Arca Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Arca Foundation supports organizations working on the front lines of social change in an effort to achieve economic, social and racial justice, a clean environment, peace and security.
IP TAKE: Arca is an accessible funder, and a good friend to progressive groups working on peace and human rights issues. This funder is not risk adverse in its grantmaking. It is also willing to support timely projects that do not fall neatly into its areas of focus.
The Arca Foundation awards three types of grants: general operating support, project-specific requests, and “fiscally sponsored project” requests for organizations that are not nonprofits, but have “secured a 501(c)3 organization as a fiscal sponsor” or intend to forward the funding to another organization or project. The foundation is not currently accepting unsolicited applications, but grantseekers should check back periodically for new grantmaking opportunities with Arca.
PROFILE: Established in 1952 by tobacco heiress Nancy Susan Reynolds, daughter of R.J. Reynolds, the Arca Foundation fights for social equity and justice by supporting “the development of networks as they work to engage the excluded, foster debate among the silences, promote transparency and drive social change.” Arca’s domestic grantmaking centers around the South and Midwest and includes focus areas in racial and economic justice and democratic inclusion, while its international grantmaking is primarily concerned with human dignity and building peace over militarization.
The foundation conducts grantmaking through a racial justice lens, so proposals would do well to take this point into consideration when writing.
Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement, and Work Development
The Arca Foundation’s domestic grants aim to promote the “equitable engagement of historically under-represented communities in shaping the public policy debate” through “issue education, grassroots organizing and other forms of non-partisan civic participation.” In the realm of civic engagement, it prioritizes local projects benefitting the working-class and people of color, as well as engaging in and “organizing in communities of color and other underrepresented communities.” The foundation also supports work that aims to “shift the policy debate on democratic inclusion, wealth, poverty, and race.” Past grantees include the Liberty Hill Foundation, Center for Media and Democracy, and Center for Popular Democracy.
Grants for Racial and Criminal Justice
Though Arca does not appear to fund organizations directly combatting criminal justice in their local communities, it does support a wide range of groups and social movements responding to entrenched social and economic equality and the rise in corporate power in the United States and abroad. Domestically, the foundation support organizations working to “advance greater economic and racial equity, specifically by addressing the impacts of financialization on an inclusive economy, democracy, and the environment.” Past grantees of this program include People’s Action, which received funding for its work fighting for injustice, racism and corporatocracy; Color of Change, which received support for its work ending practices that hold people of color back.
Internationally, the foundation awards grants to support advancing U.S. foreign policymaking that “prioritizes human rights and peace over security and militarization. Past grantees include the Project on Government Oversight and IfNotNow.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
The Arca Foundation’s International grantmaking is less robust than its Domestic program, but it provides modest grants to organizations that advocate for “a more just US Foreign Policy that prioritizes human dignity and building peace over militarization.” At the moment, the foundation is prioritizing efforts to address “inhumane and militaristic U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf and its far-reaching influence in political, academic, and corporate spheres.” International grantees include the Win Without War Education Fund, the Peace Development Fund, National Iranian American Council, National Security Archive Fund, and the Center for International Policy.
Important Grant Details:
Grants typically range between $25,000 and $50,000. Past grantees vary widely and can offer more insights. The Arca Foundation accepts grant applications by invitation only. It runs two grant cycles per year, with deadlines generally falling on February 1 and August 1.
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