NOTE: In recognition of shelter in place ordinances among our communities, our requirements for the 2020 Sponsorship Program have changed. It is important that we continue supporting changemakers while we collectively observe social distancing. 

Overview

Thanks for your interest in Beneficial State Foundation. We are a unique foundation in that our primary role is to protect and support the triple bottom line missions of Beneficial State Bank. We help ensure that the banks meet the goals of generating prosperity for people and the planet, and avoids extractive practices while being financially sound.

Beneficial State Bank is helping to build human and environmental prosperity primarily by providing fair and honest loans and financial services to businesses and nonprofits that are striving to be a force for good. We at the foundation support this work in the ways described here.

Sponsorships

We fund and manage the sponsorships of Beneficial State Bank. From day one, Beneficial State Bank has been committed to supporting our community above and beyond its lending by providing sponsorships to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations each year — before the bank has made any profits. Historically we have provided the equivalent of 10% or more of Beneficial State Bank’s profits. That’s ten times the U.S. average corporate giving of less than 1% (0.76%).

Sponsorships

We will continue to help the bank provide sponsorship to 501(c)(3) organizations in California, Oregon, and Washington that are engaged in transformative social justice and environmental work in our target sectors:

Social:

• Affordable and Multi-family Housing
• Arts, Culture and Community Building
• Education and Youth Development
• Beneficial Financial Services
• Economic, Business and Job Development
• Making, Manufacturing and Production
• Social Justice

Environmental:

• Environmental Sustainability
• Health and Well-being (non-food)
• Healthy Food
• Other Mission Categories (Business Ownership, Structures and Practices)

We choose to make small sponsorships available to many organizations; most of our sponsorships since 2013 were less than $1,000.

NOTE: We expect to fund very few proposals that come to us via unsolicited contact. As such, we have no formal process for accepting such proposals and may not respond to inquiries. In general, we expect to identify most giving opportunities via proactive searching and networking. If you would like to suggest that we consider a grant — whether for your project or someone else’s — please contact us.

Open Philanthropy Project Focus Areas

So far, the focus areas we have selected fall into one of two broad categories: Global Health and Wellbeing and Longtermism, led by Open Philanthropy co-CEOs Alexander Berger and Holden Karnofsky, respectively. We summarize the key differences between these portfolios as follows: 

• While Longtermism grants tend to be evaluated based on something like “How much this grant raises the probability of a very long-lasting, positive future” (including by reducing global catastrophic risks), Global Health and Wellbeing grants tend to be evaluated based on something like “How much this grant increases health (denominated in e.g. life-years) and/or wellbeing, worldwide.”
• The Global Health and Wellbeing team places greater weight on evidence, precedent, and track record in its giving; the Longtermism team tends to focus on problems and interventions where evidence and track records are often comparatively thin. (That said, the Global Health and Wellbeing team does support a significant amount of low-probability but high-upside work like policy advocacy and scientific research.)
• The Longtermism team’s work could be hugely important, but it’s very hard to answer questions like “How will we know whether this work is on track to have an impact?” We can track intermediate impacts and learn to some degree, but some key premises likely won’t become very clear for decades or more. By contrast, we generally expect the work of the Global Health and Wellbeing team to be more likely to result in recognizable impact on a given ~10-year time frame, and to be more amenable to learning and changing course as we go.

Focus Area: Global Health and Wellbeing

• Effective Altruism Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing) - We want to increase the number of people who work to improve health and wellbeing by as much as possible, and help them to achieve their goals.
  • We support organizations and projects that connect people who work to improve the lives of humans and animals around the world. We hope to grow and empower the community of people who use reason and evidence to do as much good as they can.
  • Many of those people describe themselves as effective altruists, and we think of Open Philanthropy as an organization focused on effective altruism — while acknowledging that this term is subject to multiple interpretations, not all of which apply to us.
  • This focus area uses the lens of our global health and wellbeing portfolio, just as our longtermism community growth area uses the lens of our longtermism portfolio. The work we fund in this area is primarily focused on identifying and supporting people who are or could eventually become helpful partners, critics, and grantees.

