services.

Mission

At the Nasdaq Foundation, our mission is to:

• Reimagine investor engagement to equip under-represented communities with the financial knowledge and tools to share in the wealth that markets create; and
• Leverage the Foundation’s investment in the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, alongside new strategic partnerships with organizations that can help build a deeper, data-led understanding where the challenges are greatest, what existing efforts could be amplified, and how the Foundation can make new and distinctive contributions.

Quarterly Grant Program

As we strive to accelerate progress in diversifying entrepreneurship and empowering a more diverse group of investors, the Nasdaq Foundation will accept grant requests for programs that align with our mission.

Areas of Focus

We use our resources in two areas of focus:

• Programs designed to empower diverse investors with the financial knowledge and confidence they need to share in the wealth that markets can create.
• Programs designed to support women and under-represented minority communities with the resources needed to grow and sustain their businesses.

Program Criteria:

Empower-Financial Knowledge And Confidence

Empower diverse investors with the financial knowledge and confidence they need to share in the wealth that markets can create.

Grants will be given in this area to organizations and programs which deliver impact in one or more of the following ways:

• Enhance financial literacy among women and under-represented communities
• Improve access to knowledge and tools among women and underrepresented communities

Support diverse entrepreneurs with the resources to strengthen and scale their businesses and contribute to the prosperity of society.

Grants will be given in this area to organizations and programs which deliver impact in one or more of the following ways:

• Equip women and diverse founders with mentoring and resources
• Improve access to capital for women and diverse founders

Amounts and Terms

There is no set minimum or maximum grant amount, though the average size of a grant made by the Foundation is $75,000. The Nasdaq Foundation’s Leadership Team will consider whether the amount requested is commensurate with the project proposed and appropriate for the Nasdaq Foundation’s annual grant making target and charitable purposes.

Reasonable overhead costs may be included in the grant request but must be specified.

Unless otherwise specified and agreed upon, all grants have one-year terms. Under very limited circumstances, the Nasdaq Foundation will make a multiple-year commitment. It is incumbent upon the grant seeker to demonstrate the necessity or benefit of multiple-year funding in the grant proposal.

There is no limit as to the number of proposals a single entity may submit at one time.

AI for Good

We support projects that use technology to empower people living with disabilities. We are looking for individuals or teams who are not only passionate about making the world more inclusive, but also connected with the communities they intend to benefit. We invest in ideas that are developed by or with people with disabilities

AI for Accessibility Grants

The Microsoft Accessibility Innovation program seeks proposals for projects that use generative AI to support people with disabilities in accomplishing their goals. This grant round is focused on projects that use the generative text, image, audio, and/or video capabilities of AI, either directly or indirectly.

Themes

In this RFP, we are focused on projects that relate to the themes below. We will, however, consider applications that address other disability empowerment topics, as well.

Theme 1: Accessibility for All

Creating new solutions and improving existing ones requires direct involvement with the disability community. It’s important to have diverse representation and to consider the needs of people who belong to communities that have been marginalized and excluded. We look for proposals that serve the needs of underrepresented groups.

We ask you to consider:

• How would you design with people living with disabilities?
• How can you provide the conditions and/or information necessary for people with disabilities—who have a diversity of needs—to empower themselves?
• How can your solution integrate into the larger accessibility ecosystem?
• How can your solution offer support for people’s agency and independence?

Theme 2: Communication and Language

Generative AI has the potential to enhance communication and language skills for people with disabilities. Solutions can vary from “just-in-time” (e.g. instant translation) to ongoing support (e.g. language learning). For all of these cases, solutions should create positive outcomes for users. Projects should also address potential risks of harm.

We ask you to consider:

• What data can you use to ensure your solutions offer appropriate and responsive communication support?
• How will you design your solution to be responsive without being intrusive?
• What risks may result from your solution and how will you address them?

Theme 3: Independence and Empowerment

Consider the barriers (e.g. cost, infrastructure, social factors) to technology for your target community. For example, expensive products are out of reach for many people with disabilities. Internet connectivity is a challenge for many in rural areas, underserved urban communities, and many developing countries. Digital accessibility is often forgotten when designing for disability empowerment. All solutions must consider the full range of disabilities and meet both accessibility and responsible AI standards.

