OVERVIEW: The Annie E. Casey Foundation supports child welfare, community change, economic opportunity and juvenile justice. The foundation works mainly with child welfare agencies, policymakers, and legislators, providing empirical support for funding and legislation supporting underserved and at-risk children and families.
IP TAKE: Casey states that most of its grant money goes to multi-year commitments and to organizations with which it already has a relationship. But the numbers tell a different story, so grant seekers should not be afraid to get in touch with a cause that is up the foundation's alley. While this space is crowded with previous grantees returning year after year, there’s still space for new grantees.
It’s not an accessible foundation, but it is approachable. Casey limits its grantmaking to the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
PROFILE: The Annie E. Casey Foundation was founded in 1948 by Jim Casey, a founder of the United Parcel Service, with his siblings. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, the foundation was named for Casey’s mother and maintains its original purpose of “developing a brighter future for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social and health outcomes.” The foundation maintains and endowment of $2.6 billion, with yearly grantmaking of almost $100 million to organizations in the U.S. and its territories. Grantmaking initiatives include Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, Economic Opportunity, KIDS COUNT, Community Change, Evidence-Based Practice, Leadership Development, Equity and Inclusion, and Research and Policy.
Grants for Public Health
Casey does not have a dedicated public health grantmaking program; however, it channels support in this field through several program initiatives, specifically Child Welfare and Community Change. Additionally, Family Centered Community Change, an initiative housed in its broader community change program, seeks to provide critical resources needed for the healthy development of children living in high poverty neighborhoods. Foundation-wide, Casey looks to support public health organizations and programs that can demonstrate long-term strategies and solutions. To those ends, the foundation invests in groups that offer direct services to vulnerable children and their families, as well as those that advocate for nationwide policy changes pertinent to its areas of grantmaking interest. The KIDS COUNT Data Book provides detailed information related to children’s health and overall well-being, broken down by state.
Grants for Education
As with much of Casey’s grantmaking, the foundation’s support for education prioritizes child welfare.
Grants for Early Childhood Education
Casey conducts extensive work in the early childhood field through its Child Welfare, KIDS COUNT, and Research and Policy initiatives. The child welfare program prioritizes children who have been abused or neglected, and runs an in-house Child Welfare Strategy Group, which consults with welfare agencies at the state level to implement practices that improve outcomes for abused and neglected children. Casey's KIDS COUNT initiative provides "state legislators, public officials and child advocates with reliable data, policy recommendations and tools needed to advance sound policies that benefit children and families." In the area of Research and Policy, the foundation invests in studies that evaluate the "ideas and approaches" that are the most effective solutions for ameliorating the lives of children in the U.S. and disseminates its findings to inform decisions about funding and policy.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Annie E. Casey Foundation funds K-12 education predominately through its Economic Opportunity program, which names Work, Education and Income as a subprogram. The foundation’s work in the area of education rests mainly in areas of research, advocacy and policy-making, and it runs multi-year collaborative partnerships that produce and disseminate research findings via its website. Evidence2Success brings community members and public systems together to identify and solve problems relating to positive outcomes for children.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
The Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Justice program seeks to “improve the outcomes of youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system by eliminating the inappropriate use of secure confinement and out-of-home placement.” The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative began in 1990 in order to promote “collaboration between juvenile court officials, probation agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, schools, community organizations and advocates,” use “rigorous data collection and analysis to guide decision making,” and combat “racial and ethnic disparities by examining data to identify policies and practices that may disadvantage youth of color at various stages of the process.” It advocates for alternatives to incarceration, such as “juvenile probation, day and evening reporting centers, home confinement and shelter care.” The foundation currently funds four JDAI model sites--Bernalillo County, NM; Cook County, IL; Multnomah County, OR; and Santa Cruz County, CA.--as well as New Jersey. The foundation applies what it has learned through JDAI to its Reducing Youth Incarceration initiative, which works with other jurisdictions to “analyze their juvenile systems and identify causes of unnecessary overreliance on incarceration,” “implement reforms to safely and cost-effectively reduce confined populations and improve youth outcomes,” and “establish rigorous data collection and analysis systems.”
Grants for Economic Development
The Casey Foundation’s Economic Opportunity program seeks to develop “pathways for parents to become financially stable and support their children’s healthy development and academic success.” Work, Education and Income grants serve to connect “individuals disconnected from the workforce or school to opportunities for jobs, education and achieving the American Dream.” Financial Well-Being grants support “strategies to help individuals and families build financial assets and become adept at managing their money responsibly.” The Center for Working Families provides “a coordinated set of services to help low-income individuals and families get jobs, strengthen their finances and move up the economic ladder.” Key partners in this area include National Fund for Workforce Solutions, Achieving the Dream, and The Working Poor Families Project.
Grants for Housing and Community Development
The Casey Foundation’s Community Change focus area is dedicated to “promoting access to good schools, affordable homes and jobs.” Its Family-Centered Community Change program works in partnership with community foundations in Buffalo, Columbus, and San Antonio to “integrate often disconnected services for kids and adults” in order to “improve the quality of schools for kids and, at the same time, build job and parenting skills for their parents.” Casey’s Civic Sites program works exclusively in Baltimore and Atlanta to “improve outcomes for kids and families in high-poverty neighborhoods” and “identify effective tools and strategies for working with low-income families and communities nationwide.”
Important Grant Details:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation runs many in-house programs and initiatives that seek to improve policy and increase funding for early childhood programming and services. This funder shares its KIDS COUNT Data Center research findings openly with nonprofit and governmental organizations, but does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding.
Most grants fall in the $50,000 to $250,000 area, with an average grant amount of around $80,000. It supports both small and established organizations. Casey has partnered with Foundation Center to share more information about the types of organizations receiving grant support. Visit Foundation Maps to obtain detailed information on Casey Foundation grantees.
This foundation updates grant seekers about changes and recent news through its subscription newsletter. Grant seekers can make general inquiries via the Contact form.
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