A close look at the Arcus Foundation reveals an organization that plans and executes its dual missions with the same kind of detailed thoroughness involved in designing a solid, sustainable building. The funder is the world’s leading source of foundation money for two seemingly disparate arenas — LGBTQ issues and the protection and conservation of great apes and gibbons. At the same time, though, Arcus takes something of a broad view of both of its program areas. The foundation pursues great apes conservation through a social justice lens (more on what that means below), and moves some of the money from its social justice fund to nonprofits that serve, but aren’t specifically dedicated to, LGBTQ people.
Arcus was founded in 2000 by Jon Stryker, an architect and one of the world’s wealthiest gay men, who derives his wealth from his share in his family’s medical equipment business. The foundation’s twofold focus may seem curious at first glance. But according to Arcus, it all comes down to the funder’s belief that “respect for diversity among peoples and in nature is essential to a positive future for our planet and all its inhabitants.”
Two passions, and an increasingly equal focus
Arcus’ choice to fund both human social justice work and ape and gibbon conservation is no accident. In one of the rare interviews he has granted, in 2008, Stryker explained that he became interested in funding LGBTQ-related work and great ape conservation at about the same time. As a gay person who was just coming out, moving money to support the rights and welfare of LGBTQ communities was a natural fit. During that time, Stryker said, he learned about Save the Chimps, a Florida group working on behalf of a group of chimps that had been “decommissioned” by the U.S. Air Force and were about to be turned over to biomedical research labs.
“As I learned more, I realized that all the great apes were facing similar problems — particularly chimps and orangutans from the entertainment and biomedical industries,” Stryker said at the time. He found that there was almost no funding for sanctuaries where these animals could “live in a natural habitat after a lifetime of being subjected to medical testing and abuse.” He went on: “From there, I decided that if we were going to work on apes in captivity, we should also focus on conservation and apes and the natural habitat. That’s how our great apes program started.”
While Stryker seems to have long been passionate about great ape and gibbon conservation and LGBTQ issues, the roughly equal nature of his foundation’s giving in both areas is a fairly recent development. From 2007 through 2017, according to its website, Arcus frequently gave more to LGBTQ causes — several million dollars a year. That gap started closing in 2018, shrunk to under a half-million in 2019, and closed in 2020 and 2021. The shift coincided with the foundation’s 2019 promotion of Annette Lanjouw, a behavioral ecologist and primatologist whose career has focused on ape conservation, to the CEO spot after roughly 13 years at the organization. Lanjouw previously served as vice president and co-executive director while also heading up the foundation’s great apes program.
International, catalytic impact
The protection and conservation of great apes and gibbons is obviously an international undertaking, one that Arcus pursues around the globe. Under the funder’s current 10-year strategy, which it plans to reevaluate in 2026, Arcus is supporting work in 24 “priority ape-range landscapes” in 18 countries in Asia and Africa. It’s also working in two countries where apes are held in captivity: the U.S. and Kenya.
Arcus also takes an international approach on the social justice front. In addition to supporting work in six U.S. states, the funder is working in Mexico, countries in eastern and southern Africa, and nations in the Caribbean, South America and Central America. Current geographic focus areas and goals for its work were chosen during a planning process that began in 2017 and which was fully implemented beginning in 2019.
Current grantmaking in the great apes and social justice programs is focused on achieving several main goals. In great apes and gibbons conservation, Arcus aims to “reconcile socioeconomic and conservation activities” in its target areas, “build an effective movement of institutions and leadership” to address current and emerging threats to apes and their conservation, and “increase respect for the intrinsic value of apes.” On the social justice side, Arcus is moving money to increase LGBTQ people’s safety; establish regional, local and international policies that “fully protect and uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all LGBTQ people” (and repeal policies that harm them); and increase the inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ people.
The foundation may have reported net assets of nearly $240 million in 2020, but as Lanjouw put it, available funds “are never going to cover all the needs, right?” She said, “There is a need to prioritize, especially if you say you want to be a strategic grantmaker and you want to focus on making meaningful change, impact and clear outcomes.” As Arcus developed its current social justice strategy, Lanjouw said, it evaluated several factors including a geographic area’s existing leaders, the strengths of the different partners and organizations already working in those countries, and the potential for Arcus’ support to have a catalytic effect in a region.
Its funds may not be unlimited, but that hasn’t stopped Arcus from taking an inclusive approach to its grantmaking. As a conservation funder, Arcus supports organizations that help local communities secure their land rights and invest in public safety, as well as those that work in a more direct way either to conserve and support great apes or influence local, national and international public policy. On the social justice front, Arcus pursues its goals by funding work in arenas like public policy, religious faith, anti-violence and employment — backing organizations that serve populations including, but not exclusive to, LGBTQ people.
Arcus has also long been a key supporter of transgender communities. The funder convened a major gathering of people working for transgender equality in the U.S. back in 2013. It was a founding donor of Borealis Philanthropy’s Fund for Trans Generations in 2016, and was among the first to sign on to Grantmakers for LGBTQ Issues’ GUTC Pledge in 2017. Trans issues have also made up a growing percentage of the foundation’s social justice portfolio, from 19% in 2018 to 38% in 2021.
Arcus’ social justice grantees are definitely having a catalytic impact. In 2021, for example, the work of Arcus grantee Cattrachas/Centro de Derechos de Mujeres resulted in a decision from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights mandating that Honduras make policy changes, including allowing transgender individuals to change their names and gender markers on official documents. While there is no guarantee the decision will hold should the court’s membership change, according to Arcus, it is currently binding in the 25 countries that have accepted the court’s jurisdiction.
Readers should note that Arcus has issued an open call for “concepts” for its social justice program. The deadline is November 15, 2022.
“Respecting and listening” to the people on the ground
Arcus characterizes itself as a strategic grantmaker, but while the foundation is definitely in the driver’s seat when it comes to setting and pursuing its priorities, it also takes steps to engage deeply and meaningfully with people and organizations on the ground.
In October of 2021, the foundation released the results of its latest Grantee Perception Report (GPR) based on a survey of grantees administered by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. Respondents gave Arcus decent-to-solid marks on its desire to understand the cultures and needs of the communities where it works, its openness to input from grantees, and its responsiveness. The foundation also seems willing to make changes based on prior input. Respondents to the latest survey gave Arcus much higher marks for clear and consistent communication than it received on its 2015 GPR, and for its part, Arcus also pledged to make changes in areas where survey participants indicated they would like to see improvement.
When I asked her about ongoing calls for philanthropy to adopt trust-based and/or participatory practices, Lanjouw said she feels that “everybody interprets these terms in a slightly different way.” That could include, she said, recruiting committees to choose grantees, having grantees themselves determine where money moves, and “just giving general operating support and saying to the organization, ‘Do whatever you think needs to be done.’”
“All those different approaches are correct; there’s no right way or wrong way to do this,” Lanjouw said. “I think that it has a lot to do with how you define the work that you want to achieve,” as well as how much a funder wants to be able to know and assess its own impact.
For Arcus’ part, she said, the foundation believes “very strongly in the principle of respecting and listening to the people who are living the realities that we are trying to have influence over.” What that means in practice is that rather than “sitting in an ivory tower in New York,” Arcus engages in a “consultation process” including “many, many conversations,” site visits, and other forms of engagement that actively solicit input from current and prospective grantmaking partners.
“There’s an element of trust-based philanthropy in there,” Lanjouw said. “There’s an element of participatory grantmaking in there. I’m not sure it’s exactly how somebody else might define ‘trust-based philanthropy,’ but it is definitely philanthropy that is focused on achieving outcomes that have been identified by the organizations and the people that we work with and that we support.”