Search Through Grants for Museums in Washington in the U.S.

Ben B. Cheney Foundation Grant

The Ben B. Cheney Foundation makes grants in the communities where Mr. Cheney’s lumber company operated.

Within those communities, the Foundation will respond to a wide variety of requests. The Foundation’s main goal is to support efforts that help to improve the quality of life in those communities.

Type of Grant

The Foundation is open to a wide variety of programs serving the communities where we give. We prefer to focus on project grants rather than ongoing operating support.

A project has three distinguishing features:

• A specific time period with a beginning and an end,
• Specific accomplishments for the project, and
• A specific budget that outlines both what resources the organization needs to achieve the stated accomplishments and where the organization plans to obtain those resources.

Project Grants

Project grants are generally given on a one-time basis. The Foundation will evaluate an organization's plans for sustaining the impact of project grants, especially those for program expansion or starting new programs. That evaluation will include these questions:

• Are there identified sources of support capable of sustaining the program?
• Is the organization committed to a strategy to gain those sources of support?
• Does the project plan include activities towards gaining that sustainability?

While the Foundation understands that fund raising is a part of many organizations' budgets, we feel that this approach allows us to respond to needs that go above and beyond the annual operating budget. As a result, projects for one-time capital or equipment needs often gain priority.

Through this approach the Foundation is able to make grants to a number of first time grantees every year. Since 1975 the Foundation has supported 1,200 organizations.

Program Areas

The Foundation organizes its grant making into eight categories. They are displayed here for information purposes only. The Foundation does not budget to categories in advance and grant seekers are not required to apply by category.

• Charity - Programs providing for basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing.
• Civic - Programs improving the quality of life in a community as a whole such as museums and recreation facilities.
• Culture - Programs encompassing the arts.
• Education - Programs supporting capital projects and scholarships, primarily for six pre-selected colleges and universities with a record of service to Pierce County.
• Elderly - Programs serving the social, health, recreational, and other needs of older people.
• Health - Programs related to providing health care.
• Social Services - Programs serving people with physical or mental disabilities or other special needs.
• Youth - Programs helping young people to gain the skills needed to become responsible and productive adults.

What does this program do?

This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

What is an eligible area?

Rural areas including cities, villages, townships and towns including Federally Recognized Tribal Lands with no more than 20,000 residents according to the latest U.S. Census Data are eligible for this program.

How may funds be used?

Funds can be used to purchase, construct, and / or improve essential community facilities, purchase equipment and pay related project expenses.

Examples of essential community facilities include:

• Health care facilities such as hospitals, medical clinics, dental clinics, nursing homes or assisted living facilities.
• Public facilities such as town halls, courthouses, airport hangars or street improvements.
• Community support services such as child care centers, community centers, fairgrounds or transitional housing.
• Public safety services such as fire departments, police stations, prisons, police vehicles, fire trucks, public works vehicles or equipment.
• Educational services such as museums, libraries or private schools.
• Utility services such as telemedicine or distance learning equipment.
• Local food systems such as community gardens, food pantries, community kitchens, food banks, food hubs or greenhouses.

Grant Approval

Applicant must be eligible for grant assistance, which is provided on a graduated scale with smaller communities with the lowest median household income being eligible for projects with a higher proportion of grant funds. Grant assistance is limited to the following percentages of eligible project costs:

Maximum of 75 percent when the proposed project is:

• Located in a rural community having a population of 5,000 or fewer; and
• The median household income of the proposed service area is below the higher of the poverty line or 60 percent of the State nonmetropolitan median household income.

Maximum of 55 percent when the proposed project is:

• Located in a rural community having a population of 12,000 or fewer; and
• The median household income of the proposed service area is below the higher of the poverty line or 70 percent of the State nonmetropolitan median household income.

Maximum of 35 percent when the proposed project is:

• Located in a rural community having a population of 20,000 or fewer; and
• The median household income of the proposed service area is below the higher of the poverty line or 80 percent of the State nonmetropolitan median household income.

Maximum of 15 percent when the proposed project is:

• Located in a rural community having a population of 20,000 or fewer; and
• The median household income of the proposed service area is below the higher of the poverty line or 90 percent of the State nonmetropolitan median household income. The proposed project must meet both percentage criteria. Grants are further limited.

Making community possible

At U.S. Bank, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change in our communities. Through our Community Possible Grant Program, we are partnering with organizations that focus on economic and workforce advancement, safe and affordable housing and communities connected through arts and culture.

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners.

How we partner with nonprofits

We focus on collaborative grantmaking and sustainable, high-impact funding with 501(c)(3) nonprofit partners. We partner with organizations that support:

• Economic and workforce advancement
• Safe and affordable housing
• Community arts and culture

Our strategy

Our community affairs and foundation team work closely with U.S. Bank regional leadership, business resource groups and our National Community Advisory Committee to ensure that prevailing needs are addressed in all the communities we serve.

