Search Through Music Grants for Nonprofits in the U.S.

Focus Areas

Entergy’s Open Grants Program focuses on improving communities as a whole. We look for giving opportunities in the areas of arts and culture, education and workforce development, poverty solutions and social services, healthy families, and community improvement.

Arts and Culture

The arts are expressions of ourselves – our heritage, feelings and ideas. To cultivate that, we support a diverse range of locally based visual arts, theater, dance and music institutions. Our long-term goal is to increase the access to contemporary art for a wider public, including children and the financially disadvantaged.

Community Improvement/EnrichmentEntergy supports community-based projects that focus community enrichment and improvement. A few examples include civic affairs, blighted housing improvements, and neighborhood safety. By giving to communities in this way, we actually help them become more self-sufficient.Healthy FamiliesChildren need a good start to grow into healthy, well-adjusted adults. With that in mind, we give to programs that have a direct impact on children educationally and emotionally. We’re also interested in family programs, like those that better prepare parents to balance the demands of work and home. The amount and nature of an organization’s request will determine which type of grant the organization would need to apply for.In considering requests for grants, priority is placed on programs in specific counties/parishes. 

Foundation's Purpose

The Enterprise Holdings Foundation was established by founder Jack C. Taylor to give back to the communities in which our partners and employees live and work. The Foundation provides charitable support to worthwhile, non-profit initiatives that are actively supported by Enterprise Holdings employees and their spouses/domestic partners. Contributions are made to thousands of local communities across the globe where the organization operates. 

The Foundation’s philanthropic and community relations mission is to ensure that we maintain our leadership position as a valued and responsible corporate citizen by enhancing the quality of life in our communities consistent with the organization’s business goals and objectives. The Foundation supports relief projects or causes that Enterprise Holdings deems important as they arise, such as natural disasters that affect our employees and partners. 

Enterprise Mobility™ Philanthropic Giving

At Enterprise Mobility, we’re focused on strengthening communities one neighborhood at a time. We do this by fostering a culture of community engagement as well as funding programs that protect the environment, drive social progress and empower the places where we live and work.  By leveraging our presence in thousands of communities, we are responding to natural disasters and helping address challenges such as hunger and social inequity through partnerships, grant programs, volunteerism and employee giving.

 Who can submit a grant application for funding? Only Enterprise Mobility team members and their spouse or domestic partner who regularly volunteer or serve on a Board or committee can apply for a grant on behalf of the community nonprofit organization that they are actively involved with that meet our Giving Guidelines.  If you are a team member trying to apply, the application link is located on the SharePoint site and look for “Grant Applications” on the right hand side. This is accessible only to team members. 

Mission

Addressing social challenges & improving quality of life for present and future generations by funding innovative solutions through charitable grants.

The Harry A Merlo Foundation

The Harry A Merlo Foundation partners with nonprofit organizations in many different sectors to bring lasting and positive change to the world. We invite you to explore this site to learn more about who we help, grant opportunities and the application process. 

The Harry A. Merlo Foundation is a family foundation with a wide breadth of charitable interests, focusing on programs and investments that address social challenges with innovative solutions. We support funding in five main areas.

• Animal Welfare
• Arts
• Conservation
• Education
• Scientific and Medical Research/Care

The Harry A. Merlo Foundation funds grants to nonprofit organizations in two primary arenas as outlined below:

Program Innovation and Growth

The Merlo Foundation recognizes that innovation is required to best deliver on the mission of a nonprofit organization and keep it responsive to real time challenges. The Merlo Foundation will consider grants that help fund both innovative strategic initiatives and the expansion of existing programs. Grants may be used to cover start-up costs and/or related staff member additions. Evidence of the capacity to assume financial responsibility of a new fixed cost (permanent staff position, program operational costs, etc.) will need to be addressed in the grant application.

Scholarships

Scholarship grants are primarily directed to organizations that educate youth, inclusive of faith-based educational institutions, athletic camps, and music and performing arts. The scholarships must be directed to students that would not be able to access the program offered without financial assistance. Established scholarship programs with written application process/eligibility required. 

Funding

• Average amounts for one-time grants range from $5,000-$50,000
• Grants larger than $50,000 are usually structured as multiple year pledges.

Providing grants and programs to children, youth and women to enhance their health, safety, and well being and provide development opportunities in the areas of education, art, literature and music to improve their quality of life.

Our Mission

Started in 2006, the Karen Colina Wilson Foundation has as its mission statement “Making a positive difference in the lives of woman and children.” Programs to enhance the health, welfare, safety and well-being of children, youth and women and for development opportunities of women and children in areas of education, art, literature and music are the primary focuses of this foundation. The geographic area of preference is the Southern and Western Wayne County (Michigan) area, with additional support in communities where trustees live. Typical grant amounts range from $500.00 – $10,000.00. We often offer matching grants, thereby encouraging groups to broaden their scope of funding.

Vision

To make a positive difference in the lives of children, youth and women.

Mission Statement

The Pop Culture Collaborative is a philanthropic resource and funder learning community working to transform the narrative landscape in America around people of color, immigrants, refugees, Muslims, and Indigenous peoples, especially those who are women, queer, transgender and/or disabled. The Collaborative achieves this through partnerships between the social justice sector and the entertainment, advertising, and media industries that help mass audiences understand the past, make sense of the present, and imagine the future of American society.

Since its public launch in Summer 2017, the Collaborative has worked with field and philanthropic partners to articulate a shared goal: to unleash the superpowers of pop culture to build widespread public yearning for a pluralist culture—that is, a nation in which most people are actively engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just society.

With this in mind, the Collaborative seeks to accelerate the pop culture for social change field’s ability to design and implement sophisticated, long-term culture change strategies at the pop culture level and to be a catalyst for the activation of transformative narrative systems—​coordinated systems of mental models, narrative archetypes, and immersive story experiences—​designed to normalize pluralist behaviors and values in America. 

In the long term, the Collaborative is working to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist society in which everyone is perceived to belong—inherently—and treated as such. 

Grantmaking

Pop Culture Collaborative grants are awarded to United States–based nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, and individuals (with fiscal sponsorship) working to drive transformative experiences for mass audiences (i.e., more than 1 million people) through pop culture stories, media, and social networks. These include initiatives focused on the development and distribution of content, design of audience engagement strategies, and the creation of immersive narrative environments through cultural, narrative, and behavioral change approaches.

As described in our vision statement, the Collaborative is working over the long-term to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist culture in which everyone is perceived to belong, inherently, and is treated as such.

The Collaborative defines “pluralist culture” as a culture in which the majority of people in a community or nation are actively engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just society. Our grantmaking approach reflects our belief that pop culture stories and experiences have a critical role to play in helping people discover, experiment with, and embody pluralist behaviors and norms.

The Pop Culture Collaborative Vision and Purpose

Throughout America’s history, the most transformative cultural shifts—from slavery abolition to Reconstruction, “I Have A Dream” to “Yes We Can,” #BlackLivesMatter, the DREAM-ers, and Love Is Love—have been achieved by movements and leaders who have awakened people’s deep yearning to belong in a pluralist America. In each case, the tug-of-war between belonging and exclusion sparked a portal moment—a cracking open of the public imagination about what this nation is capable of becoming.

We believe our nation is on the precipice of another historic breakthrough: a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the American people to decisively choose to move in the direction of pluralism and justice. How will we respond to this call for transformation? Will we submit to authoritarian narratives that entice us to retreat back into the systems of exclusion and violence that stain our past, or will we step boldly through the portal and onto the path towards our pluralist future?

Americans have the opportunity to ask: What society do we yearn to create and who can we empower to lead the way? If, as civil rights scholar Vincent Harding once said, America is “a country that has yet to be born,” the pop culture for social change field can help prepare and guide millions of people through this process of becoming something new by clearing away the detritus of our nation’s past, replacing fetid, crumbling ideas and norms with ones rooted in justice, care, and connection.