• Farm Animal Welfare - We seek to improve the lives of the billions of animals confined on factory farms.
  • We believe that phasing out the worst factory farm practices and working to promote alternatives could significantly reduce animal suffering.
  • We are particularly interested in advocating for reforms that would improve the lives of the greatest number of animals. Especially when directed at chicken and fish — the two most numerous vertebrate farmed animals — we think that these reforms could potentially impact a large share of the animals confined on farms today.
  • Successfully developing animal-free foods that are taste- and cost-competitive with animal-based foods might also prevent much of this suffering. We have accordingly worked to accelerate the development and commercialization of plant-based foods and other alternatives to animal products.
• Global Aid Policy - We hope to contribute to a future where wealthy countries’ foreign aid improves the well-being of more people.
  • Many high-income countries spend less than 0.7% of their GNP on official development assistance each year. We believe there could be ways to increase aid levels and to increase the impact of current aid spending. We’re interested in funding effective strategies for doing so.
  • We are open to any approach that could substantially increase the quantity and/or quality of aid and other forms of development finance. We do not have sector or geographic restrictions, and we may support a range of tactics, from advocacy to technical assistance to research.
  • Below are preliminary areas of interest, which we developed largely based on conversations with leading practitioners and funders. We look forward to talking to a wide range of people to refine and shape this list.
    • Using policy research and/or advocacy to help expand high-return programs and investments within existing aid institutions.
    • Advocating for new, cost-effective global health programs (e.g. PEPFAR for other areas).
    • Developing strategies to increase high-level political support for aid investments.
    • Building and strengthening aid policy & advocacy fields in high-income countries.
    • Supporting investments to improve the cost-effectiveness or quality of existing aid programs.
    • Expanding access to capital or helping to reduce debt burdens, e.g. by supporting governments in negotiating more favorable terms from development finance loans.
  • We launched our Global Aid Policy program in April 2022. We expect to spend at least $15 million in 2022, and hope to grow the program substantially in future years. Below are several related grants we made prior to launching the program. 
• Global Health & Development - We believe that every life has value — and that philanthropic dollars can go particularly far by helping those who are living in poverty by global standards.
  • Most of our giving in this category is to organizations recommended by GiveWell, with whom we have a close relationship. We are excited to support cost-effective interventions to save and improve lives in low- and middle-income countries. An additional subset of our giving supports scientific research we believe can help address diseases that disproportionately afflict the global poor.
• Global Health R&D - We seek to support the development of new vaccines, drugs, and other tools to improve global health.
  • Historically, health technologies like vaccines and drugs have saved millions of lives around the world. However, diseases primarily affecting the world’s poorest people, such as tuberculosis, malaria, diarrheal diseases, rheumatic heart disease, and sickle cell disease receive much less research and development spending relative to their health burdens than diseases affecting the wealthy. Further investments could prevent millions of deaths and illnesses caused by neglected diseases.
  • Open Philanthropy has supported scientific research for human health since 2016. Over time we have learned that there are many excellent opportunities in global health R&D that we could support with increased resources and specialized staff. As a result, we launched this new program in 2023, substantially increasing our total funding in the area.
  • The Global Health R&D team works in parallel and in collaboration with our Scientific Research team, but with a greater focus on supporting tools and treatments through the development life cycle, including those requiring early proof of concept studies, human efficacy trials or implementation research. We are interested in funding research and development for new vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, monoclonal antibodies, and vector control tools for diseases with a large global health burden, as well as efforts to make these products more affordable and accessible.
• Innovation Policy - We hope to safely accelerate scientific and technological progress to make life better for billions of people.
• Historically, economic growth and scientific innovation have created enormous social benefits, lifting billions of people out of poverty and improving health outcomes around the world. At the same time, innovation carries risk; some technologies have the potential to do far more harm than good. 
• Our goal is to accelerate growth and innovation, without unduly increasing risks from emerging technology such as artificial intelligence or genetic engineering. Even small changes to the annual growth rate can compound to great effect over time, which gives us the opportunity to make high-leverage grants.
• We’re interested in pursuing a wide range of strategies. Our current interests include:
  • Advocating for policy reform to help more migrants, especially highly-skilled migrants, move to countries operating on the scientific and technological frontier.
  • Improving the quality of published scientific research, especially in the social sciences, e.g. by encouraging efforts to replicate influential papers.
  • Supporting efforts to accelerate clinical trials for new drugs, without sacrificing standards for quality and safety.
  • Providing financial support for the synthesis and communication of published academic research, in order to increase its impact.
• Land Use Reform - We seek to reduce the harms caused by excessively restrictive local land use regulations.
  • Local laws often prohibit the construction of dense new housing, leading to higher housing prices, especially in a few large high-wage metropolitan areas (e.g., New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.). More permissive policy could contribute to both affordable housing and the continued growth of centers of economic activity, allowing more people to access high-wage jobs and encouraging economic growth through returns to agglomeration. Working toward more permissive policy in those key regions from a public-interest perspective (as opposed to lobbying for specific developments) appears neglected considering the significant potential gains. For more about our strategy in this area, see our land use reform cause report.