We ask you to consider:

• What technologies can support disability communities in accessing locally relevant resources?
• What are the common barriers to accessing technology in the target community, and how can you address them?
• How can you design a solution that is both accessible for people with disabilities and affordable to a global audience?
• How can your solution work across different devices (e.g., mobile, desktop) and interaction methods (e.g. voice, keyboard)?
• How can your solution promote independence and empowerment for people with disabilities, and what metrics will you use to measure its success?

The Grantee Experience and Benefits

Over a 12-month period, you will be part of a vibrant community of grantees. You will receive support to accelerate and drive impact for your AI for Accessibility grant project.

• Funding: Our grants cover costs related to collecting or labelling data, developing models, or other engineering-related work.
• Azure & Tech Consulting: We provide Azure compute credits worth $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 as well as Azure developer support and resources.
  • To estimate the monetary value of Azure computing resources you need, use the Azure calculator.
  • For example, if your plan requires 100,000 Cognitive Services Computer Vision transactions, you will need $100 per month for 12 months, totaling $1,200 in Azure credits for the one-year grant period.
• Community: You will be included in a supportive community of current grantees and alumni.
• Mentoring: We provide a designated mentor based on your grant topic to help unlock the potential of your project.
• Amplification: We give you access to a support platform to craft and share your grant project more widely.

Overall Program Goal & Approach 

The Stranahan Foundation’s Early Childhood Education Strategy focuses on increasing access to high-quality early care and education for low-income children (birth to five) by investing in developing and retaining a high-quality, thriving early educator workforce. 

Context

The spring 2025 funding cycle will support nonprofit organizations and projects focused on advancing our Innovation and Proven Professional Development strategies. These strategies are outlined below:

• Innovation: This strategy focuses on developing, piloting, and refining new approaches to improve the knowledge, skills, or practices of aspiring and existing early childhood professionals. To be considered under this strategy, your project must have:
  • A clearly defined logic model.
  • Incorporated best practices in adult learning.
  • An evaluation plan that (a) assesses the model’s impact on classroom environments, teacher practices, and, ideally, child learning and (b) advances our collective understanding of “what works, for whom, and under what conditions” by the end of the grant period.
  • Plan to repeat or scale the innovative approach to other settings or geographies if proven successful.
• Proven Professional Development: This strategy focuses on expanding or modifying a clearly defined, proven professional development model to enable future expansion or implementation in a new childhood setting. To be considered as part of this strategy, your professional development model must have:
  • A clearly defined logic model.
  • Substantial third-party evidence of positive outcomes for early childhood professionals, classroom environments, and, ideally, child learning. The Foundation generally defines “substantial” as consistent with the definitions of What Works Clearinghouse or ESSA Tier 1 or 2 evidence.
  • Clear evidence of repeated, successful implementation in multiple early childhood settings or various geographies.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

This cycle has up to $1.5 million in funding available to support innovation and proven professional development proposals. Based on the highest needs surfaced through the Foundation’s recent engagement and discussions with ECE leaders and educators in our 2024 Provider cycle, we are exclusively interested in models and approaches designed to do one of the following:

• Build the capacity of early childhood leaders, coaches, or mentor teachers to deliver or support instructional coaching.
• Support early childhood professionals in building the skills necessary to support children’s social-emotional health and effectively address challenging behaviors.
• Grow the pipeline of high-quality, well-trained early childhood leaders and teachers.

About The Memorial Trust

In 1975, two years after his death, The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust was established in New York. The four original trustees were a member of the Snow family, a lawyer, a publishing associate and a corporate trustee, the Irving Trust Company, now BNY Mellow N.A.. The current Trustees continue this legacy being well aware of the donor and his beliefs, values and ideals. The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas. They meet once a year, usually in June.

The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

The Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas (prioritized below and visually depicted here) while responding to the ever-changing needs of various segments of the population, especially to the needs of youth and people who are disadvantaged economically, emotionally, or physically.

Dating back to the inception of the Trust in 1973, the primary and overarching grant making priority has been and continues to be programs that focus on education.