To make the most meaningful impact, we prioritize organizations that:

• Focus on economic development issues related to work, home and play
• Address more than one of the grant pillars (work, home and play)
• Are based in and serve designated U.S. Bank communities
• Advance diversity, equity and inclusion

Who We Are

The Creag Foundation is a private grant making foundation established in 2009 in Woodinville, Washington.

The founders of the Creag Foundation believe that meaningful change can only be achieved through hard work, creativity and passion. They also understand the practical mechanisms that allow charitable organizations to succeed and grow. As a group, Creag Foundation principals are dedicated to helping today’s most innovative programs improve the human condition in a wide variety of ways.

Our Focus

The broad purpose of the Foundation is to support the efforts of nonprofit organizations who are innovators in the field of human services. Our particular focus is on smaller organizations that are starting out or established organizations that are looking for funding to take their organization in a new direction.

What We Fund

/ What We Fund

The Creag Foundation is focused on innovation in the industry. We will consider proposals from 501(c)(3) organizations that are finding new ways to address societal issues facing the nonprofit community. Applicants must have held 501(c)(3) status for one year before submitting. If your organization has held 501(c)(3) status for over a year, and your believe that your organization has a new approach to an existing social problem or is addressing a previously unaddressed social issue, you are welcome to contact us and request that we consider your organization for a funding opportunity.

Global Impact Cash Grants

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

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

Our priority social impact sectors

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

Cisco Crisis Response

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

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

Education

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

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

Economic Empowerment

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

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

Climate Regeneration

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

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

Inspired to make contributions with a wide-ranging yet personal impact, Carl and Marilynn Thoma founded the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation in 2014 to distinguish their initiatives in and support of the visual arts. In 2021, the Foundation was renamed the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation to more broadly reflect its expanded philanthropic efforts and initiatives, including the Thoma Scholars Program, which aims to strengthen community, leadership, and education initiatives in under-resourced and rural areas.

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation recognizes that the arts and education enhance lives and communities. We make art collection-related grants, as well as lending and exhibiting our own collection. We focus our education funding on the rural Southwest, primarily offering scholarships to students in the greater Texas panhandle. Through these giving programs, we strive to foster leadership, innovation, and equal opportunity.

Nonprofit Organizations

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations whose innovative projects and original ideas will advance scholarship in our collection areas. We accept Letters of Inquiry on a rolling basis for bold proposals that provide promising insights into the fields of art which we collect:

• Art of the Spanish Americas

The Foundation’s Art of the Spanish Americas collection numbers more than 200 works from the 17th to 19th centuries—principally paintings from South America. The collection includes works on religious themes and portraits from the Viceroyalty of Peru (and the smaller entities such as the Kingdom of Nueva Granada into which it was divided in the eighteenth century), as well as a small selection of portraits from the Spanish Caribbean.

•  Digital & Media Art

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation began supporting the field of Digital Art in 2009. Our collection has grown to include over 400 artworks by more than 138 artists, representing a global history of the medium from 1959 to the present. The Thoma Foundation’s core collection of Digital Art highlights the specific achievements of modern computers—their processing speed, infinite data capacity, imaging precision, and virtual networking—to aid artists. Media Art signifies our support of art created with both pioneering and emerging time-based technologies, especially in relation to electronic mass media—the news and photojournalism, film and television, video games, social media, and other cultural experiences produced by communications technology.

• Japanese Bamboo

The Japanese Bamboo collection includes contemporary Japanese Bamboo baskets representing both independent artists and bamboo artists from the two professional associations devoted to the field, Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and the Nihon Kogeikai (Japan Craft Arts Association).

• Post-War Painting & Sculpture

The Foundation’s collection of mid-century global abstract art is centered around the years 1950–79 and the major movements of that period including Color Field, Hard Edge, Op, Washington Color School, Light & Space, and shaped canvas.

We also welcome requests pertaining to the arts and culture of the American Southwest. The projects we support through our Collections-Related Grants for Nonprofits fall within one or more of the following categories:

• Exhibitions

We welcome the opportunity to become an early funder of landmark exhibitions that relate to our collections, and which significantly raise the public profile of those genres while also advancing art historical scholarship. Historically, we have cultivated strong relationships with medium-size museums across the country that reach a diverse regional audience and value innovative curation. Exhibition funding can include development, scholarship, construction, outreach, traveling costs, admissions subsidies, and more. The Thoma Foundation also loans pieces from its collections in support of exhibitions.

• Convenings

To encourage scholarly debate and dialogue, we fund academic conferences and workshops that will significantly advance the fields of art scholarship related to our collections. We urge applicants to familiarize themselves with industry standards for honoraria and per diems in advance of creating a convening budget.

• Academic 

Research, travel, manuscript development, hiring research assistants, equipment, etc. to support original scholarship related to our collection areas. Academic projects should culminate in a clear final deliverable such as a book manuscript or peer-reviewed article.

