OVERVIEW: The Pew Charitable Trusts mainly fund organizations with which they collaborate on research and policy development projects. The trusts’ current areas of interest include the environment, work and opportunity, public health, scientific and biomedical research, higher education and the greater Philadelphia area.
IP TAKE: The Pew Charitable Trusts, via its in-house research center, conducts extensive research in its areas of interest, which include the environment, work and opportunity, public health, science and biomedicine and higher education. This is not a traditional grantmaker. While the trusts give away around $35 million a year, much of this funding takes the form of collaborative work with public agencies and leading research institutes. Pew also creates education and public awareness campaigns and supports policy development on the state and national levels. The trusts organize their work into “topics” of interest, subtopics and projects, many of which overlap and can be difficult for prospective grantseekers to navigate.
While the trusts do not accept applications for funding, they invite organizations working in their areas of interest to contact responsive communications officers whose email addresses are posted on each topic and subtopic page. Exceptions include Pew’s biomedical research and marine conservation fellowship programs, which generally accept nominations of candidates from participating institutions.
PROFILE: The work of Pew Charitable Trusts is expansive. The Philadelphia-based organization has a trust of about $5 billion and employs about 1,000 people at its headquarters in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and London. The trusts originally emerged from seven charitable funds established from 1948 to 1979 by family related to the founder of the Sun Oil Company. Its interests were scattered, and it ceased functioning as a foundation in 2002. Today Pew operates as an independent nonprofit organization. Grantmaking is often tied to the trusts’ in-house research, education and policy development programs, with grantees working as active partners rather than beneficiaries. The trusts name six topics of interest: communities, conservation, finance and economy, governing, health and trends. Across its topics of interest, Pew names 24 subtopics and over 30 active projects that involve in-house research, organizational collaborations and funding programs. Grantmaking “is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems” and in recent years has addressed the environment, work and opportunity, public health, scientific research and higher education.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Pew’s science-driven land conservation program aims to protect “wildlife corridors, shorelines, and pristine landscapes.” It also runs promotes policy for national park maintenance programs and the development of “flood-ready infrastructure.” One specific area of interest is boreal conservation. As a founding member of the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, Pew has partnered with “scientists conservationists, Indigenous communities and businesses and civic leaders who share a vision of protecting and sustaining the natural cultural and economic of the boreal region for future generations.” Conservation grantees include Canada’s First Nation, EarthJustice, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Idaho Conservation League and the Natural Resource Defense Council.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
Pew names ocean conservation as a main subtopic of its conservation program. The trusts ocean conservation work aims to “create large marine reserves; end illegal fishing; protect key species such as penguins, sharks, tuna and forage fish; and establish policies that protect, maintain, and restore the health of marine ecosystems.” The trusts have also supported efforts to reduce the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans. Geographic areas of priority include the U.S., Canada, Australia, Chile and the Southern Ocean. Recent grantees include the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, the Ocean Foundation and Oregon’s Wild Salmon Center.
In addition to research and conservation, the Pew Charitable Trusts run a Fellows Program in Marine Conservation to support mid-career scientists from around the world who are engaged in high-quality research on topics of high impact to ocean conservation. Fellows are nominated by a Pew-appointed panel of experts and generally hold PhDs in marine biology or a related field and affiliation with a university or research institute. The fellowship amount is $150,000, distributed over a three year period. The trusts award between five and ten Marine Conservation Fellowships each year.
Grants for Animal Welfare and Wildlife
The Pew Charitable Trusts do not name wildlife conservation as a subtopic of their environmental program, but a significant portion of funding has supported organizations working to protect endangered species and their habitats. Ducks Unlimited, which works to preserve the habitats of endangered waterfowl in the U.S, has received millions of dollars of funding in recent years. Other grantees include the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Audubon Society, the Florida Wildlife Federation and the New Mexico Wildlife Fund. The trusts have also supported organizations that support the welfare of domestic animals, including the Humane Society International, the Food Animals Concerns Trust and the Vet Voice Foundation.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
Pew supports work and opportunity in the U.S. via its finance and economy program, which aims to “understand and improve the economic health of families across the income spectrum and across generations.” The program names economic mobility, family finances, fiscal and economic policy and retirement as subtopics. The economic mobility subprogram has recently focused on research on the changing role that student loans play in economic mobility. While the trusts conduct in-house research in this area via the Pew Research Center, it has collaborated with several universities on data collection for its projects in this area. Pew’s family finances subprogram focuses on the fairness and transparency of financial products, while its retirement program focuses on the “challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement savings” in the public and private sectors. Pew also helps legislators and public officials understand and develop responsible and transparent policies surrounding healthcare and education costs and consumer financial infrastructure. While much of this work is conducted at the Pew Research Center, the trusts have collaborated with grantee partners including the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of State and the Secretary of State of Ohio, among others.