Together, artists, organizers, strategists, and researchers can create the stories that help the American public understand and interpret the choices we face through the lens of our shared commitment to becoming a pluralist nation.

Over the long-term, the Collaborative is working to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist society in which everyone is perceived to belong, inherently, and is treated as such. The Pop Culture Collaborative defines a pluralist society as a culture in which the majority of people in a community and nation are engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just and equitable society.

Major Grants

Major Grants can support new and/or established initiatives, organizations, or companies that are working to advance long-term narrative change goals and/or to build the pop culture for social change field.  Major Grants are approved twice a year, in the late Spring/Early Summer and in the late Fall.

The Pop Culture Collaborative funds in five priority grantmaking areas. All approved grants will fit into at least one of the five priority areas, but often fit across multiple areas.

Program Area 1: Artists Advancing Culture Change -

The Pop Culture Collaborative provides grants to artists and organizations or companies that support artist cohorts, from various disciplines, locations, and industries to bring their artistic vision to mass audiences, while also contributing to field-wide efforts to build public yearning for a pluralist America.

We seek to create a large, networked community of artists who believe that their creative work and leadership have the power to inspire millions of Americans to actively co-create a pluralist society.

Areas of interest include:

• Supporting artists and cultural organizations to conceptualize, develop, and produce creative works that can help build public yearning for pluralist culture in America.
• Supporting artists to gather for shared learning, networking, community-knitting, and power-building, especially spaces that bring artists into direct and meaningful connection with frontline activists and culture change strategists.
• Helping artists and organizations develop the methodology, networks, infrastructure, pipelines, and leadership skills needed to redistribute access and power in their respective industries to historically excluded communities. 

Program Area 2: Building the Pop Culture for Social Change Field -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports artists, activists, strategists, researchers, and other practitioners in the entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic fields to build a robust pop culture change field capable of achieving widespread narrative and cultural change at scale. Together, they can form narrative networks that have the knowledge, connections, skills, and infrastructure that can align and create transformative narrative environments in our society.

Areas of interest include: 

• Creating resources and/or infrastructure that support the design, testing, and/or activation of long-term pop culture strategies.
• Developing, testing, and strengthening partnerships among artists, the entertainment industry, and social justice movements via convenings, cohorts, campaigns, and/or programs.
• Designing, testing, and/or advancing narrative infrastructure (convenings, emergent technologies, community knitting spaces, and programs) that create access and long-term career sustainability for the next generation of pop culture–focused strategists, campaigners, and artists.

Program Area 3: Culture Change Research -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports grantees to unearth new data, develop analysis, and share insights with and among entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic sectors in order to inform content development, advance cultural strategies, and activate collaborations in the pop culture for social change field.

Areas of interest include:

• Audience Research. Research that helps the field understand who the people in key audiences are, what motivates their beliefs, (e.g., media, culture, family, economics), and how their beliefs compel and shape their behaviors.
• Industry Research. Research that delves into the ecosystem of a specific field of cultural production (e.g., television industry, music industry, or sports broadcasting industry) to inform and/or activate short- and long-term culture change strategies.
• Impact and Evaluation Research. Research that examines and analyzes past and current pop culture change experiments, campaigns, and/or partnerships; utilizes formal evaluation and longitudinal impact methodologies to understand impact; and/or leverages trend tracking and analysis to make sense of current narrative environments and cultural norms, or anticipate future patterns in pop culture content creation, consumption, and engagement.

Program Area 4: Movement-Led Pop Culture Narrative Strategies -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports social justice organizations and initiatives to design, coordinate, and activate long-term narrative change strategies at the pop culture (mass audience) level.

Areas of interest include:

• Design and implementation of multilayered culture change strategies, including content/story strategy design and audience experience design.
• Reimagining and testing new roles and relationships between the social justice and entertainment fields to advance the development of narratives, story creation, and audience activation opportunities.

Program Area 5: Innovations in Mass Audience Activation -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports initiatives, bold experiments, and exploration of emerging activation models to ensure that just, authentic narratives about historically marginalized communities are deeply integrated into our nation’s narrative landscape and strategically leveraged to build widespread public yearning for a just and pluralist America.

Areas of interest include:

• Design and implementation of audience activation campaigns (with intended audiences of at least 1 million people) focused on pop culture content.
• Experimentation with mass audience engagement strategies.
• Organizing and/or partnerships with pop culture fandoms.

Criteria

The Collaborative seeks grantee partners working at the intersection of pop culture and social change who:

• Are artists, activists, organizations, strategists, researchers, and/or others who identify culture change as a clear outcome of their work and pop culture strategies as a critical aspect of their culture change efforts.
• Demonstrate emerging or pathbreaking leadership around long-term narrative and culture change strategies in the arts, entertainment, digital, mass media, and/or social justice sectors.
• Prioritize authentic and equitable leadership and/or partnership from the communities most directly affected by the work.
• Have the ability to clearly define how their work fits into a long-term narrative change strategy and theory of culture change.

Funding

Grants allocations are informed by the request of the potential grantees, but made with the final recommendations of Collaborative staff, ranging from: 

• $50,000 to $100,000 for one year
• $100,000 to $200,000 over two years 

Mission Statement

The Pop Culture Collaborative is a philanthropic resource and funder learning community working to transform the narrative landscape in America around people of color, immigrants, refugees, Muslims, and Indigenous peoples, especially those who are women, queer, transgender and/or disabled. The Collaborative achieves this through partnerships between the social justice sector and the entertainment, advertising, and media industries that help mass audiences understand the past, make sense of the present, and imagine the future of American society.

Since its public launch in Summer 2017, the Collaborative has worked with field and philanthropic partners to articulate a shared goal: to unleash the superpowers of pop culture to build widespread public yearning for a pluralist culture—that is, a nation in which most people are actively engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just society.

With this in mind, the Collaborative seeks to accelerate the pop culture for social change field’s ability to design and implement sophisticated, long-term culture change strategies at the pop culture level and to be a catalyst for the activation of transformative narrative systems—​coordinated systems of mental models, narrative archetypes, and immersive story experiences—​designed to normalize pluralist behaviors and values in America. 

In the long term, the Collaborative is working to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist society in which everyone is perceived to belong—inherently—and treated as such. 

Grantmaking

Pop Culture Collaborative grants are awarded to United States–based nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, and individuals (with fiscal sponsorship) working to drive transformative experiences for mass audiences (i.e., more than 1 million people) through pop culture stories, media, and social networks. These include initiatives focused on the development and distribution of content, design of audience engagement strategies, and the creation of immersive narrative environments through cultural, narrative, and behavioral change approaches.

As described in our vision statement, the Collaborative is working over the long-term to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist culture in which everyone is perceived to belong, inherently, and is treated as such.

The Collaborative defines “pluralist culture” as a culture in which the majority of people in a community or nation are actively engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just society. Our grantmaking approach reflects our belief that pop culture stories and experiences have a critical role to play in helping people discover, experiment with, and embody pluralist behaviors and norms.

The Pop Culture Collaborative Vision and Purpose

Throughout America’s history, the most transformative cultural shifts—from slavery abolition to Reconstruction, “I Have A Dream” to “Yes We Can,” #BlackLivesMatter, the DREAM-ers, and Love Is Love—have been achieved by movements and leaders who have awakened people’s deep yearning to belong in a pluralist America. In each case, the tug-of-war between belonging and exclusion sparked a portal moment—a cracking open of the public imagination about what this nation is capable of becoming.

We believe our nation is on the precipice of another historic breakthrough: a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the American people to decisively choose to move in the direction of pluralism and justice. How will we respond to this call for transformation? Will we submit to authoritarian narratives that entice us to retreat back into the systems of exclusion and violence that stain our past, or will we step boldly through the portal and onto the path towards our pluralist future?

Americans have the opportunity to ask: What society do we yearn to create and who can we empower to lead the way? If, as civil rights scholar Vincent Harding once said, America is “a country that has yet to be born,” the pop culture for social change field can help prepare and guide millions of people through this process of becoming something new by clearing away the detritus of our nation’s past, replacing fetid, crumbling ideas and norms with ones rooted in justice, care, and connection.