Individual Fellowships and Awards

In addition to our nonprofit grants, the Foundation runs several fellowship programs for individuals related to our Art of the Spanish Americas collections. This includes two annual fellowship programs geared towards postdoctoral scholars and Ph.D. candidates: the Marilynn Thoma Fellowship in Art of the Spanish Americas and the Thoma Foundation Research and Travel Awards in Art of the Spanish Americas. Biannually, we offer the Exploratory Travel Award to early career Ph.D. students. 

Thoma Foundation Special Project Funding

The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation offers a Special Project Funding Grant as part of its broader grant programs described above. Through the above programs, we seek to heighten public interest and awareness, fuel innovative scholarship, and promote dynamic partnerships in the fields of art and art history. For the Special Project Funding, the Foundation takes a proactive and personal approach to giving. Rather than making grants based on a call for applications, we work collaboratively to make challenging projects happen. We support people and their bright futures instead of endowments or capital improvements. Our interests here include:

• Significant art exhibitions and programs supporting artists and the areas of our collection.
• Innovative high school projects and college scholarships that build leaders and communities in the greater Texas Panhandle.

If you have a project you would like to partner with us on, we are interested. We value long-term relationships with grantees and encourage you to connect with us at any stage of the application process. 

Grant Opportunities

Communities need nonprofits to thrive

We believe in transformational ideas that help individuals, families and communities flourish—and since 1975, the Murdock Trust has invested more than $1.4 billion into nonprofit organizations that share our commitment to thinking bigger, challenging problems and making a true difference.

Strategic Project Grants

Capacity-building awards for mission-focused projects and infrastructure investment

Program & Staff

Expanding programs and adding staff are important markers of nonprofit success. Murdock Trust grants help fund both new programs and the expansion of existing programs and may be used to cover start-up costs and/or related staff member additions. Typically, we fund program and staff grants on a declining basis over three years (100/67/33%). 

Ameriprise Financial Grantmaking

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

Focus Areas

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

Volunteer engagement is a priority across all focus areas:

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

Meeting Basic Needs

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

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

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

Supporting Community Vitality

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

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

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

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

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

Icicle Fund

Our Vision

North Central Washington is a region where nature, the arts, and the area’s natural and human history inspire an appreciation, understanding and stewardship of this special place.

Our Mission

To support the environment, the arts, and history through collaboration in North Central Washington.

Community Grants

Community Grants are one- or two-year unrestricted grants for non-profit organizations that enhance North Central Washington as a region where nature, the arts, and the area’s natural and human history encourage appreciation, understanding and stewardship of this special place. With these unrestricted grants, nonprofits have the flexibility to do their most important work in the community in innovative and impactful ways as they invest in programs, salaries/benefits, technology, capacity-building, communications, and other efforts that strengthen the organization and its long-term mission delivery.

Funding Priorities

The Arts

The Icicle Fund envisions a culture where a diversity of the Arts is accessible and valued as a critical component of vibrant communities in North Central Washington.

We Believe That:

• The Arts nurture the human spirit, transform lives, and connect people to place
• The Arts build strong economies and cohesive communities across social, economic, and racial boundaries
• The Arts are fundamental to a well-rounded education and help all students to succeed in school and life
• Collaboration between community leaders, artists, schools, businesses, and nonprofits ensure sustainable, quality arts programs
• Everyone in NCW deserves access to, and engagement with, the Arts at levels similar to urban areas

Our grant decisions align with the beliefs and vision stated above. We fund art organizations that work towards inspiring an appreciation, understanding and stewardship of NCW.

Environment

Icicle Fund envisions a future where intact North Central Washington landscapes provide opportunities for all people to connect with land and water, fostering a long-term commitment to place.

We Believe That:

• A healthy environment supports plants, animals, and humans while driving a strong economy
• Protecting land and water sustains natural systems and species, and increases our communities’ resilience to climate change
• Environmental education deepens the appreciation, understanding and desire to care for our natural world
• Access to land and water, along with recreational opportunities, can nurture the human spirit, transform lives, and connect people to place
• Equity and inclusion throughout conservation work are critical for healthy human and natural ecosystems
• Collaboration between schools and environmental nonprofits offer a uniquely equitable opportunity to inspire all students to make a lifelong connection with the natural world

Our grant decisions align with the beliefs stated above. We support organizations that foster an appreciation, understanding and stewardship of NCW through conservation, environmental education, and access to lands and water.

History

The Icicle Fund envisions a future where North Central Washington residents and visitors appreciate, understand, and engage with the region’s rich and diverse cultural and natural history. 

We Believe That:

• Understanding and appreciation of our region’s cultural history enhances respect for the diversity of NCW
• Natural history contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the natural world and people
• History preserves our collective memory which helps communities maintain a sense of identity and connection to place
• Collaboration between community leaders, Tribal Governments, and nonprofits ensures rich and diverse cultural and history venues and experiences
• Cultural centers and museums can be places to gather, engage, and learn about the history within our communities
• Learning from cultural history, traditional knowledge, and living practices provides insight into the present and guides the future

We prioritize funding organizations that work towards inspiring an appreciation, understanding, and stewardship of NCW through engagement with the cultural and natural history of the region.