• Scientific Research - We are interested in research that could affect a large number of people.
  • We primarily support biomedical research but our interests are not limited to any particular field, disease, condition, or population. Instead, we seek to identify scientific research that has the potential for high impact and is under-supported by other funders. We are excited to support high-risk and unconventional science when the potential impact is sufficiently large.
  • We are broadly interested in research that may lead to improved understanding of topics related to human health. We are most interested in research that could affect a large number of people. We typically start by looking for metrics related to the number of lives affected (often starting with the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates and IHME’s Global Burden of Disease Study). We begin with landscaping exercises to identify important research topics that could have the greatest impact in a given area.
  • Once we understand the research gaps in these fields, we assess which gaps are underfunded and seem most amenable to progress if funded. Often as part of this process, we will attend scientific conferences and interview scientists as advisors, peer reviewers, or potential grantees. For more information, see our Guide for Grant Seekers.
  • Some aspects of the following topics are currently of particular interest: broad spectrum antiviral drugs, vaccine development, basic immunology, some aspects of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, predicting mouse to human translation, control of inflammation, epigenetics, novel scientific tools and methods, malaria, and research on how biomedical research may be improved. 
• South Asian Air Quality - We are working to improve health by reducing air pollution in South Asia.
  • South Asia experiences some of the world’s highest air pollution levels. Our understanding is that poor air quality contributes significantly to negative health outcomes for more than 1.8 billion people in the region, and that reducing the levels of particulate matter present in the air could save millions of lives. We have seen relatively little philanthropic attention on this issue.
  • We have identified a number of activities that could significantly improve South Asia’s air pollution levels, including implementing more widespread and accurate air quality monitoring programs, conducting research to better understand the sources and effects of air pollution in the region, and increasing the salience of air quality among stakeholders. We believe that supporting these activities, and potentially others, could help inform the design, implementation, and enforcement of more effective air pollution abatement policies.

Note: We do not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry and do not have an open application process. If you have thoroughly reviewed the Foundation’s priorities and grantmaking activity on the website and you believe your organization is a good match for our mission, you can email our staff with a brief description of your work. 

Laird Norton Family Foundation

The Laird Norton Family Foundation (LNFF) is a private family foundation in Seattle, Washington, with a mission to honor and reflect the family’s shared values through giving and engage the family in philanthropy as a platform for strengthening family connections. 

Programs

Arts in Education

The goal of the Arts in Education program is to increase arts education and to improve pre-K through grade 12 student learning through the arts. Funding will be directed toward programs that seek to enhance students’ educational outcomes rather than to simply increase participation in, or appreciation for, the arts.

The Arts in Education program will consider funding programs that:

• Encourage the adoption and/or growth of arts integration within a public school or school district. We will prioritize programs that integrate the arts as a tool within greater, diverse curriculum content areas over arts enrichment or direct arts instruction programs.
• Advocate systemic change within schools, districts, or at the state level to encourage arts in education, and
• Utilize the arts as a tool to reduce the educational achievement gap.

Climate Change

Climate change poses a significant global threat, one which we are addressing by striving to ensure an equitable, resilient, habitable, and enjoyable world for current and future generations. While our work is focused on climate change, we believe in the value of ecosystems services and in the stability and resiliency of healthy natural systems. We also believe it is essential that the cost of externalities be incorporated into lifestyle, policy, and business considerations.

 We are focused on investing in regenerative biological systems that influence the carbon cycle (“biocarbon”) and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. We have chosen to focus our grantmaking on efforts to hasten the demise of coal and other fossil fuels and on work that increases the abilities of the forests, agricultural lands, and estuaries of the Pacific Northwest to sequester carbon.

Human Services

The goal of the Human Services program is to support, empower, uplift, and create opportunities for long-term success and a brighter future for unaccompanied youth and young adults (age 12-24) who are in crisis, have experienced trauma, or are aging out of the foster care system. We want to support these youth and young adults in their journey from surviving to thriving.