Together, artists, organizers, strategists, and researchers can create the stories that help the American public understand and interpret the choices we face through the lens of our shared commitment to becoming a pluralist nation.

Over the long-term, the Collaborative is working to support the growth of a pop culture for social change field capable of building the yearning in most Americans (more than 150 million people) to actively co-create a just and pluralist society in which everyone is perceived to belong, inherently, and is treated as such. The Pop Culture Collaborative defines a pluralist society as a culture in which the majority of people in a community and nation are engaged in the hard and delicate work of belonging together in a just and equitable society.

Opportunity Grants

Opportunity Grants are for emergent initiatives, projects, and research; time-sensitive gatherings, retreats, or convenings; and/or critical experiments at the intersection of pop culture and social justice. Opportunity grants are not necessarily hooked to external timing, but based on the timing and needs of the artists, initiative, and/or organization.

Opportunity grants tend to be focused on project that are:

• New and/or in early stages of development.
  • Seed funding for early-stage projects include conducting research; implementing an experimental cultural strategy; developing field or narrative infrastructure or networks; and/or designing or testing a mass audience activation campaign. (For example, much of our artist-led pipeline projects such as new writers rooms models were seeded with Opportunity grants.)
• Convenings and gatherings.
  • One-time or a series of small group gatherings (in-person or virtual) that foster connections or strengthen relationships among stakeholders in specific sectors of the pop culture for social change field (e.g., cultural strategists, entertainment artists, social justice organizations, culture change researchers); or cross-sector convenings that bring stakeholders across sectors together to learn, forge bonds, and/or develop strategy.
  • Genius banks: in-person gatherings of experts in issues, sectors, communities, and/or genres that can help advance a big narrative idea, develop a specific cultural campaign, etc. For example, pop culture audience engagement campaigns often use genius banks for early partner gathering and brainstorming.

All approved Opportunity proposals will fall under at least one (and sometimes more) of the Pop Culture Collaborative five priority grantmaking program areas, including:

Program Area 1: Artists Advancing Culture Change -

The Pop Culture Collaborative provides grants to artists and organizations or companies that support artist cohorts, from various disciplines, locations, and industries to bring their artistic vision to mass audiences, while also contributing to field-wide efforts to build public yearning for a pluralist America.

We seek to create a large, networked community of artists who believe that their creative work and leadership have the power to inspire millions of Americans to actively co-create a pluralist society.

Areas of interest include:

• • Supporting artists and cultural organizations to conceptualize, develop, and produce creative works that can help build public yearning for pluralist culture in America.
  • Supporting artists to gather for shared learning, networking, community-knitting, and power-building, especially spaces that bring artists into direct and meaningful connection with frontline activists and culture change strategists.
  • Helping artists and organizations develop the methodology, networks, infrastructure, pipelines, and leadership skills needed to redistribute access and power in their respective industries to historically excluded communities.

Program Area 2: Building the Pop Culture for Social Change Field -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports artists, activists, strategists, researchers, and other practitioners in the entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic fields to build a robust pop culture change field capable of achieving widespread narrative and cultural change at scale. Together, they can form narrative networks that have the knowledge, connections, skills, and infrastructure that can align and create transformative narrative environments in our society.

Areas of interest include:

• • Creating resources and/or infrastructure that support the design, testing, and/or activation of long-term pop culture strategies.
  • Developing, testing, and strengthening partnerships among artists, the entertainment industry, and social justice movements via convenings, cohorts, campaigns, and/or programs.
  • Designing, testing, and/or advancing narrative infrastructure (convenings, emergent technologies, community knitting spaces, and programs) that create access and long-term career sustainability for the next generation of pop culture–focused strategists, campaigners, and artists.

Program Area 3: Culture Change Research -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports grantees to unearth new data, develop analysis, and share insights with and among entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic sectors in order to inform content development, advance cultural strategies, and activate collaborations in the pop culture for social change field.

Areas of interest include:

• Audience Research. Research that helps the field understand who the people in key audiences are, what motivates their beliefs, (e.g., media, culture, family, economics), and how their beliefs compel and shape their behaviors.
• Industry Research. Research that delves into the ecosystem of a specific field of cultural production (e.g., television industry, music industry, or sports broadcasting industry) to inform and/or activate short- and long-term culture change strategies.
• Impact and Evaluation Research. Research that examines and analyzes past and current pop culture change experiments, campaigns, and/or partnerships; utilizes formal evaluation and longitudinal impact methodologies to understand impact; and/or leverages trend tracking and analysis to make sense of current narrative environments and cultural norms, or anticipate future patterns in pop culture content creation, consumption, and engagement.

Program Area 4: Movement-Led Pop Culture Narrative Strategies -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports social justice organizations and initiatives to design, coordinate, and activate long-term narrative change strategies at the pop culture (mass audience) level.

Areas of interest include:

• Design and implementation of multilayered culture change strategies, including content/story strategy design and audience experience design.
• Reimagining and testing new roles and relationships between the social justice and entertainment fields to advance the development of narratives, story creation, and audience activation opportunities.

Program Area 5: Innovations in Mass Audience Activation -

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports initiatives, bold experiments, and exploration of emerging activation models to ensure that just, authentic narratives about historically marginalized communities are deeply integrated into our nation’s narrative landscape and strategically leveraged to build widespread public yearning for a just and pluralist America.

Areas of interest include:

• Design and implementation of audience activation campaigns (with intended audiences of at least 1 million people) focused on pop culture content.
• Experimentation with mass audience audience engagement strategies.
• Organizing and/or partnerships with pop culture fandoms.

Criteria

The Collaborative seeks grantee partners working at the intersection of pop culture and social change who:

• Are artists, activists, organizations, strategists, researchers, and/or others who identify culture change as a clear outcome of their work and pop culture strategies as a critical aspect of their culture change efforts.
• Demonstrate emerging or pathbreaking leadership around long-term narrative and culture change strategies in the arts, entertainment, digital, mass media, and/or social justice sectors.
• Prioritize authentic and equitable leadership and/or partnership from the communities most directly affected by the work.
• Have the ability to clearly define how their work fits into a long-term narrative change strategy and theory of culture change.

Funding

Opportunity grants can be awarded for up to $50,000. Proposals (considered only upon request) are approved year-round on a rolling basis and should be completed within four to 12 months. Opportunity grants can cover the total cost of a gathering or be applied to the budget of gatherings that cost more than $50,000.

Rapid Response grants-

support projects that respond to and/or quickly anticipate an acute and timely political or cultural moment. Rapid response grants can be requested and are approved year-round. Rapid Response grants are made for $50,000 and below. Proposals (upon request) are approved year-round on a rolling basis and projects should be completed within four to 12 months.

Focus Areas

To be considered, proposals must engage, affect, center, and/or support at least one or all of our multi-community focus areas:

• people of color,
• immigrants, refugees,
• Iindigenous peoples, and/or
• Muslims, particularly those who are women, queer, transgender, and/or disabled.

Initiatives with an intersectional and intentional focus on gender justice, LGBTQIA rights, disability, democratic fairness, pluralist values, and economic justice are highly prioritized.

Rapid Response Grants are intended for cultural organizing efforts, pop culture campaigns or other activations, gatherings/convenings, cultural research, narrative strategy design, and/or implementation that directly anticipates and/or responds to an acute and time-sensitive political and/or cultural moment.

Examples include:

• creative storytelling projects coupled with large-scale public spectacles (for instance, flash mobs, art installations on the National Mall, or red carpet takeovers),
• cultural organizing, public campaigns, gatherings/convenings, time-sensitive research, and
• narrative strategy design and/or implementation.

The Collaborative prioritizes rapid response grants that:

Are time-sensitive

Proposed initiatives must be formed in response to recent and unanticipated or fast-approaching acute political, news or cultural moments. We expect applicants to describe how the timing of their initiative is urgent and pertinent to the coming months, given the acute challenge they are responding to.