• Education: Targets funds to organizations that provide educational opportunities or academic assistance to individuals who demonstrate an intellectual aptitude and a financial need. Examples include scholarships, fellowships, academic tutoring or counseling, literacy, and journalism.

Secondarily, the Trust considers proposals within the areas of Arts and Culture, Community Initiatives, and Youth Programs. The Board’s objective is to extend the primary educational focus by providing funding support within these additional program areas.

• Community Initiatives: Provides funding for programs or services that directly improve the quality of life within the geographic focus areas that we serve. Examples include support for libraries, food pantries and shelters, and neighborhood revitalization. Generally, the Trust does not seek proposals for health care initiatives or animal welfare programs.
• Arts and Culture: Offers grants that promote arts education and appreciation, particularly for young adults, via the development of educational curriculum and professional instruction including visiting artists and performance support for targeted populations.
• Youth Initiatives: Offers grants that provide character education or enrichment opportunities via mentoring or after-school programming

As a third priority, the Trust does consider proposals in the areas of Disabilities and Universal Access, Environmental, and Historic Preservation. As these are not core focus areas, funding is often limited. Priority will be given to proposals with an educational focus.

• Disabilities and Universal Access: Offers grants to organizations in complying with ADA requirements within their facilities (e.g. elevator, handrails, automatic doors, and ramps) or offering services targeted for individuals with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.
• Environmental: Provides funds for organizations that strive to protect strategic parcels of land and bodies of water as well as programs that educate the general public on key environmental issues such as conservation and water management.
• Historic Preservation: Provides funding for organizations that preserve historical artifacts (e.g. sites, structures, objects) and accounts (e.g. events), and educate the greater community on their significance. Examples include museums, historical societies and educational programming.

Our Purpose

For too many girls and women around the world, access to quality education is often limited. Two-thirds of all illiterate adults in the world are women, and not even seven percent of the world’s population has a college education. Education can equip all of us to challenge many of the global issues impacting women – poverty, oppression, misogyny, brutality. Ultimately, more and more educated girls will mean stronger and healthier villages, communities, and entire countries. And education will eradicate poverty.

Quality schooling can serve as an emancipator from poverty and lead to a better life for a woman and her family. The Circle of Sisterhood exists today to help make that better life possible by removing barriers to education and creating sustainable change for girls and women around the globe.

Grants

The Circle of Sisterhood seeks to support entities working worldwide to remove barriers to education for girls and women. We hope to help end oppressive brutality against women internationally by uplifting them from poverty through education.

Impact Categories

• Adult Education
• Community Programming
• Early Childhood Development
• Health & Medical Supplies
• K-12 Education
• Life Skills/Vocational Training
• Menstrual Hygiene Management
• Mentoring
• Reintegration from Sex Trafficking
• School Supplies/Infrastructure
• Teacher Salaries/Education

Our Areas of Interest

The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation (CofS) will fund programs or projects that remove barriers to education for girls and women, thereby improving their lives and those of their families. We value requests that advance long-range plans to improve the well-being of communities in sustainable ways.

Through relationships with our Grantees, we seek to:

• Ensure opportunities for girls and women to achieve education, by focusing on readiness for, access to, and performing well/persisting in school (e.g., providing tuition/school fees and necessary materials to succeed in school, enrichment/study groups, innovative approaches to education, awareness of the importance of education, parent involvement, menstrual health and hygiene, improving infrastructure, funding teacher salaries, etc.); and
• Improve the livelihood of girls and women (e.g., training to learn income-generating skills, business and vocational training, capacity-building, etc.).

Elevating Migrant Leadership: Building Inclusive Futures

The Elevating Migrant Leadership initiative was designed to support immigrant and refugee-led organizations in the U.S. that are seeking to develop civic leadership and advocacy skills so they can more effectively influence the development of programs and policies that affect them and their communities.

Background

Elevating Migrant Leadership: Building Inclusive Futures is a grantmaking initiative of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund that seeks to shift power to where it belongs: to immigrants, refugees, and migrants who best understand the needs of their communities.

How? By supporting organizations in the United States that are amplifying the voices of immigrants and refugees in their communities and advancing their leadership to shape more effective programs and policies.