We will consider funding organizations or programs that provide support for youth/young adults suffering from trauma, mental illness, or addiction, with priority given to homeless youth and those impacted by the foster care system. While the full spectrum of services for youth in crisis is essential, we expect to do the bulk of our grantmaking in two areas:

• Prevention and early intervention work to keep young people from sleeping in unsafe situations — or at a minimum make that a very brief and one-time occurrence, and
• Support for long-term stability support services.

Watershed Stewardship

Watersheds have social, ecological, and economic significance. The goal of the Watershed Stewardship program is to create enabling conditions for long-term social and ecological health and resilience in places of importance to the Laird Norton Family. Currently, we prioritize work in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as a few key watersheds in the Western United States, consistent with the Laird Norton family's priorities.

Our community giving program focuses on addressing behavioral health issues, with a particular emphasis on funding programs that help historically underserved communities, including people of color and low-income populations. Company contribution guidelines align to our company values and current giving priorities.

Premera Social Impact invites proposals that can make changes in the areas of behavioral health, health equity and the intersection of homelessness and behavioral health:

• Program development: Grants to organizations for specific purposes or projects, rather than day-to-day operating costs or the further general purpose or work of an organization.
• Implementation of a community-led effort to create a business case or demonstration projects for interventions, programs, and policies that address behavioral health.
• Capacity building: Grants to organizations for staff support, training, and strategic or long-range planning.

Background

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) is a modern Tribal Government representing the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla people, who have lived in this region for thousands of years. Traditional games of skill and games of chance have always been part of their tribal culture.

In 1988 the United States Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which provided a basis for Indian Tribes in the US to enter into modern forms of gaming for the purpose of supplementing revenue for tribal nations. IGRA requires tribes to negotiate with states on the types of games to be played and how it will be regulated, while ensuring that tribal governments are the sole owners and primary beneficiaries of gaming, and legislatively recognizing tribal gaming as a way of promoting economic development for tribes. In March, 1995 the CTUIR opened the Wildhorse Resort & Casino for this purpose (a temporary casino facility was opened by CTUIR in November, 1994).

Under the IGRA, tribes use their gaming revenue:

• To fund tribal government operations or programs – examples include Tribal Court, child welfare, building inspection, natural resources protection, police, fire and ambulance. 
• To provide for the general welfare of the Tribe and its members – activities dealing with the long-term security and enhancement of assets of the Tribe and its members, such as investments, scholarships, burial expense assistance, elders group, land acquisition, housing improvements, native language program, summer youth employment, emergency housing assistance, and many others.
• To promote tribal economic development – development of new and expanded economic development projects such as resort management, Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, Business Service Center, Coyote Business Park and Indian Lake.
• To share earnings in the form of dividends (paid to each Tribal Member) – the dividends are based on actual earnings, but the amounts have varied from around $500 per year in the first few years the casino opened to around $1,700 in recent years.
• To donate to charitable organizations — The CTUIR is committed to honoring our tribal traditions of sharing and giving back to the communities in which we live and work. The formation of Wildhorse Foundation in 2001 was for the purpose of formalizing the charitable giving on behalf of the CTUIR and its Wildhorse Casino.

The Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla. Our homeland is the area now known as northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.

Focus Areas

Today, the Wildhorse Foundation donates over $800,000 every year to local programs and services that benefit our giving area. We fund projects in the areas of:

• Arts; 
• Cultural Activities;
• Education;
• Environmental Protection;
• Gambling Addiction Prevention Education and Treatment;
• Historic Preservation;
• Public Health;
• Public Safety;
• Salmon Restoration.

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.

First Tech community grants and sponsorships

We fund the future. Our grants program focuses in three key areas: education, research and innovation. Working with our community partners, our funding provides access to STEM education to historically underserved communities, drives medical research and fuels new programs to address the most urgent needs of children and families. 

You can request First Tech’s grant or sponsorship support for 501(c)3 charitable organizations through our online application. Prior to submitting a request, we encourage partners to reach out to First Tech’s Community Engagement team to discuss your proposal, including projected community impact, programmatic goals and proposed budget.