Funding

This is a competitive grant program, awarding grants to an average of 45% of submitted proposals. Grant awards have historically been between $3,000- $35,000, with most between $10,000 $15,000. The minimum grant amount is $3,000.

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.

Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative Grant

Across the country, descendant communities and families are engaged in exciting and groundbreaking efforts to reclaim, rescue, and share overlooked stories and places of resilience, achievement, and perseverance. The impact of these efforts deserves admiration, resources, and partnership. Grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative will empower and equip descendant-led and family-led organizations and projects to preserve, activate, and manage historic places. This initiative is a testament to our belief in the capacity of descendant communities and families to be full partners and leaders in the physical preservation, interpretative programming, management, and governance of historic places.

The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is not just another grant funding opportunity. It's a unique, multi-year partnership and investment opportunity with one grant funding category – Stewardship Project. Powered by the Mellon Foundation's Humanities in Place, the Action Fund will award five grants and invest $200,000 per grantee, providing specialized consultation and best practices support for a period of two years.

Descendant and Family Stewardship Grants support project management, capacity-building, grantmaking, and convenings for place-based organizations. In collaboration and consultation with the Action Fund, the selected grantees will engage in the following activities during the two-year grant period as we work together to preserve American history and model new approaches in historic preservation:

• Completing a Stewardship Project needs assessment to inform the scope of work, the use of the grant funds, and define project milestones and deliverables.
• Receiving $200,000 in grant funds to develop a Stewardship Plan and launch the implementation of its recommendations.
• Promoting the partnership, process, and lessons learned for other stewarding organizations to replicate.
• Participating in convenings with initiative stakeholders to share best practices, build community, and advance the field.

The Stewardship Project's scope of work, for example, can include architectural and design services, strategic and fundraising planning, interpretation and program development, community engagement and audience development, staff support, limited capital and restoration, and other priorities established through the assessment process.

The Action Fund provides consultation to meet our grantees’ organizational needs and priorities. Our role as the grantor is to work hand in hand with our grantee partners through a collaborative process focused on asset management of heritage resources and holistic stewardship visioning and planning. Project partners will work as a team to achieve the grantee's short-term and long-term stewardship goals.

Help Define Descendant in Historic Preservation

Today, the preservation field has varying views on defining "descendant," though it is often used in connection to heritage sites associated with slavery, such as a plantation, burial ground, or jail. The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is a collaborative effort that values the input of all stakeholders. Our work with grantees includes strategic collaboration across the historic preservation field to define “descendant” and establish more broadly-adopted language. For example, descendant communities can include a direct blood lineage or historical affiliation to a site of enslavement, like Virginia's Sharswood Plantation, or social movements in education and civil rights, such as Washington-Rosenwald Schools, Birmingham Foot Soldiers, and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is committed to understanding the different perspectives of descendant-led organizations and projects and seeks your help. Therefore, applicants for this grant can define “descendant” for themselves and make the case that their organization and project are descendant-led and family-led on the Letter of Intent (LOI) form. We deeply respect and value the unique perspectives and experiences that each organization brings to the table.

In addition to descendant-led, family-led describes organizations where family members with direct ties to a historic place help steward the site, such as a granddaughter advocating for Virginia's Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, siblings volunteering at Philadelphia's John Coltrane Home, or a family saving a legacy farm. It may also include property owners of a historic residence or venue associated with Black history, actively supporting its preservation, public access, and interpretation.

Mission

The Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation is a private foundation created in 1976 by the Will of Norman S. Archibald to be perpetually operated exclusively for the benefit of qualified non-profit charitable organizations serving the needs of Northwest Washington.

Vision

The Foundation is governed by Directors active in the community and having experience in the law, accounting, banking and financial markets. The Directors manage the Foundation’s assets and the cost of operations to achieve superior long term financial results consistent with an acceptable level of risk. The objective is to provide an ongoing source of current grant funding and the maintenance of adequate reserves to cushion the impact on its resources of unforeseen changes in financial markets while maintaining the purchasing power of the Foundation’s assets.

What We Fund

The Archibald Foundation funds non-profit charitable organizations that provide tangible benefits and ongoing support to improve the quality of life for residents of Northwest Washington.

As a means of achieving effective use of the Foundation's funds, a portion of the annual distributions are directed to a Core group of organizations. These Core organizations represent education, museums, hunger relief agencies, the arts and United Way agencies.  Grants are confined to organizations operating within the Northwest Washington region comprising the area from the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean and from Whatcom and San Juan Counties on the north to Grey's Harbor, Thurston and Pierce Counties on the south or to projects significantly affecting residents of Northwest Washington. Our Foundation supports the ArtsFund with annual grants for such organizations. Youth (age 17 and under) performing arts organizations are continuing to be considered for grants by our Foundation.Funding CategoriesThe Foundation annually funds two categories of qualifying charitable organizations that together provide tangible support for urgent needs to improve the quality of life for residents of the region. The categories funded are: 

• A limited group of prequalified somewhat larger recurring CORE grants that are funded annually over an extended period of time. The Foundation has identified these organizations to be deserving of ongoing support. Changes to this group of organizations are infrequent. 
• A larger number of smaller REGULAR grants which in total are affordable to the Foundation while reaching significant numbers of agencies in need with limited available resources. These grants are individually smaller dollar awards (usually less than $10,000) but they fill an important need for meaningful numbers of organizations.