Elevating Migrant Leadership launched as an open call funding opportunity in January 2024, and we were humbled to receive 364 applications from 43 states across the country. After a thorough review process with our advisory committee and WES staff, we are now proud to announce the 10 awardees who will be the recipients of a collective $1 million in flexible funding. All organizations are led by immigrants and refugees and show a strong commitment to advancing civic leadership and advocacy in their communities. 

The Opportunity

Ten selected awardees will receive $100,000 grants and become grantee partners of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund. As part of the Fund’s partner community, each awardee will have access to peer-learning, capacity building, and other programming.

Funding is awarded to organizations with programs, current or developing, that focus on 2 out of 3 of the following areas:

• Narrative Building: Immigrants, refugees, and other migrants learn the best ways to build or shift prevailing narratives so that they are inclusive of their voices and perspectives.
• Experiential Learning: Immigrants, refugees, and other migrants increase their leadership capacity through applied learning experiences that help them build strategic development and decision-making skills.
• Mentorship: Immigrants, refugees, and other migrants forge relationships with mentors who can provide guidance and introduction to networks.

About Us

The Bernau Family Foundation exists to promote the long term improvement of individual lives and the development of positive leadership.

Our vision is a society in which everyone is a healthy, active, contributing member who feels the civic responsibility to continue learning, to teach and mentor, and to encourage one another to grow in grace and faith.

The Bernau Family Foundation promotes the long term improvement of individual lives and development of positive leadership by funding organizations which offer more than a temporary solution for an improved quality of life, giving preference to those organizations or groups which instill in the individuals touched the importance of the following values: substance free living, elimination of personal violence and crime, civic responsibility, continuing education for gainful employment, and faith. The Bernau Family Foundation supports organizations which have mentor programs that work one on one with individuals whose changed lives will continue to have a positive impact on the people in their own sphere of influence.

About the Innovation Prize

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks out innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of the environment, heritage conservation, and social justice.

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize is open to non-profit and mission-driven for-profit organizations that are tackling America’s most pressing challenges through social innovation. In 2019, we will award up to ten Prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 for project expenses, for a total award of $175,000. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network, providing tools and training for ascendant change agents.

For more than three generations, The J.M. Kaplan Fund has provided catalytic funding for projects in their early stages of development. Whether a pilot project, a new organization, or a nascent initiative, work supported by the Fund has involved a certain measured risk that ultimately led to large-scale, transformative results. We launched the J.M.K. Innovation Prize in 2015 to leverage this legacy of catalytic grant-making in the field of social innovation. Currently on a biennial schedule, the Prize has to date funded twenty wildly creative solutions to social and environmental challenges, ranging from high-tech efforts to restore imperiled coral reefs, to the nation’s first farm labor trust. Each awardee takes a visionary approach to a societal need, working within one or more of the Fund’s three program areas:

• The Environment: Protecting natural resources and reducing the impacts of climate change.
• Heritage Conservation: Conserving the places that communities care about most.
• Social Justice: Supporting just alternatives and reforms to the criminal justice and immigration systems.

Tailored for Early-Stage Social Entrepreneurs

We know there is a scarcity of funding for untested ideas being piloted in the social innovation field. The Prize is designed to fill this gap in innovation philanthropy, supporting ideas that other funders may deem too risky or too small. We also know that early-stage innovators need the freedom to seize opportunities when and where they arise. The Prize’s unrestricted funding offers this flexibility, letting awardees deploy resources where they are most needed, whether investing in core projects, hiring staff, or just keeping the lights on.

We know each organization must follow its own path to achieving a change-making vision. With its three-year period, the Prize gives awardees room to evolve at their own pace, with an infrastructure of support tailored to their specific needs as early-stage innovators.

An Innovation Community

Beyond the cash award, the Innovation Prize provides tools to help turn ideas into action. Over the three-year Prize term, we bring awardees together for two convenings each year. Each of these meetings, spotlighting a different awardee’s organization, offers opportunities for peer learning and mentoring from experts in organizational development, board cultivation, media coaching, leadership training, and more. From West Virginia coal country to Monterey, California, our awardees have shared powerful learning moments, embedded in one another’s work and reflecting on their role as change agents.