Examples of time hooks include the introduction of the Muslim travel ban, the emergence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the premiere of a particularly relevant television show, or a major awards telecast. Rapid response grants are not intended for initiatives that are in need of a quick funding infusion based on an internal project timeline.

Focus on narrative

Rapid response grants must intend to disrupt dangerous and/or advance authentic narratives about the Collaborative’s focus areas—people of color, immigrants, refugees, Indigenous peoples, and/or Muslims, often with an intersectional focus on gender justice, LGBTQIA rights, disability, democratic fairness, pluralist values, and economic justice.

Intend to reach mass audiences

Coupled with a rapid response hook, a grantee project should intend to move narratives that reach and engage mass media audiences (1 million+ people) or empower or guide those with the power to do so. While not all projects reach the million-people goal, all strategies must have an audience strategy that shows how the final outcomes could result in stories and/or audience experience that would reach audiences of this size.

Priority Areas

All approved Rapid Response proposals will fall under at least one (and sometimes more) of the Pop Culture Collaborative five priority grantmaking program areas, including:

Program Area 1: Artists Advancing Culture Change

The Pop Culture Collaborative provides grants to artists and organizations or companies that support artist cohorts, from various disciplines, locations, and industries to bring their artistic vision to mass audiences, while also contributing to field-wide efforts to build public yearning for a pluralist America.

We seek to create a large, networked community of artists who believe that their creative work and leadership have the power to inspire millions of Americans to actively co-create a pluralist society.

• Supporting artists and cultural organizations to conceptualize, develop, and produce creative works that can help build public yearning for pluralist culture in America.
• Supporting artists to gather for shared learning, networking, community-knitting, and power-building, especially spaces that bring artists into direct and meaningful connection with frontline activists and culture change strategists.
• Helping artists and organizations develop the methodology, networks, infrastructure, pipelines, and leadership skills needed to redistribute access and power in their respective industries to historically excluded communities.

Program Area 2: Building The Pop Culture For Social Change Field

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports artists, activists, strategists, researchers, and other practitioners in the entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic fields to build a robust pop culture change field capable of achieving widespread narrative and cultural change at scale. Together, they can form narrative networks that have the knowledge, connections, skills, and infrastructure that can align and create transformative narrative environments in our society.

• Creating resources and/or infrastructure that support the design, testing, and/or activation of long-term pop culture strategies.
• Developing, testing, and strengthening partnerships among artists, the entertainment industry, and social justice movements via convenings, cohorts, campaigns, and/or programs.
• Designing, testing, and/or advancing narrative infrastructure (convenings, emergent technologies, community knitting spaces, and programs) that create access and long-term career sustainability for the next generation of pop culture–focused strategists, campaigners, and artists.

Program Area 3: Culture Change Research

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports grantees to unearth new data, develop analysis, and share insights with and among entertainment, social justice, and philanthropic sectors in order to inform content development, advance cultural strategies, and activate collaborations in the pop culture for social change field.

• Audience Research. Research that helps the field understand who the people in key audiences are, what motivates their beliefs, (e.g., media, culture, family, economics), and how their beliefs compel and shape their behaviors.
• Industry Research. Research that delves into the ecosystem of a specific field of cultural production (e.g., television industry, music industry, or sports broadcasting industry) to inform and/or activate short- and long-term culture change strategies.
• Impact and Evaluation Research. Research that examines and analyzes past and current pop culture change experiments, campaigns, and/or partnerships; utilizes formal evaluation and longitudinal impact methodologies to understand impact; and/or leverages trend tracking and analysis to make sense of current narrative environments and cultural norms, or anticipate future patterns in pop culture content creation, consumption, and engagement.

Program Area 4: Movement-led Pop Culture Narrative Strategies

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports social justice organizations and initiatives to design, coordinate, and activate long-term narrative change strategies at the pop culture (mass audience) level.

• Design and implementation of multilayered culture change strategies, including content/story strategy design and audience experience design.
• Reimagining and testing new roles and relationships between the social justice and entertainment fields to advance the development of narratives, story creation, and audience activation opportunities.

Program Area 5: Innovations In Mass Audience Activation

The Pop Culture Collaborative supports initiatives, bold experiments, and exploration of emerging activation models to ensure that just, authentic narratives about historically marginalized communities are deeply integrated into our nation’s narrative landscape and strategically leveraged to build widespread public yearning for a just and pluralist America.

• Design and implementation of audience activation campaigns (with intended audiences of at least 1 million people) focused on pop culture content.
• Experimentation with mass audience audience engagement strategies.
• Organizing and/or partnerships with pop culture fandoms.

Tommy Wells Foundation

The TWF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization that sponsors events each year to raise money that goes directly to support youth in hockey or music programs.

The Tommy Wells Foundation (TWF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization created in response to everyone who asked how they can “pay forward” the many ways that Tommy helped them personally or professionally.

With your support, the TWF raises money for youth who need financial assistance to learn and play music or hockey. The two places Tommy loved best - behind the drums and on the ice!

Funding 

The TWF is committed to supporting youths (4‐18 years old) who need financial assistance in order to experience the joy of learning and playing hockey or music. We expect that funds will be requested for youths whom you think will best benefit from this support. If funded, you will be asked within 12 months of funding to confirm funds were used as intended. 

Jazz Road Tours

Emerging and mid-career jazz artists, take your music to places it's never been. Jazz Road Tours offer grants of up to $15,000 to develop tours into communities across the country.

Detailed Program Description

Designed for emerging and mid-career artists around the entire country, Jazz Road Tours supports small, three- to six-site tours at an array of venue types, often in rural communities and other areas traditionally underserved by the genre.

Jazz Road Tours supports small, three- to six-site tours at an array of venue types, often in rural communities and other areas traditionally underserved by the genre.

This artist-centric grant program—designed to support approximately 50 tours each year—is made possible with funds from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from the Mellon Foundation.

Program Priorities

Providing jazz artists financial assistance for performances/tours that increases their ability to earn income by connecting with a diversity of communities in traditional and non-traditional venues

Giving artists business development tools to advance their careers beyond subsidies and grants. The goals are rooted in equitable pay and artist-centric programming as core values. South Arts believes that artists should receive fair pay for their time, work, and expertise, and that allowing artists (as opposed to venues/agents) to control engagements offers a unique level of creative autonomy and ownership; these goals are discussed in the Supplemental Questions document uploaded with this application.

Key Components Of Jazz Road Tours

• An artist may apply for a three-to-six site tour comprised of connected (contiguous) dates at an array of venue types anywhere in the U.S and its territories.
• Jazz Road believes that through a logical route of tour dates, the artists will experience the continuity and momentum of repeat engagements, solidify developing music, and establish band identity/sound through working with the same personnel over the course of the tour.
• An Offer Letter for each tour site is required as part of the application.
• Jazz Road also will prioritize applications that include engagements in rural areas or that reach typically underserved communities, especially those that lack opportunities to present live jazz.
• Applicants that make a compelling case for how the tour will impact their careers in new ways are more competitive.

Important Dates & Deadlines

For Tours Taking Place: October 1, 2024 - April 1, 2025

• Deadline: June 1, 2024

For Tours Taking Place: January 1, 2025 - July 1, 2025

• Deadline: September 2, 2024

For Tours Taking Place: April 1, 2025 - October 1, 2025

• Deadline: December 1, 2024

History

Classics for Kids Foundation (CFKF) was formed in 1998 in response to the decline of music performance education programs for young people. Our mission is to support young people and the programs that serve them by offering matching grants for fine stringed instruments. Our focus is on at-risk and rural youth, with the premise that learning a complex musical instrument brings with it a host of lifelong benefits including better self-discipline and academic performance, the confidence that comes from doing something well, better coordination, positive peer groups, and immersion in the beauty of music.

CFKF has a grant-making presence in all 50 states of America; at this writing, we’ve supported well over 300 string programs with over $2 million in beautiful new stringed instruments that inspire young people to participate and remain in their programs.