Scope

The Foundation contributions support programs providing community services to youth, the elderly and/or disabled, including medical services and research and to organizations supporting education, the environment, museums and the arts.

Our Mission

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

The Founder

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

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

Daniel E. Stuntz Memorial Foundation was started in 1984 by the friends, colleagues and students of the late Dr. Daniel E. Stuntz. They sought to honor his memory by providing financial support to researchers, educators and students of mycology in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2017 grant-making services are carried out by The Stuntz Mycology Fund to serve the same goals.

Stuntz Mycology Fund

 The Stuntz Mycology Fund grant program provides financial support for mycological research and education in the Pacific Northwest (PNW).What we will consider

• Equipment, supplies and analytical services for mycological research
• Registration and travel for students to attend conferences in which they are presenting results of projects funded by the Stuntz foundation
• Materials and supplies for myco-education
• Limited expenses for travel for fieldwork
• Expenses for fungal herbaria

Average grant size Average range is $1,000 to $6,000. Requests for $1000 or less will be considered year-round. Those asking for more than $1000 will be considered at our bi-annual board meetings.Individual GrantsThese grants may be awarded directly to individuals who normally are not working under the auspices of a college/university, herbarium, museum, or other not-for-profit organization. Individual Grants are often awarded on a reimbursement basis.Institutional GrantsThese grants may be awarded to students, researchers, or teachers working under the auspices of, a college/university, herbarium, museum, or other not-for-profit organization. All funds are to be used for the proposed research or educational activities.

Heritage Projects

Through Heritage Projects we support the people and organizations making history relevant and provocative through exhibits, publications, oral histories, and more.

What Heritage Projects Funds

4Culture’s Heritage Projects program funds the identification, documentation, exhibition, creation, and interpretation of heritage and histories in King County, Washington. Requests can range from $2,000 to $15,000. “Heritage” in this program is defined as “the exchange of knowledge and experiences shaped by our past” and includes local history, ethnic history, Native cultures, folklore and intangible cultural heritage, and historic and archaeological resources in King County.

You can use this grant to:

• Create heritage resources including, but not limited to, books, guides, brochures, research projects, digital projects, oral histories, visual or audio recordings, museum exhibits and programs, and education curriculum.
• Preservation of material culture related to heritage in King County (please note that Collections Care program will not run in 2025).
• Produce special events and programs that highlight heritage in our region including, but not limited to: conferences, workshops, technical assistance programs, apprenticeship or training opportunities, historic tours, field schools, skill demonstrations, and programs that facilitate collaboration between heritage groups and practitioners.
• Create resources and programs that explore the themes of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding as it relates to people and communities in King County.
• Provide opportunities for populations underrepresented in mainstream heritage organizations including communities of color, LGBTQIA+ communities, youth, people with disabilities, and gender variant communities to work firsthand with heritage resources.
• Pay for materials and consumable supplies used for your project, publicity and outreach efforts for your project, transportation, and documentation.
• Compensation for the project team, professional consultants, heritage specialists, trainees, or staff time if work on the project is outside their regular work duties and payment is beyond their regular compensation structure.

Criteria

For this grant, panelists will use the below criteria to score each application:

Project impact and public benefit: how your project meets the goals of your organization’s or personal mission and established needs in the community. How well your project helps expand or develop King County’s historical narrative and shows a potential to raise the visibility of heritage work in King County. Your project increases public access to heritage resources and programs, including clear efforts to make them accessible to many ages, disabilities, languages, and communities. Your project provides compelling and feasible public benefit for residents and visitors of King County.

Quality and qualifications: how well your project activities and planning align with professional standards, best practices, or values of the community served. The qualifications of you and your project team align with the proposed project and its intended impact. Qualifications can be skill, experience, training, or knowledge-based.

Feasibility: Your ability to complete your project within 24 months of the award date and with a realistic timeline, and thoughtful planning. This is demonstrated through the qualifications of the project team, realistic and balanced budget, and details provided in the Project Implementation section.

Advancing Equity: 4Culture’s mission focuses on racial equity and envisions a county where culture is essential and accessible to all. Your project specifically benefits communities of color and/or historically marginalized communities, The project serves or collaborates with members of these communities. This is not an eligibility requirement, but it is one of the factors the panel will consider.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. In your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Read about public benefit more in depth here. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit:

• Free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings.
• Events in the often under-served areas of suburban or rural King County, to low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Free, electronically accessible materials, including literary publications, audio, or video recordings.

