Wallace Global Fund
/OVERVIEW: The Wallace Global Fund awards like-minded groups concerned with key trends that threaten global security, such as the rise of corporatocracy, ecological collapse, women’s rights, government oppression, and the imbalance of power between government organizations and NGOs. It supports grantmaking through an approach based on social movements and media. WGF funds work related to civic and democracy, journalism and media, climate change and clean energy, women and girls, global security, and film.
IP TAKE: This is not an accessible funder, making it difficult to secure a grant. A progressive foundation, the Wallace Global Fund takes a mission investing approach to the types of organizations it will support. It will not invest in or associate with fossil fuel companies, gold mining operations or private prisons. It conducts grantmaking across the United States; however, its global efforts center on Zimbabwe.
PROFILE: The Wallace Global Fund was established in 1996 when the Wallace Genetic Foundation splintered into three, separate foundations. Founded by progressive politician and businessman Henry A. Wallace, the Wallace Global Fund was further endowed by his son, Robert B. Wallace. The fund is a Philanthropy’s Promise signatory, which means that it has committed to allocating at least 25% of its grantmaking toward vulnerable and marginalized communities. WGF seeks to "promote an informed and engaged citizenry, to fight injustice, and to protect the diversity of nature and the natural systems upon which all life depends." To support its mission, the fund embraces a variety of grantmaking strategies and approaches that ultimately invest in Climate Crimes, a Fossil-Free Future, Net Neutrality, Protecting and Expanding the Right to Vote, Female Genital Mutilation, New Media Driving New Advocacy and Strengthening Democracy.
The Wallace Global Fund takes a mission investing approach to its grantmaking, which conducts funding related to democracy and civic engagement across a variety of programs; in particular, Strengthening Democracy, Net Neutrality, Protecting and Expanding the Right to Vote, and New Media Driving New Advocacy. Because each of these programs have evolving and complex overviews, we recommend grant applicants closely examine these programs. WGF’s grantmaking programs marry two cross-cutting themes: supporting social movements, as well as exploring and pursuing popular culture to achieve impact and reach.
Grants for Journalism, Civic Engagement and Democracy
Overall, WGF bases its unique grantmaking approach on the overlap between social movements and media. As a result, the foundation’s grants for civic and democracy overlap with its grants for journalism and media.
At the national level, WGF conducts democracy-related efforts through its Protecting and Expanding the Right to Vote program, which works to respond to “conservative assaults on voting rights” that have accelerated in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. WGF attributes the gutting of the “landmark Voting Rights Act” to the case, which disproportionately affects historically disenfranchised constituencies. Past grantees in this space include the Brennan Center for Justice, the Voter Participation Center and The Bus Federation. Similarly, the Fund’s Net Neutrality and New Media Driving New Advocacy programs work to support democracy-building and civic engagement efforts by funding projects and organizations that focus on democratizing access to the internet and using internet media to build advocacy.
In contrast, Strengthening Democracy works on a global level in Zimbabwe. The program funds Zimbabwean efforts to address a century of brutal colonialism and dictatorship by building a “strong civil society and democracy in the 21st century.” The fund partners with Zimbabwe Alliance, a donor collaborative that offers “direct support through re-granting and helps organizations strengthen their capacity through technical assistance, training and coordination.” Past grantees in this space include the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and the Magamba Cultural Activist Network.
Grants for Film
WGF supports grantmaking for film across its areas; however, it predominantly conducts funding through its New Media Driving New Advocacy program, which focuses on various kinds of media in order "to inform, incite, inspire – and build powerful movements to secure meaningful change." Its theme to promote truth and creative freedom in media focuses on a number of issues including supporting “truth tellers” in traditional and new media, advancing media policy activism and leveraging creative power to promote progressive change. The fund also aims to “[e]xplore and purse popular culture and music, documentary film and other creative outlets to achieve impact and reach.” Past film grantees include Brave New Foundation, which received funding for the development of documentaries to build progressive activism; and Safe Hands for Girls, which received two grants for its media outreach and programming campaign on female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) in the United States and Gambia, as well as, for a major documentary on FGM/C.
Grants for Women and Girls
WCF conducts grantmaking benefitting women and girls directly through its Female Genital Mutilation program, which addresses women’s empowerment and equity building by promoting the global abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting. The fund remains committed to eliminating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) by 2030. In response to this goal, the fund has partnered with “community-led groups in high-prevalence countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, working to end the practice.” Among those groups, WGF has worked with UNICEF, USAID, the U.S. Department of State, and other bilateral and multilateral donors.
Funding in this area supports global advocacy and resource mobilization, as well as groups, working to “generate solutions to prevent FGM/C, facilitating future national, regional and global convenings […] towards the elimination of FGM/C. Grantmaking here has evolved from past work to predominately focus on FGM/C. Past women and girls grantees include the Accountability Counsel, which received funding for its work on how internationally financed development projects impact women and climate; and the Association for Women’s Rights and Development, which received multiple grants for its work challenging religious fundamentalism.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
The Wallace Global Fund conducts funding related to climate change and clean energy through two programs: Climate Crimes and a Fossil-Free Future.
The Wallace Global Fund’s Climate Crimes program responds to the “Exxon Knew” bombshell series, published by Inside Climate News, which outlined a “long-running conspiracy by industry to deceive the government, consumers, and shareholders about the link between fossil fuels and climate change” despite the fact that coal, oil, and gas companies’ “own scientists told them their core products risked catastrophic world harm.” The program invests in groups that help to bring “those who commit Climate Crimes to justice.” Past grantees in this space include the Union of Concerned Scientists, Inside Climate News and the Climate Accountability Institute.
Its Fossil-Free Future program works to divest from greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels, and instead, invest in clean energy solutions. The program’s work primarily invests in movement-building efforts that center on divesting from dirty fuels. Past grantees include Carbon Tracker Initiative, 350.org, Green Corps and Energy Action Coalition, among others. Past grantees include the Advancement Project, American Constitution Society and 350.org.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
Since WGF’s grantmaking has evolved significantly, its programs no longer directly focus on global security. Instead, the fund addresses causes related to such grantmaking across all of its giving programs listed above as identified in its crosscutting themes.
Important Grant Details:
Most of the fund’s grants are under $100,000, but range by program area. Wallace seeks organizations that work toward "transformative and catalytic change in their respective fields. To learn more about the types of organizations Wallace supports, examine its grantee database.
Wallace does not accept unsolicited proposals, but does invite prospective grantees to submit a brief letter of inquiry via its online application system.
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