Funding

If your school or non-profit organization believes in the role of fine instruments in your program, and can show evidence of need and commitment to raising matching funds, you are a strong candidate for the Classics for Kids matching grant program.

Instruments needed can be: 

• Violins
• Violas
• Cellos
• Double Basses
• Ukuleles
• Guitars

Adolf Busch Award

The power of music in social change

The mission of the Adolf Busch Award is to recognize and honor organizations that use music to address social injustice, inequity and lack of opportunity.

The Award grants $10,000 to one organization each year. Smaller awards are often given to additional compelling applicants.

Our Outlook

Though many of us on the Board of Advisors are active in diverse fields, we are united in our passion for music as both a form of art and communication.

Music has the power to bridge divisions and bring people together. With every note, we can effectively counter cultural bias, confront educational disadvantages, and empower individuals to successfully surmount economic and cultural challenges.

We believe in the transformative power of music to create a more just and civil society.

About Us

The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. seeks to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their identities or social philosophies.

Why the Puffin?

The Puffin, once endangered in the northeastern United States, was returned to its native habitats through the efforts of a concerned citizenry. Our name is a metaphor for how we perceive our mission in the arts: to join with other concerned groups and individuals to ensure that the arts not merely survive, but flourish at all levels of our society.

Annual Artist Grant Program

Funding Focus

This year,  we will be funding proposals in the genres of:

• fine arts
• music
• photography

Applications in other disciplines will not be considered. Please note that the primary focus of your proposal must be one of these genres.

Our genres rotate in 2 year cycles, meaning that each genre is open for project proposals every other year.

Funding

The maximum grant size is $3,500. While some projects will receive full funding, a typical grant is about half that amount.

Mockingbird Foundation Grants

The Mockingbird Foundation provides funding for music education for children, through competitive grants, emergency-related grants, and tour-related grants – more than a million dollars, and counting. Competitive grants are awarded through a two-tiered grant application process that is among the most competitive: We are currently able to fund fewer than 1% of inquiries received (e.g. $40K on $1.4M in inquiries). That’s in part because the need is so widespread, and in part because we are unique in what we fund, differing from other players in this funding area in important ways:

Music itself matters – Music is powerful not only culturally and emotionally, but for skills, health, and general well-being. However, we have never funded a grantee solely on the basis of such tangential benefits (such as for music therapy), and tend to favor applicants who recognize the importance of music education for its own sake. While a laudable enterprise, music therapy is just not what we do.

Direct experience is best – Each grantee works to bring the power of music into the lives of a particular group of children. Several grantees have also utilized funds to expose students to music, also a laudable effort. But the Mockingbird board has historically been more interested in programs that engage students directly with music, rather than in funding musical performances for students who would only observe others experiencing music.

Underserved niches are great – Like Save the Music and Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, we’ve given support to high school bands. But we’re especially proud of support we’ve given to economically, culturally, and musically distinct efforts. Many of our grantees serve children with special needs and/or underserved populations, and some have been internal efforts by dwindling indigenous peoples. Additionally, we are interested in supporting unconventional forms of instruction, and instruction in unconventional forms; and we are not focused on traditional performance skills, but are also interested in composition, vocalization, and musical improvisation.

Unconventional outlets are interesting – Our funding guidelines define music education for children broadly and somewhat unconventionally. For example, while we have funded many schools – rural and urban, public and private, kindergarten through university – we are especially interested in efforts outside of schools, including hospitals, shelters, foster homes, prisons, churches, camps, and community centers.

Outcomes may not be assessable – Nearly all relevant advocacy efforts have focused on putting instruments in public schools, promoting music education as a tool within broader education, and measuring outcomes in terms of assessable skills. Contrarily, the Mockingbird Foundation looks beyond public schools, and is interested in some areas for which skills may be less assessable (or even irrelevant).

Program Areas

The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. (“Mockingbird”) offers competitive grants to schools and nonprofit organizations that effect improvements in areas of importance to the Phish fan community. Our programmatic focus is music education for children, defined as follows:

Music: We recognize broad and basic needs within conventional instruction, though are particularly interested in projects that foster creative expression (whether in instrumentation, vocalization, composition, or improvisation) and encourage applications associated with diverse or unusual musical styles, genres, forms, and philosophies.

Education: Education may include the provision of instruments, texts, office materials, or equipment; the support of learning, practice, and/or performance spaces; and the provision of instructors or instruction. We appreciate the fostering of self-esteem and free expression, but have never funded music therapy separate from education nor music appreciation which does not include participation.

Children: We primarily fund programs serving children eighteen years of age or younger, but will consider projects which benefit college students, teachers, instructors, or adult students. We are particularly (though not exclusively) interested in programs which benefit disenfranchised groups, including those with low skill levels, income, or education; with disabilities or terminal illnesses; and in foster homes, shelters, hospitals, prisons, or other remote or isolated situations.

About NEA Big Read

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of ourselves and our neighbors through the power of a shared reading experience.

The goals of the NEA Big Read are to:

• Inspire meaningful conversations and cross-cultural understanding and empathy;
• Celebrate local creativity and creative practices;
• Elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives;
• Encourage cross-sector collaboration between the arts and other disciplines and industries to strengthen a community’s civic infrastructure; and
• Build social cohesion and civic engagement through stronger connections in each community as a means toward improving health and well-being and reducing isolation and loneliness.

The NEA Big Read annually presents a selection of novels, poetry collections, short story collections, memoirs, and/or books of essays that inspire conversation and creative responses. Funding is then provided to nonprofit organizations around the country to host dynamic community-wide reading programs designed around one of these books and in collaboration with local partners to develop and conduct engaging events and activities. Organizations apply for funding through a grants program managed by Arts Midwest. Each community program that receives an NEA Big Read grant – which ranges between $5,000 and $20,000 – is also provided with resources to help them succeed. These include outreach materials and tools to help grantees develop public relations strategies, work with local partners, and lead meaningful book discussions.

NEA Big Read programs can be as short as a week or as long as several months. Grantees facilitate book discussions, writing workshops, and creative programming inspired by the book that may include panel discussions, lectures, film screenings, art exhibitions, theatrical and musical performances, poetry slams, writing contests, and community storytelling events. Activities seek to include local artists and welcome participation from a wide range of audiences. 

About Us

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 through the initiative of Arab cultural activists as an independent foundation to support individual artists, writers, researchers, intellectuals, as well as organizations from the Arab region working in the field of arts and culture. Since its launch, AFAC’s programs have steadily expanded to cover cinema, photography, visual and performing arts, creative and critical writings, music, documentary film, in addition to funding research, trainings and cultural events. Based in Beirut, AFAC works with artists and organizations all over the Arab region and the rest of the world.

Creative and Critical Writings

AFAC’s Creative and Critical Writings grant provides support to critical arts and culture writing, children’s and youth literature (including both adaptation and original work), graphic novels, short stories and poetry, in addition to analog and digital publishing platforms. The final product must be in Arabic.

The Creative and Critical Writings grant program provides annual grants of up to USD 20,000 for individuals and teams, and up to USD 35,000 for collectives and institutions.

What Does The Grant Cover

AFAC grants are intended for project production, including research and development phases. They may cover project-related expenses, including but not limited to materials, space or equipment rentals, and fees for artistic and technical labor and collaboration.

An artist or institutional fee of not more than 30% of the total grant amount is also an allowable expense. If you are hesitant about how this works, you can always contact us with questions before submitting your final budget.

Given the high demand for production support, AFAC cannot guarantee that all selected grantees will receive their requested amounts in full. We encourage applicants to diversify their sources of funding whenever possible.

AFAC does not offer mobility grants, but travel expenses that are part of a project’s implementation and/or research may be covered by the grant.

AFAC will not provide support retroactively to projects that have already been completed.

For projects that have already started, we cover only expenses occurring after the agreement's signature date.

