OVERVIEW: The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation supports environmental conservation, water conservation and sustainable agriculture projects in the U.S., Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean.
IP TAKE: Community-led environmental conservation is the main concern of this small foundation. A significant number of recent grants have supported sustainable agriculture and freshwater conservation in recent years. In the U.S., geographic priorities include the states of Minnesota and North and South Dakota. Global funding tends to go to projects in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation accepts one-page “Phase I” applications from January 1st until February 15th each year. These applications must include a detailed budget, the amount requested, a summary of the project and the organization’s mission. Applications must be submitted by U.S. mail to the address provided on the foundation’s website rather than online.
PROFILE: The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation was established in 1996 in Minneapolis. This small foundation supports “innovative projects that foster connections between individuals, communities, the environment and the world at large.” Its recent areas of grantmaking interest are global development and environmental conservation. This funder’s global grantmaking is concentrated in Africa and Latin America. In the U.S., more than half of its grantmaking remains in the states of Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Environmental conservation is the Porter Foundation’s largest area of grantmaking, although it does not outline specific goals for its funding in this area. One recent grantee, the Dakota Resource Council, used funding for its Fort Berthold Air Quality Sovereignty Campaign, which has supported tribal air quality advocacy programs on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Another environmental grantee is Peru’s Masters Indigenous Leadership Initiative, which supports the organization and activism of indigenous groups in remote areas of the Amazon against environmental degradation from industry and mining. Other conservation grantees include Illinois People’s Action, Crow River Trail Guards and Greenwatch Africa, which works with communities affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Grants for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
The Porter Foundation prioritizes sustainable agriculture projects that partner with small-scale farms and indigenous and nomadic peoples to combat hunger through the adoption of sustainable agriculture. In Niger, the foundation has given to RAIN, an organization that helps rural farmers adopt and implement well and irrigation systems that increase the availability of food to local communities. Another grantee, CRADESC, operates in Senegal, where it encourages small farms to form cooperatives that can work and advocate more efficiently for the management of pollution and climate change hazards. In the U.S., the foundation has supported Dakota Rural Action, which used funding to run agricultural training programs for Lakota Farms, and the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
Water conservation initiatives have received a significant portion of Porter funding in recent years. In the U.S., the foundation has given to Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, which aims to protect the region of lakes west of Lake Superior from the effects of sulfide mining, and Friends of the Mississippi, which works to preserve and maintain public access to areas of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. In Costa Rica, the Porter Foundation has supported a program that trains aquatic parataxonomists, and in Jamaica the foundation has given to the Environmental Trust’s campaign for the preservation and management of 85 public beaches.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Porter Foundation names arts and culture as another area of grantmaking interest. In recent years, arts funding supports arts projects that address mental health and/or social justice in the state of Minnesota. One grantee, Keep the Fire Alive, is a collaborative project of the Illusion Theater, the Indigenous People’s Task Force and other Native American cultural groups. Another recent grantee, Upstream Arts, created an arts-based “trainings designed to advance inclusion for young adults with disabilities who are transitioning from K-12 education to adult life.”
Important Grant Details:
The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation usually makes just over $100,000 in grants a year. Grants range from $1,000 to $50,000, with an average grant size of about $10,000. U.S. grantees tend to be small, grassroots organizations, while global grantmaking tends to support larger NGOs and nonprofits that mobilize communities toward environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture. The foundation maintains a database of past grantees on its website.
This funder accepts “Phase I” applications consisting of a one-page narrative that includes a detailed budget, the requested amount, a summary of the project and the organization’s mission. These applications are accepted by mail between January 1st and February 15th each year, and the foundation notifies applicants if they are selected to submit full proposals.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: