Hearst Foundations' Mission

The Hearst Foundations identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States have the opportunity to build healthy, productive and inspiring lives.

Hearst Foundations' Goals

The Foundations seek to achieve their mission by funding approaches that result in:

• Improved health and quality of life
• Access to high quality educational options to promote increased academic achievement
• Arts and sciences serving as a cornerstone of society
• Sustainable employment and productive career paths for adults
• Stabilizing and supporting families

Funding Priorities

The Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of interests – culture, education, health and social service – and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Culture

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those which enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent.

Types of Support: Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Education

The Hearst Foundations fund educational institutions demonstrating uncommon success in preparing students to thrive in a global society. The Foundations’ focus is largely on higher education, but they also fund innovative models of early childhood and K-12 education, as well as professional development.

Types of Support: Program, scholarship, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Health

The Hearst Foundations assist leading regional hospitals, medical centers and specialized medical institutions providing access to high-quality healthcare for low-income populations. In response to the shortage of healthcare professionals necessary to meet the country’s evolving needs, the Foundations also fund programs designed to enhance skills and increase the number of practitioners and educators across roles in healthcare. Because the Foundations seek to use their funds to create a broad and enduring impact on the nation’s health, support for medical research and the development of young investigators is also considered.

Types of Support: Program, capital and, on a limited basis, endowment support

Social Service

The Hearst Foundations fund direct-service organizations that tackle the roots of chronic poverty by applying effective solutions to the most challenging social and economic problems. The Foundations prioritize supporting programs that have proven successful in facilitating economic independence and in strengthening families. Preference is also given to programs with the potential to scale productive practices in order to reach more people in need.

Types of Support: Program, capital and general support

Battlefield Preservation Fund

Grants from the Battlefield Preservation Fund will serve as a catalyst to stimulate efforts to preserve battlefields, viewsheds, and related historic structures and to leverage fund-raising activities.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning

Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach

Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

Guidelines

Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by supporting on-going preservation work and by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for preservation projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector.

A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Grants generally start at $2,500 and range up to $5,000. The selection process is very competitive.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning: Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach: Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

What does this program do?

This program is designed to provide technical assistance and training for small rural businesses. Small means that the business has fewer than 50 new workers and less than $1 million in gross revenue.

What kind of funding is available?

There is no maximum grant amount; however, smaller requests are given higher priority. There is no cost sharing requirement. Opportunity grants are limited to up to 10 percent of the total Rural Business Development Grant annual funding.

How may funds be used?

Enterprise grants must be used on projects to benefit small and emerging businesses in rural areas as specified in the grant application. Uses may include:

• Training and technical assistance, such as project planning, business counseling and training, market research, feasibility studies, professional or/technical reports or producer service improvements.
• Acquisition or development of land, easements, or rights of way; construction, conversion, renovation of buildings; plants, machinery, equipment, access for streets and roads; parking areas and utilities.
• Pollution control and abatement.
• The capitalization of revolving loan funds, including funds that will make loans for start-ups and working capital.
• Distance adult learning for job training and advancement.
• Rural transportation improvement.
• Community economic development.
• Technology-based economic development.
• Feasibility studies and business plans.
• Leadership and entrepreneur training.
• Rural business incubators.
• Long-term business strategic planning.

Opportunity grants can be used for:

• Community economic development.
• Technology-based economic development.
• Feasibility studies and business plans.
• Leadership and entrepreneur training.
• Rural business incubators.
• Long-term business strategic planning.

Our Mission - Grant Program Policy

The Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation is a general purpose charitable foundation which awards grants in the fields of:

• arts and humanities,
• education,
• environment,
• health,
• human services, and
• public benefit

Project applications are sought from organizations which have defined a significant problem or opportunity in their field, have a well-planned approach to addressing the issue, and have skilled professional and voluntary leadership.

The Bean Foundation accepts requests for capital support. Contributions to capital campaigns will not exceed 3-4% of the total campaign goal. Exceptions have been made for organizations that serve low-income populations and have limited capacity for additional fundraising.

New Hampshire State Council on the Arts

The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (NHSCA) is a Division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Our enabling legislation charges us to ensure that the arts play a significant role in the welfare of people in the Granite State. Our mission is to promote the arts to protect and enrich New Hampshire’s unique quality of life.