AFAC launches two open calls every year for its different grant programs. The first is open to applications for Creative and Critical Writings, Documentary Film, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts grants. The second call is open to applications for Cinema, Music, Documentary Photography and Training & Regional Events grants. Each applicant (individual or institution) can only submit one application during each open call.

See FAQs for additional guidelines.

About Us

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 through the initiative of Arab cultural activists as an independent foundation to support individual artists, writers, researchers, intellectuals, as well as organizations from the Arab region working in the field of arts and culture. Since its launch, AFAC’s programs have steadily expanded to cover cinema, photography, visual and performing arts, creative and critical writings, music, documentary film, in addition to funding research, trainings and cultural events. Based in Beirut, AFAC works with artists and organizations all over the Arab region and the rest of the world.

Visual Arts

AFAC’s Visual Arts grant supports the production and exhibition of painting, sculpture, photography, installations, video and sound art, art publications, and multimedia works.

The Visual Arts grant program provides annual grants of up to USD 20,000 for individuals and teams, and up to USD 35,000 for collectives and institutions.

When the grant from AFAC exceeds ten thousand dollars yet only covers a portion of the project’s overall budget, the grantee is obliged to raise 70% of the remaining budget in order to be awarded the grant. In the event that the grantee is unable to procure 70% of the remaining project budget within 90 days of receiving the grant, the latter will be canceled.

What Does The Grant Cover

AFAC grants are intended for project production, including research and development phases. They may cover project-related expenses, including but not limited to materials, space or equipment rentals, and fees for artistic and technical labor and collaboration.

An artist or institutional fee of not more than 30% of the total grant amount is also an allowable expense. If you are hesitant about how this works, you can always contact us with questions before submitting your final budget.

Given the high demand for production support, AFAC cannot guarantee that all selected grantees will receive their requested amounts in full. We encourage applicants to diversify their sources of funding whenever possible.

AFAC does not offer mobility grants, but travel expenses that are part of a project’s implementation and/or research may be covered by the grant.

For projects that have already started, we cover only expenses occurring after the agreement's signature date.

AFAC launches two open calls every year for its different grant programs. The first is open to applications for Creative and Critical Writings, Documentary Film, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts grants. The second call is open to applications for Cinema, Music, Documentary Photography and Training & Regional Events grants. Each applicant (individual or institution) can only submit one application during each open call.

Mission

At The NAMM Foundation, our mission is clear - Invest in the future of music.

Global Grantmaking

Inspired by the generosity of the music products industry, The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) established The NAMM Foundation in 2006 to make charitable investments that create more music makers across the lifespan. Since then, the foundation has awarded $20 million in nonprofit and music research grants. 

Today, the foundation seeks to understand the systemic barriers that prevent youth and adults from participating in music-making and music careers. We then invest in big ideas and bold solutions that help eliminate these barriers.  

Our Global Grantmaking invests in charitable organizations, worldwide, that demonstrate a significant impact on music career mobility and the creation of more music makers across the lifespan of learning.   

What We Fund

We award grants to high-impact organizations across the globe that create more music makers by eliminating barriers for underrepresented communities and groups of people in two areas, Participatory Music Making and Career Mobility:

• Participatory Music Making:
  • High-quality, hands-on, relevant music-making, music-training, that is, or will be, a permanent part of an organization’s annual programming and serve, or will serve, an established cohort of participants that engage with the program regularly.
• Career Mobility:
  • Career Mobility is career development for youth or adults in any area of the music industry. Commercial (e.g. production, recording, live event, instrument makers, retail, etc.) musicians, and teaching artists.

Grant Tracks

Within these given priorities, we offer three grant tracks:

• Music Program Grants for US and International Organizations
• General Operating Grants for US Music Organizations
• Music Research Grants for US Organizations

General Operating Grants

We accept General Operating Grant applications from 501 (c)(3) nonprofit music organizations whose entire mission aligns with our funding priorities and demonstrate strong management practices and high programmatic standards.

Funding

Grants from The NAMM Foundation can range between $5,000-$25,000, depending on the size and scope of the request.

Mission

At The NAMM Foundation, our mission is clear - Invest in the future of music.

Global Grantmaking

Inspired by the generosity of the music products industry, The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) established The NAMM Foundation in 2006 to make charitable investments that create more music makers across the lifespan. Since then, the foundation has awarded $20 million in nonprofit and music research grants. 

Today, the foundation seeks to understand the systemic barriers that prevent youth and adults from participating in music-making and music careers. We then invest in big ideas and bold solutions that help eliminate these barriers.  

Our Global Grantmaking invests in charitable organizations, worldwide, that demonstrate a significant impact on music career mobility and the creation of more music makers across the lifespan of learning.   

What We Fund

We award grants to high-impact organizations across the globe that create more music makers by eliminating barriers for underrepresented communities and groups of people in two areas, Participatory Music Making and Career Mobility:

• Participatory Music Making:
  • High-quality, hands-on, relevant music-making, music-training, that is, or will be, a permanent part of an organization’s annual programming and serve, or will serve, an established cohort of participants that engage with the program regularly.
• Career Mobility:
  • Career Mobility is career development for youth or adults in any area of the music industry. Commercial (e.g. production, recording, live event, instrument makers, retail, etc.) musicians, and teaching artists.

Grant Tracks

Within these given priorities, we offer three grant tracks:

• Music Program Grants for US and International Organizations
• General Operating Grants for US Music Organizations
• Music Research Grants for US Organizations

Music Research Grants

We award research grants that improve practices for music education, support music makers, and enhance workforce development. These grants also seek to increase public and private resources and focus on unique, non-duplicative research topics.

Funding

Grants from The NAMM Foundation can range between $5,000-$25,000, depending on the size and scope of the request.

About Us

The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture - AFAC was founded in 2007 through the initiative of Arab cultural activists as an independent foundation to support individual artists, writers, researchers, intellectuals, as well as organizations from the Arab region working in the field of arts and culture. Since its launch, AFAC’s programs have steadily expanded to cover cinema, photography, visual and performing arts, creative and critical writings, music, documentary film, in addition to funding research, trainings and cultural events. Based in Beirut, AFAC works with artists and organizations all over the Arab region and the rest of the world.

Music Grant

AFAC’s Music grant supports music production, performances, collaborations, album recordings, music-related podcasts, and festivals.

The Music grant program provides annual grants of up to USD 25,000 for individuals and teams, and up to USD 35,000 for collectives and institutions. If the amount you are granted is more than USD 10,000 but does not cover your full project budget, you will be asked to show proof that you have secured at least 50% of the remaining budget and can continue with the project. 

About the Native Performing Arts Program

First Peoples Fund’s Native Performing Arts Program is designed to support Native performing artists—emerging and established—in developing and enhancing their artistic skills and knowledge in their performance craft. The program strives to provide Native performing artists more equitable access to the resources they need to enhance their creations and careers. This includes funding, mentoring, financial capability, and business development training aligned with their cultural values.

• Our focus on this work originates from and is informed by our past work with Native performing artists and key findings from our 2022 Brightening the Spotlight report:
• Current funding and presenting opportunities do not meet the needs of many Native creators.
• Native creators want and deserve to work with partners who treat them as professionals and who trust in their creative decision-making.
• Over half of the interviewees recommend that more Natives and culturally knowledgeable non-Natives be involved in funding decisions.
• Native creators do more than perform. Native creators play a wide range of roles in their communities, keeping traditions alive, promoting health and economic opportunities and educating non-Native audiences

Native Performing Arts Live Production Grant

The Native Performing Arts Live Production Grant (LPG) program supports Native-led live performing events and performances that include multiple Native performers and artists. “Live Production” means the artist(s) are actively engaged in creating a live performance, either in person or virtually. Live Productions can include: Original or re-adapted theatrical plays, touring for Native performance groups, performances taking place in Native communities, and other forms of live performance that may not fit into conventional performance categories (such as music festivals, concerts, and fairs).

The LPG Grant offers a one-year $30,000 grant to individual Native performing artists and Native-led performing arts organizations/businesses/collectives with experience presenting live productions. LPG is intended to support live productions in the ACTIVE stages of production.