Equity Investments

In order to combat inequities in our grantmaking, 4Culture has implemented Equity Investments. This practice incorporates indicators of structural inequity into our panel process, including geographic location, income, operating budget, audiences served, and project focus. By prioritizing these factors, we intend to more equitably distribute funds to communities that have historically been excluded from cultural funding.

Each of our grant programs implements an Equity Investment system tailored to the specific needs of its applicants; please read the After You Submit section of this page for details on how Equity Investments functions for this grant. This organization-wide practice —and what we learn about its impact—is an important step towards more equitable funding at 4Culture and throughout the King County cultural sector.

Calling to Serve

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

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

Areas of Interest

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

Grant Considerations

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

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

Equipment for Organizations

Museum shelving, stage lights, ceramic kilns, microscopes, and computers—our Equipment for Organizations grant offers up to $15,000 to support these needs and more for arts, heritage, historic preservation, and science organizations in King County.

 What Equipment for Organizations Funds

Equipment for Organizations grants fund the purchase and installation of equipment that can be considered as fixed assets, including computer hardware. You can request a minimum of $1,000 to a maximum of $15,000 for this grant. Applicants often receive partial funding of their request.

Organizations, governments, and public agencies that focus on the arts, heritage, historic preservation, or science and technology, and provide public benefit through their programs or activities, are eligible to apply. If your organization has not received a 2025 Sustained Support grant from 4Culture, we recommend contacting your discipline’s Program Manager by June 25 to check on your organization’s eligibility before starting your application.

Your Organization’s Discipline

4Culture funds Equipment for Organizations projects that are focused on Arts, Heritage, Historic Preservation, and Science and Technology. Below are the definitions for each discipline:

Arts

• includes organizations focused on creative place-making, cultural festivals, dance, design, film, folk and traditional arts, literary arts, multidisciplinary arts, music, theater, and visual arts.

Heritage

• includes organizations focused on the preservation and transmission of local history; ethnic history; Native cultures; folklore and intangible cultural heritage; and historic and archaeological resources.

Historic Preservation

• includes organizations focused on advocacy or assistance to preserve, promote, and sustain historic places; education about our historic built environment; or stewarding historic properties that serve as a venue for cultural activities.

Science and Technology

• includes organizations focused on natural and social sciences, characterized by a formalized framework that entails the reproducible testing and revision of falsifiable ideas based on observable facts, as well as formal and applied sciences, such as mathematics and engineering. Applicants that are zoos or aquariums must also be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

If you’re not sure if your organization fits the eligibility requirements or if you have a question about these criteria, please contact your discipline’s Program Manager.

Your Project

Equipment for Organizations funds may be used to pay for the following:

• Purchase of equipment that can be considered as fixed assets intended to be held for 10 years or more, such as machinery, equipment, or computer hardware.
• Installation fees if they are under 10% of your total request.
• Smaller items that are less than $200 per unit, if you demonstrate that the item is essential to the functionality of the larger equipment requested.

Centene Charitable Foundation

Successful corporate citizenship happens when companies invest in the local organizations that know their communities best. The Centene Foundation works with our local partners on initiatives that focus on inclusion, the whole person and community development.

Vision

Centene’s purpose is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. The Centene Foundation is an essential part of how we pursue this purpose. We achieve measurable impact for the communities we serve through partnerships and philanthropy efforts that invest in initiatives with holistic approaches to dismantling barriers to health.

Areas of Focus

Reflecting Centene’s commitment to the needs of those who rely on government-sponsored health care and to addressing social determinants of health and health equity, preference will be given to initiatives in three distinct areas of focus.

• Healthcare Access
• Social Services
• Education

Arts Sustained Support

Sustained Support assists with the day-to-day needs of arts organizations over two-year cycles—this reliable, consistent support lets creativity flourish in the places that make King County a cultural hub.

 What Sustained Support Funds

Arts organizations and Local Arts Agencies all over King County use Sustained Support funding as a modest but dependable building block in their annual budgets. Sustained Support provides operational funding that organizations and agencies receive for the robustness, creativity, and quality of the overall artistic services they provide to King County residents and visitors.

For arts organizations:

• Clarity and achievement of your organization’s mission and goals.
• Community impact and support, achieved through a consistent level of programming and accessibility for audiences.
• Active role of artists in your organization’s mission and activities, and the continuity of artistic, management, and board personnel.
• Financial accountability as demonstrated through board oversight, audience revenue, and contributed income.

For local arts agencies (LAAs):

• Quality, scope, diversity, and impact of your annual programming.
• Commitment of local government through dedicated staff, commission structure, and annual financial investment in cultural programming.
• Responsiveness to community needs—including diverse populations—through strategic planning, programming, funding, collaboration, technical assistance, convening, and communications.
• Growth and development of resources, scope, impact, and community participation.

Geographic Equity Enhancement

4Culture recognizes that where an organization is based or provides its services can affect access to funding and other resources. Many cultural organizations in greater King County have less access to public and private support than those located in Seattle. To take a step towards balancing these disparities, 4Culture will give a modest award increase to the 2021 Sustained Support awards for organizations located outside the City of Seattle, and for organizations located in Seattle in a 2010 US Census tract area with a Communities of Opportunity index percentile of 60% or greater.

