Private Foundations
Large Private Foundations make grants on the basis of charitable endowments and generally receive tax benefits. Though many carry the founding company or family's name, foundation funding priorities are usually determined by a foundation's President and Board of Directors. Small Private Foundations are also based on charitable endowments, and some are filling the thematic areas that larger foundations are leaving (such as sexual and reproductive rights).1
Back to Funding Resources.
The Christensen Fund
The Christensen Fund (TCF) crafts its grant making and other activities on the conviction that worldwide diversity—both cultural and biological—is hugely valuable and should be cared for. TCF focuses on five geographic regions: 1) The Greater American South West, 2) Central Asia and Turkey, 3) The African Rift Valley (especially Southwest Ethiopia and also Northern Kenya), 4) Northern Australia, and 5) Melanesia. In these regions, TCF emphasizes backing the indigenous and traditional stewards of their cultural and ecological heritages. TCF recognizes that indigenous and tribal peoples are often at the core of struggles to safeguard biocultural diversity and integrity. Apply for a grant.
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that makes grants to organizations, which address poverty and injustice and also, promote democratic values, international cooperation and human achievement. Program officers in the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Russia explore opportunities to pursue the foundation's goals, formulate strategies and recommend proposals for funding. The Ford Foundation focuses its grants on fields within Asset Building & Community Development, Peace & Social Justice, and Knowledge, Creativity & Freedom. Apply for a grant.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to reduce inequities and focuses on improving health, reducing extreme poverty, and increasing access to technology in public libraries. The Foundation's international grantmaking areas include its Global Development Program and Global Health Program. Grants in the Global Development Program strive to reduce hunger and poverty in the developing world, while those in the Global Health Program encourage the development of lifesaving medical advances and help ensure they reach the people who need them most. Apply for a grant.
Kalliopeia Foundation
Established in 1997, Kalliopeia Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation that seeks to strengthen a collective recognition of the oneness of humanity. Kalliopeia Foundation supports projects initiated or substantially managed from within Native communities that protect, strengthen and encourage the flourishing of indigenous peoples, their culture and worldview. This includes the revitalization and preservation of indigenous languages, as well as the protection of sacred traditions, ways of living and sacred sites. Apply for a grant.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. The MacArthur Foundation makes international grants through its Program on Global Security and Sustainability (GSS). GSS aims to promote peace within and among countries, healthy ecosystems worldwide, responsible reproductive choices, and the protection of human rights. Apply for a grant.
New Field Foundation
New Field Foundation contributes to the creation of a safe and sustainable world by supporting women and their families to overcome poverty, violence, and injustice in their communities. The Foundation is committed to funding in sub-Saharan Africa at this time and is in the process of developing plans for its Africa program as a whole. The Foundation is interested in supporting rural women to create change not only for their own communities but for the wider rural population of which they are a part. Apply for a grant.
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute (OSI), a private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI works to build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as combating corruption and rights abuses. Apply for a grant.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation was created in 1964 by David Packard, the co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and his wife, Lucile Salter Packard. The Foundation invests in and take smart risks with innovative people and organizations to improve the lives of children, enable the creative pursuit of science, advance reproductive health, and conserve and restore earth's natural systems. In addition, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the organizational effectiveness of grantee organizations, provide program-related investments to further program goals and objectives, and improve the practice of philanthropy.
Sigrid Rausing Trust
The Sigrid Rausing Trust is a philanthropic foundation based in Britain, founded in 1995 by Sigrid Rausing as a grant giving trust. The Trust utilizes the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as its guiding framework, centering its work in the field of international human rights. The Trust's funding is divided into the following five categories: 1) Human Rights; 2) Women's Rights; 3) Minority Rights; 4) Environmental Justice; and 5) Social and Economic Rights. Apply for a grant.
End Notes
1. An Action-Research Project of The Association for Women's Rights in Development, "Where is the money for women's rights? Assessing the resources and the role of donors in the promotion of women's rights and the support of women's rights organizations," February 2006.