Grants for Science Research
Pew conducts and supports science research via its environmental science and food and drug safety subprograms. The focus of the environmental science program in recent years has been ocean research, while the food and drug program has prioritized research on the prevention and control of foodborne pathogens including E. coli and salmonella. While most of this research is conducted in-house, the trusts have collaborated with the Food Animal Concerns Trust, the Institute for Fisheries Resources, the Consultative Groups on Biological Diversity and the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research.
Grants for Public Health
The Pew Charitable Trusts work broadly in public health to “improve the public’s health and wellbeing.” Recent areas of interest include antibiotic resistance, dental health, drug safety, healthcare products, healthcare technology and the treatment and prevention of substance abuse. The trusts partner with governmental organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration on large scale research and information dissemination projects including the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. While most health research and policy development is conducted via the Pew Research Center, recent grantee partners include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Indian Health Board, the Public Health Care Management Corporation and Human Impact Partners, which conducts research and activism toward equity in public health.
Grants for Brain and Cell Research
Pew names biomedical research as a subtopic of its health program. In this area, the trusts have mainly supported research on cancer treatments at leading institutes including the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Pew also funds three fellowship programs that support “groundbreaking research by promising early-career biomedical scientists in the United States and Latin America.”
The Pew Biomedical Scholars program supports “young investigators of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of human health.” Recent awardees have worked in the fields of bioengineering, biophysics and chemistry. Candidates are nominated by participating institutions where they are generally within the first three years of assistant professorships. Awardees receive $75,000 a year for four years.
Pew’s Latin American Fellows program supports postdoctoral training for young scientists from Latin America at laboratories in the U.S. The trusts run an open application process for qualified Ph.D.s and M.D.s who are able to confirm a postdoctoral position at a U.S. laboratory of an “established principal investigator.” The application portal is generally open between June and August of each year. Fellows receive a salary of $30,000 a year for two years and an additional $70,000 to purchase supplies and equipment to establish laboratory research in Latin America.
The Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research program supports “assistant professors of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of a cure for cancer.” Applicants must hold a doctoral degree in biomedical sciences or a related discipline and be nominated by a participating institution. The award amount is $300,000 and is usually dispersed as $75,00 a year for four consecutive years.
Grants for Higher Education
Pew does not outline specific goals for its higher education giving and supports a broad range of institutions of higher education. The trusts also conduct extensive research on access and affordability of higher education in the U.S. Recent grantmaking has provided program and operating support to public and private colleges and universities, as well funding for scholarships and fellowships. Grantees include Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, Washington’s Evergreen State College, Washington College in Maryland, the University of Minnesota and the University of California San Francisco, among others.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Pew Charitable Trusts supports the city of Philadelphia with funding for arts, housing and community development, civic initiatives and human services. The trusts also maintain a list of emerging trends in which they maintain interest and have earmarked funds for research and analysis. Pew’s trends change frequently, but recent areas of interest have included technology, media, Hispanic culture in the U.S. and religion.
Important Grant Details:
The Pew Charitable Trusts make about $35 million in grants each year. Grants range from $10,000 to over $1 million, with an average grant size of about $100,000. Most of the trusts’ grantmaking goes to large, well-established organizations with which they are involved with collaborative research or policy development. For additional information about past grantees, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.
Pew generally does not accept applications for funding, with the exception of its biomedical fellowship programs, which require nomination by a participating institution. The trusts will, however, respond to all inquiries, and invite prospective grantees to contact communications officers of individual programs via email. General inquiries may be directed to the trusts’ staff via email or telephone at 202-552-2000.
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