Communities of Opportunity (COO) is a partnership and initiative of the Seattle Foundation and King County, whose purpose is to direct resources where they can have the greatest impact while overcome ongoing patterns of underfunding. Annual measures of life and health indicators by census tract are averaged over multiple years and combined to create a single index. 4Culture will use this index for the 2021 Sustained Support cycle to guide award increases toward applicants located in Communities of Opportunity.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit:

• Free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings.
• Events in the often under-served areas of suburban or rural King County, to low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Free, electronically accessible materials, including literary publications, audio, or video recordings.

Pacific Power Foundation

The Pacific Power Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pacific Power. Our mission, through our charitable investments, is to support the growth and vitality of our communities. In 2021, the Pacific Power Foundation awarded more than $1 million to local nonprofit organizations.

Apply for a Grant

Arts/Culture

Arts festivals, cultural heritage, museums, music, theater/drama and visual arts.

WESTAF’s TourWest Grant provides flexible funding for presenters/presenting organizations within the WESTAF region to support their regional touring program. WESTAF also encourages the inclusion of community/educational outreach as part of an organization’s presentation of touring artists. 

TourWest is a competitive grant program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts to provide subsidies to arts and community organizations in the 13-state WESTAF region and jurisdictions, including Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa for the presentation of touring performers and literary artists. 

Through TourWest, WESTAF and the National Endowment for the Arts aim to encourage the presentation of performing arts programming to culturally diverse audiences and those that do not typically enjoy ready access to the performing arts. In order to understand local needs and interests, WESTAF advocates working directly with individuals and groups from the communities that your organization seeks to serve. Community engagement and participation are key components of a successful TourWest grant application. 

WESTAF defines regional touring as programming that presents out-of-state touring artists and/or in-state touring artists traveling at least 50 miles to your venue. Presenters/presenting organizations are defined as organizations that present or host guest artists for engagements in their communities. Presenters can include but are not limited to community cultural organizations, community centers, churches, schools/colleges/universities, libraries, museums, film festivals/series, and performing arts centers. Typically, producing organizations or performing arts groups are not considered presenters, and are encouraged to contact WESTAF to discuss eligibility.

TourWest seeks to support the engagement of new audiences as well as collaboration between the presenters, artists, agents, and communities. In addition to working collaboratively with the artist(s) and/or community partners in planning the project, WESTAF encourages presenters to take advantage of opportunities such as block booking, presenter networks, and booking conferences to reduce costs and make artistic opportunities available to a broader audience. Partnerships and collaborative efforts between presenters are considered in the panel’s evaluation of an application and project.

Program Overview

Creative West’s TourWest grant program, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, provides funding to presenters and presenting organizations to bring touring performers and literary artists to communities throughout the Western region.

Regional touring is defined as:

Programming that brings out-of-state touring artists to your venue, or In-state artists traveling at least 50 miles from their home base TourWest focuses on expanding access to the performing arts, especially in underserved communities.

To support this goal:

• Creative West encourages working closely with local individuals and groups to understand and meet community needs.
• Applicants are urged to include community engagement or educational outreach activities in their projects.
• Collaboration with artists, agents, and community partners is highly encouraged, along with strategies like block booking and using presenter networks to reduce costs and maximize impact.

Collections Care

The preservation of our past is vital to our present and our future. Our Collections Care grant helps King County’s archivists, librarians, and historians protect the real, tangible objects that make up history so that the generations of today and tomorrow can continue to learn from them.

What Collections Care Funds

Our annual Collections Care grant program supports the work of King County non-profit heritage organizations by providing the funds necessary to assess, organize, catalog, clean, repair, photograph, scan, and, ultimately, save, the King County’s cultural material.

You can use this grant for:

• Care of historic and cultural materials, artifacts, and archival records including the purchase of materials and consumable supplies used for collections care purposes.
• Developing and/or implementing a collections management policy, improving emergency preparedness plans, instituting and improving security methods for collections.
• Performing collections needs assessment surveys and implementing recommendations, completing inventories, descriptive catalog, and/or condition surveys, bridging a funding gap to conduct assessments such as Museum Assessment Program, Collections Assessment for Preservation Program, or Standards and Excellence Program for History Organizations.
• Digitization of collections or archives to minimize handling.
• Training and professional development for staff and/or volunteers in preventive collections management.
• Fees for conservators, heritage specialists, interns for collections care projects; fees directed to staff, if their work on the project is outside their regular job duties and payment is above-and-beyond their regular compensation structure.

Criteria

We fund all of our grants through a competitive process, carefully evaluating each application.