Performance Program

Funds are available for General Operating Support for professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music and with plans to continue that commitment. The program also provides Project Support for exceptionally important activities relating to contemporary American music proposed by professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations that do not normally feature such music in their programming.

• An eligible project is a clearly defined endeavor that includes one or more performances of contemporary American music and, often, other activities related to the performance(s) that improve the public’s knowledge of such music.

The Performance Program also supports the electronic dissemination of live performances, including both live streams or broadcasts and delayed streams or broadcasts. Expenses such as recording and electronic distribution costs can be considered as eligible costs in a request for general operating or project support when related to live performance. Stand-alone recording projects (e.g., a studio album) and projects involving the acquisition of equipment (e.g., microphones, cameras, etc.) are not eligible for support in this program.

Special note for dance applicants

The Fund’s primary focus for dance applicants is on the quality of the music and the performance, which must be by live musicians, not the choreography. However, the choreography must enhance the performance of contemporary American music.

Special note for festival applicants and other applications with professional training activities

If the primary focus of the organization or project is public professional performance of music, the applicant should apply to the Performance Program. If the primary focus of the organization or project is educational activities, workshops, professional training, or career development, the applicant should apply to the Supplemental Program.

Funding Provisions

In general, grants range from $1,000 to $20,000. Grant amounts for larger organizations with a demonstrated extraordinary commitment to contemporary American music may exceed these amounts at the discretion of the panel. Please note that the awarding of a grant for general operating support in one year does not imply continuation of that support in subsequent years. Project support grants are for that project only, and no more than one grant will be awarded for a single project.

Please refer to FAQ for additional guidelines.

Levitt Music Series Grants - AMP

Levitt AMP is a multi-year matching grant opportunity bringing the joy of free, live music to small to mid-sized towns and cities.

Geared to towns and cities with populations under 250,000, Levitt AMP grantees reflect the three goals of the Levitt AMP program: Amplify community pride and a city’s unique character; enrich lives through the power of free, live Music; and illustrate the importance of inclusive and vibrant public Places. From rural Alaska to Appalachian Main Streets and Midwestern locales, the Levitt AMP Music Series is a catalytic opportunity engaging a wide range of towns and cities across America to realize a shared mission—building community through music to create a healthy and thriving future for all.

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Launched in 2015, the Levitt Foundation has provided funding to more than 50 communities coast to coast through the Levitt AMP program, activating underused public spaces, ensuring access to the arts and strengthening the social fabric of communities through creative placemaking, bringing people together of all ages and backgrounds through free, outdoor concert series.

Special Music Series Grant - Tennessee-Based Nonprofits

The Levitt Foundation is thrilled to announce its partnership with the Tennessee Entertainment Commission to award up to six communities based in Tennessee with multi-year Levitt AMP matching grants, with support from the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. This project marks the Levitt Foundation’s first joint partnership with a specific state.

Through this partnership, the State and the Foundation together will be awarding matching grants of up to $40K per year to small to mid-sized cities throughout Tennessee in through the next 3 years. The funding will go toward presenting free outdoor concerts featuring high-caliber entertainment in a broad array of music genres, amplifying stages across the state with up to 180 free concerts for Tennesseans of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy.

This partnership applies to the Levitt AMP grant opportunity only. There is no separate application process to be considered and interested Tennessee-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits should proceed with completing their online application on the Levitt Foundation website. Levitt AMP grant applicants from Tennessee that advance to the public voting phase will be in the running with other Tennessee-based Levitt AMP grant applicants only. Nonprofits based in Tennessee that are interested in applying for the Levitt VIBE or Levitt BLOC grant opportunity may still submit an online application, though if advanced to the public voting phase will be in the running with applicants from across the country.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

Levitt Music Series Grants - BLOC

Levitt BLOC is a multi-year matching grant opportunity that activates underused public spaces across multiple neighborhoods within a town or city through the joy of free, live music.

Geared to communities of any size, Levitt BLOC (Building Layers Of Community) activates different neighborhoods in a town or city by “layering” concerts across multiple public spaces, broadening the overall reach of the music series. Levitt BLOC fosters social cohesion and amplifies community pride by featuring a diverse lineup ranging from acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists on the local, regional, and national circuits, ensuring access to high-caliber performances throughout a community. Levitt BLOC launched as a two-year pilot program this past year with the Chattanooga-based nonprofit, RISE.

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

Levitt Music Series Grants - VIBE

Levitt VIBE is a multi-year matching grant opportunity that brings the joy of free, live music to public spaces in city neighborhoods where access to arts experiences may be limited.

Geared to large cities with a population over 250,000, Levitt VIBE (Vibrant Inclusive Beats for Everyone) brings the free outdoor concerts to neighborhoods where there is limited access to arts programming and live music. Each Levitt VIBE concert series features a diverse lineup of acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists on the local, regional, and national circuits, ensuring access to high-caliber performances for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Levitt VIBE Music Series create a community destination, connecting people to each other and inspiring neighborhood pride of place. Levitt VIBE was launched as a two-year pilot program this past year with three city neighborhoods: the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago; the Near Southside neighborhood of Indianapolis; and the East Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California. 

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

About Decolonizing Wealth Project 

Established in 2018, Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) is committed to bringing truth, healing, and repair to our global community. Reparative Philanthropy, our signature framework, is at the heart of our work and aims to transform wealth into collective wellbeing. DWP operates through three key strategies: sector transformation, storytelling and culture, and reparative giving. Our work has radically transformed the philanthropic sector and has facilitated the distribution of nearly $1 billion for truth, healing, and reparative efforts. Liberated Capital, DWP’s fund and donor community, has directly granted over $23 million to support economic solidarity, wellbeing, and earth and climate efforts primarily led by communities most impacted. 

Youth Mental Health Fund - Anchor Grant

Background

Decolonizing Wealth Project is excited to launch a new culturally responsive care fund focused on supporting and expanding mental health care for youth in the United States, prioritizing access for LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color. The fund will redistribute a minimum of $15 million in grants over three years starting this year.

Throughout history, young people have been drivers of social change. They have led efforts from Selma to Standing Rock, inviting us all to imagine a better future. Youth today face a world of compounding challenges with the changing technology and social media, climate crises, income inequality, and deadly extremist violence in the United States and beyond. However, the burden of these challenges is not carried equally. Young people of color and queer youth are often forced to navigate a world that refuses to honor their brilliance and embrace their identities. As a result, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, or even suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders ages 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for young Black or African Americans (CDC, 2023; NAMI, 2023; ACAMH, 2023) and nearly half of all LBGTQ youth considered suicide, and 60% of those who sought mental health support were not able to access it (The Trevor Project, 2022).

One of the most significant barriers to supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth mental health is the lack of access to culturally responsive care. Youth of historically marginalized identities are in dire need of access to mental health providers who actively implement culturally responsive practices and care in affirming spaces that honor their identities. Culture also carries unique protective factors, and centering these strengths will ensure healing for both young people and society. 

The Opportunity

A Community-Aligned Fund that Centers Marginalized Youth

In collaboration with an external advisory committee composed of youth leaders and experts and practitioners in the field of adolescent mental health, DWP is launching the Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF) – a culturally affirming initiative focused on expanding access to community-based mental health care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 12-24. In addition to supporting community-based programs and partnerships, YMHF will also fund work to shift narratives around care and programs that offer culturally grounded healing experiences that center the unique needs and strengths of marginalized youth living at the intersections.

The YMHF fund will invest at least $15 million in grants over the next 3 years, for a minimum of $5 million annually. Alongside grantmaking, DWP will invest in capacity-building opportunities for grantee partners and elevate critical issues undergirding the Fund through communications and field-building efforts.

Fund Priorities: Culturally Responsive Care

Decolonizing Wealth Project seeks to nurture healing, belonging, and empowerment for youth. We will prioritize initiatives that are community-led or engage young people directly in decision-making processes and efforts. Examples of meaningful youth leadership may be in staffing, youth steering committees, youth boards, and processes that generate regular feedback from youth. An external, intergenerational Advisory Committee will review every eligible application.