The State Arts Council provides a wide variety of services, competitive grants, and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, schools, health care facilities and to individual artists, helping to ensure that the arts thrive in New Hampshire and are accessible to all. Funding for our grants and services is provided by the New Hampshire Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Youth Arts Project Grants

Youth Arts Project Grants fund high-quality arts and cultural programs that encourage creativity, develop new arts skills and foster success for young people. Recognizing that opportunities to experience and engage in the arts, such as music, dance, theater, visual arts, crafts, photography and creative writing, may be limited in classrooms, this grant provides funding for artists to work directly with young people. The overall goal of this grant category is to afford all young people opportunities to engage in the arts so that they can develop creative problem solving skills, positive forms of personal expression, and become more engaged in their communities through the art.

Projects in this category are required to:

• Clearly articulate your plan for making the program accessible for youth of all abilities and underserved populations.
• Identify core participants, consult with special education professionals if applicable, and develop accommodations as needed.
• Compensate artists at a professional level.
• Describe how the program is responsive to the academic and cultural needs of the youth being served. For example, the program may:
  • Provide experiences in diverse artistic disciplines
  • Reflect the racial, cultural, and aesthetic background of the youth population
  • Broaden access to artistic disciplines from diverse cultural traditions
  • Be designed with input from the youth being served.

Sample Projects:

• Female identifying teens meet weekly for an afterschool creative writing club led by a local poet who encourages self-expression, tackling difficult issues, public speaking, and community engagement. The nonprofit that offers the writing club works with the school district to make the opportunity available to the students for academic credit as an Extended Learning Opportunity (ELO).
• A nonprofit string ensemble offers individual and group lessons in string instruments to an entire school district during the school day and afterschool.
• A Creative Youth Development organization works with guidance counselors to identify at risk teens to participate in an afterschool program led by professional artists in dance, theatre, and design. Participants devise their own unique and innovative theatre and dance productions while engaging in group mentoring and leadership development.
• A weekly afterschool African dance program allows new American and refugee students the opportunity to learn and perform dances which reflect their aesthetic cultural traditions.
• A teen center partners with city leadership to design and create a mural based on the cultural diversity of the community.
• A summer camp for youth in a rural community invites musicians and theatre professionals from across the state to work with campers for in-depth learning. 

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

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

Since 2001, LCHIP has proudly awarded $54 million dollars to 364 organizations in 195 communities across New Hampshire to conserve and preserve New Hampshire's most important natural, cultural and historic resources. 

Preservation Planning Grant

Historic preservation endeavors to protect and preserve buildings, structures, districts and sites which reflect elements of local, state or national history. Historic preservation not only protects the irreplaceable physical resources in the built environment, but also protects the vitality, quality of life, and sense of place in our communities.

Preservation Planning grants support the development of preservation plans such as Historic Structure Reports or Historic Building Assessments. These reports serve as road maps for the reuse of historic resources. They are prepared by historic preservation professionals and are often multi-disciplinary because they address the history and function of the resource over time as well as identifying and assessing the resource’s preservation needs and priorities. The end result is a report that provides prioritized recommendations, following the appropriate Secretary of the Interior’s Standard for the Treatment of Historic Properties, for the next steps in a resource’s restoration or rehabilitation.

Funding

Grant amounts are at least $5,000, but not more than $25,000, and no more than 50% of the total project cost.

Moving Image Fund Grants

The goal of LEF New England is to fund the work of independent documentary film and video artists in the region, and to broaden recognition and support for their work, both locally and nationally. It also supports programs that highlight the rich history and ongoing legacy of innovation within New England’s independent film community.

LEF New England launched the Moving Image Fund (MIF) in 2002 to support new film and video work. The Moving Image Fund provides funding across all phases of production, supporting films from the early risk-taking stage, through a film’s completion. In this way, MIF offers a continuum of support for selected projects, while also identifying new talent. Through MIF, LEF New England champions work that is provocative, heartfelt, and challenging in style and substance. Since its inception, LEF’s Moving Image Fund has supported over 300 independent filmmaker projects with approximately $4 million in funding. The overarching goal of LEF New England’s philanthropic investment is to help build a sustainable and strong community of support for artists and their work.Pre-Production FundingLEF invests in documentary film and video projects that demonstrate excellence in technique, originality of vision and voice, and creativity in form. The strongest proposals will be those that clearly articulate the ways in which the proposed project aligns with the program’s funding criteria.Funding Criteria: 

• Quality of cinematic form and technique
• Originality of filmmaker’s voice, vision, and point of view
• Resonance and power of the film’s core idea or story
• Feasibility of production

A maximum of (4) to (6) grants of $5,000 will be awarded to projects in the pre-production phase of development at one June deadline each year.Appropriate Use of Funds: Pre-production funds may be used for research, travel, location scouting, script or storyboard development, experimentation with shooting picture and sound, distribution planning, fundraising, creating a trailer, and schedule and budget development.