For this particular grant, we’ll look to see how well your project shows the following:

• Quality and qualifications: how well your project aligns with professional standards and best practices, the qualifications of you and your project team, and how your project meets the goals of your organization’s mission or needs in the community.
• Feasibility: your organization’s ability to develop and complete your project within 18 months of the award date. This is demonstrated through the qualifications of you and your project team, your budget—including your ability to raise additional funding—and your ability to fund the project on a reimbursement basis. Demonstration that your organization has completed the necessary planning and assessment to care for collections in the long-term.
• Project impact and public benefit: how your project develops and preserves the historical record in King County, its potential to raise the visibility of heritage collections care and preservation, its ability to preserve heritage resources held in the public trust, your project’s ability to generate broad and/or lasting public benefit.
• Heritage priorities: how your project preserves endangered heritage resources, addresses neglected aspects of King County heritage, and provides opportunities for youth, underserved communities, and multicultural audiences.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work.

Lindberg Foundation Trust Grant

The Lindberg Foundation Trust was created in 1954 by W. H. Lindberg and Isabel P. Lindberg to support a variety of charitable causes. Mr. and Mrs. Lindberg were residents of Pierce County, Washington.

They were community philanthropists, supporting charitable organizations such as the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County, the Tacoma Community Chest (now the United Way of Pierce County), and the Tacoma Art Museum. More than forty paintings and drawings from the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Lindberg were bequeathed to the Tacoma Art Museum in 1983. The Lindberg Collection is comprised primarily of French and German paintings from the second half of the nineteenth century, and includes works by such notable artists as Boudin, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Pissarro, Renoir, Schreyer, and Spitzweg.

Mr. Lindberg died in 1971, and Mrs. Lindberg died in 1982.

Mission

To support a variety of charitable causes in the state of Washington.

Program areas

• Arts, culture and humanities
• Education
• Environment/animals
• Health
• Human services
• Religion

Corporate Contributions

Community involvement and corporate citizenship are an example of Insperity’s mission in action. We are committed to helping the communities where we live and work because together, we know we can make great things happen.

Grants

Philanthropic grants are a strong part of our community outreach and aid institutions needing financial support to meet important service goals.

Event Sponsorship

Fundraising events are an important part of nonprofit support. Insperity provides event sponsorships to approved charities to assist them in meeting their financial and community goals.

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation Vision

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation, "A Foundation for All", was established in 2002. It was begun in order to give a clear voice for those who wish to be a part of the many, worthy, forces for change in our world.

We are a foundation whose purpose is to look ahead towards the future, giving the past its due by remembering where we came from, and how much we can all accomplish together. We aim to make the critical difference on our planet by recognizing and having respect for our ever changing world. We respect all Life, the Environment, and all People, no matter who they are.

Georgia-Pacific Foundation

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

• education
• entrepreneurship
• enrichment of community
• environment

Investment Priorities

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

Heritage Professional Development Stipend

Do you want to participate in a conference, workshop series, or skill-building sessions to gain information, skills, inspiration, practices, or approaches for your professional development and learning? These funds can help you participate, make connections, and learn new skills for your career path in the heritage field.

What Heritage Professional Development Stipend Funds

The Heritage Professional Development Stipend program provides stipends ranging from $100 to $2,000 to participate in a professional development opportunity. This stipend can be used by individuals seeking to build skills needed in the heritage field or King County-based heritage organizations to provide a training for the staffs, boards, and volunteers.

Criteria

We fund all of our grants through a competitive process, carefully evaluating each application.

For this grant, we’ll look to see how well your project shows the following:

• Research: evidence of research on the cost, the professional development or learning opportunity, and the presenting organization/trainer.
• Relevance: how well the applicant demonstrates the relevance and immediate usefulness of skills/knowledge learned, how the opportunity is relevant to their career path or the institutional needs or goals.
• Need/Goal: How clearly the applicant articulates their career goal or need to attend this opportunity, how well the applicant draws connections between the conference/training and Heritage Report or need due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• Funding: whether the affiliated institution funds professional development for staff. (Individual applicants only)

You can use this grant to:

Pay for the cost of registration and travel to participate in a professional development or learning opportunity related to career maintenance in the heritage field. These programs can take many forms, but might include conferences, workshops, technical assistance programs, training opportunities, demonstrations, and healing opportunities especially for heritage workers engaged with social justice work within the field.

Pay for professional consultants, heritage specialists, or staff time if work on the project is outside their regular work duties, materials and consumable supplies used for your project, transportation, and documentation.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. In this program, the growth of heritage professionals is a public benefit, since the King County heritage field will benefit from the work done by informed heritage professionals. In your application, tell us exactly how you will use the information and skills learned so that your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your professional growth.

Here are some ways you can provide public benefit:

• Use the new approach learned from a workshop to documenting and preserving material culture in King County.
• Utilize the skills gained to address a challenge within the heritage field.

Equity Investments

In order to combat inequities in our grantmaking, 4Culture is introducing Equity Investments. This practice will incorporate indicators of structural inequity into our panel process, including geographic location, income, operating budget, audiences served, and project focus. By prioritizing these factors, we intend to more equitably distribute funds to communities that have historically been excluded from cultural funding.