Applications will be accepted across the following three priority areas:

• Community-Based Programs -
  • Increasing access to culturally responsive mental health care by providing services in places where youth live, learn, and play (e.g. in schools, churches, community centers, particularly in rural areas, etc). (Note: in the case of partnerships between community-based organizations and clinics/health care system units, grants will be awarded to the community-based nonprofit).
  • Youth-led organizations that provide programs to improve mental wellbeing outcomes, such as peer support, skill-building, and youth advocacy. These programs should create spaces where youth can connect, share experiences, and learn coping strategies, while advocating for changes in policies and practices that impact their mental well-being.
• Cultural-Based Healing -
  • Innovative culturally relevant delivery models that promote connection to belonging, culture, and improve mental health care. This may include programs that use creative expression such as: language, movement, art, music, dance, and theater as therapeutic tools to explore identity, process trauma, and build resilience.
  • Storytelling projects that amplify communal and personal stories of mental health journeys to foster solidarity and representation.
  • Heritage-based wellness programs that integrate cultural practices, rituals, and spirituality into mental health approaches for young people.
• Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns -
  • Community-based education programs tailored to equip youth, families, providers, and educators with tools to recognize and address mental health challenges.
  • Campaigns that challenge cultural and systemic stigmas around mental health care and identity, and work to expand access to services and support, as well as post-traumatic growth and joy.
  • Support for organizations working towards systemic change in mental health services and care delivery to dismantle inequities in mental health care systems impacting youth; Priority given to programs that train youth as advocates for systemic change in mental health policies and systems.

Funding

In this first year of grantmaking, we will use the following approach to grant $5 million:

• There are two grant types organizations can apply for (this grant page focuses on the Anchor Grant)
  • Anchor Grants: General operating support grants ranging from $100,000-$250,000 for youth mental health organizations or projects that have been operating for 5 years or more with organizational budgets over $2,000,000.

About Decolonizing Wealth Project 

Established in 2018, Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) is committed to bringing truth, healing, and repair to our global community. Reparative Philanthropy, our signature framework, is at the heart of our work and aims to transform wealth into collective wellbeing. DWP operates through three key strategies: sector transformation, storytelling and culture, and reparative giving. Our work has radically transformed the philanthropic sector and has facilitated the distribution of nearly $1 billion for truth, healing, and reparative efforts. Liberated Capital, DWP’s fund and donor community, has directly granted over $23 million to support economic solidarity, wellbeing, and earth and climate efforts primarily led by communities most impacted. 

Background

Decolonizing Wealth Project is excited to launch a new culturally responsive care fund focused on supporting and expanding mental health care for youth in the United States, prioritizing access for LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color. The fund will redistribute a minimum of $15 million in grants over three years starting this year.

Throughout history, young people have been drivers of social change. They have led efforts from Selma to Standing Rock, inviting us all to imagine a better future. Youth today face a world of compounding challenges with the changing technology and social media, climate crises, income inequality, and deadly extremist violence in the United States and beyond. However, the burden of these challenges is not carried equally. Young people of color and queer youth are often forced to navigate a world that refuses to honor their brilliance and embrace their identities. As a result, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, or even suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders ages 10-24, and the second leading cause of death for young Black or African Americans (CDC, 2023; NAMI, 2023; ACAMH, 2023) and nearly half of all LBGTQ youth considered suicide, and 60% of those who sought mental health support were not able to access it (The Trevor Project, 2022).

One of the most significant barriers to supporting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth mental health is the lack of access to culturally responsive care. Youth of historically marginalized identities are in dire need of access to mental health providers who actively implement culturally responsive practices and care in affirming spaces that honor their identities. Culture also carries unique protective factors, and centering these strengths will ensure healing for both young people and society. 

The Opportunity

A Community-Aligned Fund that Centers Marginalized Youth

In collaboration with an external advisory committee composed of youth leaders and experts and practitioners in the field of adolescent mental health, DWP is launching the Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF) – a culturally affirming initiative focused on expanding access to community-based mental health care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 12-24. In addition to supporting community-based programs and partnerships, YMHF will also fund work to shift narratives around care and programs that offer culturally grounded healing experiences that center the unique needs and strengths of marginalized youth living at the intersections.

The YMHF fund will invest at least $15 million in grants over the next 3 years, for a minimum of $5 million annually. Alongside grantmaking, DWP will invest in capacity-building opportunities for grantee partners and elevate critical issues undergirding the Fund through communications and field-building efforts.

Fund Priorities: Culturally Responsive Care

Decolonizing Wealth Project seeks to nurture healing, belonging, and empowerment for youth. We will prioritize initiatives that are community-led or engage young people directly in decision-making processes and efforts. Examples of meaningful youth leadership may be in staffing, youth steering committees, youth boards, and processes that generate regular feedback from youth. An external, intergenerational Advisory Committee will review every eligible application.

Applications will be accepted across the following three priority areas:

• Community-Based Programs -
  • Increasing access to culturally responsive mental health care by providing services in places where youth live, learn, and play (e.g. in schools, churches, community centers, particularly in rural areas, etc). (Note: in the case of partnerships between community-based organizations and clinics/health care system units, grants will be awarded to the community-based nonprofit).
  • Youth-led organizations that provide programs to improve mental wellbeing outcomes, such as peer support, skill-building, and youth advocacy. These programs should create spaces where youth can connect, share experiences, and learn coping strategies, while advocating for changes in policies and practices that impact their mental well-being.
• Cultural-Based Healing -
  • Innovative culturally relevant delivery models that promote connection to belonging, culture, and improve mental health care. This may include programs that use creative expression such as: language, movement, art, music, dance, and theater as therapeutic tools to explore identity, process trauma, and build resilience.
  • Storytelling projects that amplify communal and personal stories of mental health journeys to foster solidarity and representation.
  • Heritage-based wellness programs that integrate cultural practices, rituals, and spirituality into mental health approaches for young people.
• Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns -
  • Community-based education programs tailored to equip youth, families, providers, and educators with tools to recognize and address mental health challenges.
  • Campaigns that challenge cultural and systemic stigmas around mental health care and identity, and work to expand access to services and support, as well as post-traumatic growth and joy.
  • Support for organizations working towards systemic change in mental health services and care delivery to dismantle inequities in mental health care systems impacting youth; Priority given to programs that train youth as advocates for systemic change in mental health policies and systems.

Funding

In this first year of grantmaking, we will use the following approach to grant $5 million:

• There are two grant types organizations can apply for (this grant page focuses on the Opportunity Grant)
  • Opportunity Grants:
    • General operating support grants ranging from $30,000– $100,000 for organizations or projects that have been operating for less than 5 years; or
    • Project-specific grants for new innovative solutions, pilots, convenings, one-time special opportunities, etc.

About Us

The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. seeks to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their identities or social philosophies.

Why the Puffin?

The Puffin, once endangered in the northeastern United States, was returned to its native habitats through the efforts of a concerned citizenry. Our name is a metaphor for how we perceive our mission in the arts: to join with other concerned groups and individuals to ensure that the arts not merely survive, but flourish at all levels of our society.

Annual Artist Grant Program

Funding Focus

This year,  we will be funding proposals in the genres of:

• video/film
• theater

Theater includes any type of live dramatic performance, including plays, performance art, storytelling, poetry slams, and staged readings. Film and video includes traditional media meant for a theater or television broadcast as well as radio shows, podcasts, on demand and streaming productions. 

Applications in other disciplines will not be considered. Please note that the primary focus of your proposal must be one of these genres. For example, please do not apply for a video/film grant if you are composing a musical score for a film, or for a theater grant if you are creating the set for a theater production.

Our genres rotate in 2 year cycles, meaning that each genre is open for project proposals every other year.

Funding

The maximum grant size is $3,500. While some projects will receive full funding, a typical grant is about half that amount.