Education

We focus on helping underserved communities build the infrastructure and resources to think creatively, problem-solve and innovate—to succeed today and lead tomorrow. We target our support for education in three key areas:

• Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
• Early childhood literacy
• Financial education

.ORG Impact Awards

Now in its fifth year, the 2023 .ORG Impact Awards (OIAs) recognizes and rewards those who have achieved meaningful success, often overcoming difficult challenges with few resources. These people and organizations work tirelessly – together – in pursuit of their missions – not for recognition or financial gain, but to simply make the world a better place.

Nominations are open and if successful, your nomination submission will win the award for your nominee so don’t underestimate its importance.

Category Descriptions

• Health and Healing: Recognizes an organization or individual who is dedicated to providing health and wellness resources to the community including education and awareness, vaccine development, equitable distribution of medical supplies, and mental health resources.
• Quality Education for All: Recognizes an organization or individual for contributions in providing education for all, without regard to race, gender, or financial status.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Recognizes an organization or individual for efforts toward furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion in society through creation of policies, programs, and initiatives that address systemic challenges and historic injustices.
• Environmental Stewardship: Recognizes an organization or individual that works to combat the increased threats to our environment and promotes responsible consumption and environmental sustainability in communities around the world.
• Hunger and Poverty: Recognizes an organization or individual who has made significant contributions and innovations in the fight to end hunger, alleviate poverty, and reduce resource inequalities on a local, national, or global scale.
• Community Building: Recognizes an organization or individual whose efforts have contributed to changing or enhancing the lives of those in the community the nominee serves, whether on a local, national, or global level.
• Rising Star: Recognizes an individual under the age of 25 by December 31, 2023, who has created a positive impact in their community through leadership on a project, platform, task, or campaign.
• The .ORG Impact Awards .ORG of the Year - Recognizes an organization or individual for outstanding achievement as evidenced by results and/or contributions to its sector, constituents, community or society at large. The finalists in the other seven categories are automatically eligible for this award.
  • As the .ORG of the Year award will be selected by PIR, no submissions or nominations for this category will be accepted.

Why Submit an Entry

• Receive a Significant Cash Donation
  • This year, we’ve increased donation amounts and expanded the donations to include finalists. We will provide winning .ORGs up to a $50,000 USD contribution to the nonprofit of their choice.
    • .ORG of the Year – $40,000 USD
    • Category Winners – $10,000 USD
    • Category Finalists (non-winners) – $2,500 USD
• Drive Community Reach and Support
  • Show the world how your .ORG is impacting the community! Build support, generate funding, and rally others to your cause. Serve as a shining example to others who are striving to make a better world for us all.
• Receive a Prestigious Award and Attend Our Awards Ceremony
  • Proudly display your custom .ORG Impact Award and dedicated digital logo mark to let the world know that your organization is achieving amazing results and making a difference. Finalists will be invited to attend our in-person gala in Washington DC (including travel and accommodations)!
• Raise Awareness and Your Profile
  • Finalists and winners will be featured across a variety of .ORG platforms throughout the year, including videos, articles, social posts, and more! We’ve expanded our programs to focus more attention on award finalists and winners than ever before!

Conventional grants

Our Board meets once each year in September to decide grants for that year that have not been decided through the small grant program. Inquiries are due August 1 of each year, but may be submitted anytime during the year. These grants are scheduled for distribution in November.

Eligibility Areas

The Foundation makes grants primarily for the purposes detailed here. An important element of all grants is a benefit to the public at large, rather than to specialized populations or groups.

Historic Preservation

Historic preservation has been our principal funding area since our beginning. In 2006 we identified our primary interest in this area as architectural preservation — the preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction of historic buildings, structures and related sites. Most of the projects we fund involve buildings that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as a contributing resource in an historic district.

We will continue to consider grants for other historic preservation activities as a secondary interest.

Native Wildlife Rehabilitation and Appreciation

Native wildlife rehabilitation is the focus of this interest, and is almost exclusively limited to nonprofits managed by state- and federally-licensed wildlife rehabilitators. These programs offer urgent care of injured and orphaned wildlife native to Oregon and Washington.

A small portion of our native wildlife budget is reserved for wildlife appreciation projects or programs that offer the general public opportunities to observe and appreciate the natural world. These activities will

• promote individuals’ stewardship of native wildlife and its natural habitat
• enable people to understand and minimize their impact on the Earth, and
• promote responsible enjoyment of wildlife in recreational settings.