Sponsored Programs and Research (SPAR)

External Funding Sources - Foundations

American Association of University Women (AAUW) is one of the world's largest sources of funding exclusively for graduate women. The AAUW Educational Foundation supports aspiring scholars around the globe, teachers and activists in local communities, women at critical stages of their careers, and those pursuing professions where women are underrepresented.

American  Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) offers fellowships and grants in over one dozen programs for research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels.

American Educational Research Association /IES: The American Educational Research Association (AERA), founded in 1916, is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and, by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.

American Psychological Foundation (APF) is a nonprofit, philanthropic organization that advances the science and practice of psychology as a means of understanding behavior and promoting health, education, and human welfare.

Annenberg Foundation was established in 1989 by Walter H. Annenberg. The Annenberg Foundation provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations in the United States and globally through its headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania and offices in Los Angeles, California. Its major program areas are education and youth development, arts, culture and humanities, civic, community, and the environment, and health and human services.

Association of American Geographers (AAG) conducts educational and research projects that advance geographic understanding, geographic literacy, and geographic learning.

AT&T Foundation, founded in 1984, was the principal vehicle of philanthropy for legacy AT&T. The legacy AT&T Foundation invested globally in projects that were at the intersection of community needs and AT&T's business interests, just as the new AT&T Foundation still does today. Emphasis continues to be placed on programs that serve the needs of people in communities where AT&T has a significant business presence, initiatives that use technology in innovative ways, programs that encourage and support diversity and inclusion, and projects in which AT&T employees are actively involved as contributors or volunteers.

Beckman (Arnold and Mabel) Foundation makes grants to program-related, non-profit research institutions to promote research in chemistry and the life sciences, broadly interpreted, and particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments, and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science. The Foundation does not consider proposals that fall outside of these programs.

Blakemore Foundation, established in 1990 by Thomas and Frances Blakemore, encourages the advanced study of Asian languages and to improve the understanding of Asian fine arts in the United States.

Claiborne (Liz) and Art Ortenberg Foundation is a private body devoted to the conservation of nature and the amelioration of human distress. The Foundation seeks to redress the breakdown in the processes linking nature and humanity. It concerns itself particularly with matters of species extinction, habitat destruction and fragmentation, resource depletion, and resource waste. It favors solutions that directly benefit local communities and serve as exemplars for saving species and wildlands. It recognizes the imperative to reconcile nature preservation with human needs and aspirations. The Foundation devotes a substantial portion of its funding to developing countries. It therefore recognizes the destructive connection between poverty, over-population, high infant mortality, cultural traditions that dehumanize women, inequitable land distribution, and the subsequent degradation of the land and the systems the land supports. The Foundation is also actively involved in conservation in the United States, particularly Montana and those Western states historically dependent upon extractive industries and agriculture. It encourages local initiatives addressing the problems of diminishing natural resources, technological change, and job loss. It emphasizes conservation through cooperation, persuasion, and the development of sustainable economic alternatives to resource depletion.

Delmas (Gladys Krieble) Foundation intends to further the humanities along a broad front, supporting projects which address the concerns of the historical studia humanitatis: a humanistic education rooted in the great traditions of the past; the formation of human beings according to cultural, moral, and aesthetic ideals derived from that past; and the ongoing debate over how these ideals may best be conceived and realized.

Programs in the following areas are eligible: history; archaeology; literature; languages, both classical and modern; philosophy; ethics; comparative religion; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; and those aspects of the social sciences which share the content and methods of humanistic disciplines. The Foundation welcomes projects that cross the boundaries between humanistic disciplines and explore the connection between the humanities and other areas of scholarship.

Gerber Foundation provides funding for national programs which have a significant impact on issues facing infants and young children, prebirth to age 3.

Golden Foundation (Sam and Adele) is a meaningful resource for the professional visual artist. The Golden Foundation for the Arts was originally conceived as a way to thank the community of artists for their support, encouragement, and friendship. For the Golden family and friends, it is also a means of celebrating the legacy of Sam and Adele.

Grant (William T) Foundation, established in 1936, has had a remarkable constancy of purpose: to further the understanding of human behavior through research. The Foundation's mission focuses on improving the lives of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. They invest primarily in high quality empirical studies. Their current research interests are understanding and improving social settings such as families, schools, peer groups, and organizations, and how these social settings affect youth. Our interests also focus on the use and influence of scientific evidence in policy and practice. To a more limited extent, the Foundation supports capacity-building, communication, and youth service activities. We fund capacity-building activities, usually commissioned by us, to build the infrastructure for research on our current research interests and our action topic of improving the quality of after-school programs. Most of our communications funding is also aligned around our action topic. We fund a limited number of communications activities meant to leverage all of our grant making by enhancing the Foundation's image and visibility. Our youth service improvement grants support activities conducted by non-profit community-based organizations in the New York metropolitan area to improve the quality of services for young people ages 8 to 25.

Guggenheim Memorial Foundation provides fellowships for advanced professionals in all fields (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, creative arts) except the performing arts. Fellowships are not available for students. The Foundation only supports individuals. It does not make grants to institutions or organizations.

Howard Foundation (George A. and Eliza) was established in 1952 by Nicea Howard in memory of her grandparents. Although Miss Howard had a special interest in the arts, her stated purpose was to aid the personal development of promising individuals at the crucial middle stages of their careers.

Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation was created to provide encouragement and financial assistance to composers, lyricists, and bookwriters as well as nonprofit producing companies. Our current priority is on individual creative artists working in musical theatre.

Puffin Foundation, Ltd. has sought to open the doors of artistic expression who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender, or social philosophy.

Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina awards funds to organizations that meet the needs of the poor and build upon the strengths and abilities of individuals.

Spencer Foundation is committed to supporting high-quality investigation of education through its research programs and to strengthening and renewing the educational research community through its fellowship and training programs and related activities.

Starbucks Foundation's mission is to create hope, discovery, and opportunity in communities where Starbucks partners (employees) live and work. The Starbucks Foundation has maintained a focus on improving young peoples' lives by supporting literacy programs for children and families. To date, the Foundation has provided over $12 million to more than 700 youth focused organizations in the United States and Canada.

TD Bank Charitable Foundation was established to support, respect and improve the quality of life in the diverse communities where we live and do business. The TD Charitable Foundation accomplishes this through our commitment to improve the access to safe, clean affordable housing, economic development, educational opportunities for community members, and the provision of basic human needs when otherwise unattainable. We foster and create collaborative opportunities that bring community partners together for the enrichment of communities where we live and serve. The thoughtful and meaningful disbursement of TDCF funds work to serve as a catalyst for the betterment of our local communities.

Kurt Weill Foundation for Music is a not-for-profit, private foundation chartered to preserve and perpetuate the legacies of composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and actress-singer Lotte Lenya (1898-1981).

Wenner-Gren Foundation has two major goals – to support significant and innovative anthropological research into humanity's biological and cultural origins, development and variation, and to foster the creation of an international community of research scholars in anthropology.

Whitehall Foundation, through its program of grants and grants-in-aid, assists scholarly research in the life sciences. It is the Foundation's policy to assist those dynamic areas of basic biological research that are not heavily supported by Federal Agencies or other foundations with specialized missions. In order to respond to the changing environment, the Whitehall Foundation periodically reassesses the need for financial support by the various fields of biological research