OVERVIEW: The Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation seeks community organizations both large and small that work to secure healthcare, education, and rights for vulnerable children.
IP TAKE: Nearly all of this funder’s grants support organizations working with children in developing and least developed countries. Organizations must be U.S.-based, so international groups require a presence in the United States to receive funding. While this funder doesn’t accept unsolicited applications, it does consider a brief letter outlining your work that aligns with the foundation’s mission.
PROFILE: The Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation was established by Dorothea Haus Ross in 1997 to support the needs of underprivileged and vulnerable children worldwide. It seeks “to ensure basic needs and human rights including sustenance, education, healthcare and security to the most vulnerable children throughout the world.” The foundation’s International Grantmaking Program focuses its grantmaking on trafficked and exploited children, disabled children, displaced and refugee children, and sustainable economic communities.
Grants for Humanitarian Aid and Violence Prevention
The foundation’s Trafficked and Exploited Children subprogram seeks to “partner with organizations that work to prevent child trafficking; to secure the release of children from their captivity and provide them with shelter, care and rehabilitation; and advocate for the passage and enforcement of laws against trafficking and the related scourge of child marriage.” Specifically, the program prioritizes funding for trafficking prevention and public education awareness; the rescue, safety, and care of exploited children; education and rehabilitation; inclusion and long-term care solutions; and community-based anti-child marriage initiatives.
The Ross Foundation’s rights work through its Disabled Children subprogram supports “organizations that provide health care, emotional support, education and training, and that promote dignity and facilitate the child’s active and full inclusion and participation in their home, school and community.”
Past grantees include Human Rights Watch, which received an award for its work protecting children from dangerous labor in the Philippines. For a broader sense of the types of organizations Ross supports, explore its grants made list.
Grants for Immigrants and Refugees
The Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation makes grants to “organizations that provide housing, stability and education to children to help them survive the difficult and dislocating conditions in which they are forced to live.” It prioritizes funding for groups that focus on safety, housing, and reunification with family, and provide education or vocational training. Foundation grants also focus on immigrant and refugee children’s resettlement and reintegration.
Past grantees include HelpRefugees.org, to support its “Rehabilitation Center in Kills, Turkey, for Syrian Refugee Children,” which provides trauma and psychological counseling. To better understand the types of organizations Ross supports, explore its grants made list.
Grants for Global Development
The foundation’s Sustainable Economic Communities subprogram works to support a small number of community-based organizations that train and empower local “village-level entrepreneurs,” enabling them to provide for their families and raise the quality of life for the entire community. The foundation also makes grants to groups that “model programs of village level and entrepreneur-led economic development,” and “focus on vulnerable communities and families, specifically refugees, adolescent girls, indigenous, and families with disabled children.”
Past grantees include the Association of Volunteers in International Service, which received a grant to support its occupational training program geared toward adolescents with disabilities in Almaty, Kazakhstan. To get a broader sense of the types of organizations Ross supports, explore its grants made list.
Important Grant Details:
Ross only supports U.S. based 501(c)(3) organizations. Grants typically range from $25,000 to $50,000. The Ross Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding. It does encourage grantseekers whose work closely aligns with its giving strategy to submit brief letters describing their work.
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