2019 Letter of Inquiry

Overview

<div>NCF accepts Letters of Inquiry year-round, and conducts three rounds of grantmaking each year. To apply for a grant, review our focus to understand if your project aligns.</div> <div></div> <div><strong>Our Focus</strong><br>Pursuing Justice. For People + Planet. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a multigenerational family foundation, rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, working to create a more just, vibrant, sustainable and democratic society through our grantmaking in the United States and Israel.</div> <div>We focus on finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time – the climate crisis and growing inequality – and aim to transform the systems and mindsets that hinder progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all people, particularly women and people of color.</div> <div></div> <div><strong>Climate Change + Inequality</strong></div> <div style="padding-left:30px"><strong>Climate Change</strong></div> <div style="padding-left:30px">From the Paris climate agreement to Puerto Rico, the world has declared the climate crisis one of the greatest challenges in our history. It will take all of our ingenuity and resolve to build an inclusive clean economy that lifts people out of poverty and moves everyone, especially those on the front lines, out of the devastating path we now face. We will address the climate crisis from an equity perspective and hold accountable the entrenched interests that have left our nation’s infrastructure and communities vulnerable and have stalled the energy and economic transformation we need. We’ll invest in solutions at the local, state and national level and join forces with diverse, enlightened leaders to chart a new course for a sustainable future.<br><strong>Inequality</strong><br>Millions of Americans face overwhelming obstacles shaped by social hierarchies of race, ethnicity, gender, income, education level or zip code, which restrict their opportunities. In order to address inequality, we will invest in work that reduces implicit bias and discrimination in our public policy, systems and markets. We are particularly concerned about the effects of criminal justice policies and practices on the economic security of hard-working families. With our partners, we seek new and effective pathways to improve quality of life for people and level the playing fields of opportunity. We challenge ideas, policies, practices and systems that perpetuate racial and ethnic stereotypes, criminalize people in poverty, and make it possible for a few to hold a vastly disproportionate share of the nation’s income, wealth and assets.</div> <div>The Foundation’s four focus areas together form an integrated framework to advance a healthy planet and democracy.</div> <div></div> <ol> <li><a href="https://nathancummings.org/our-focus/racial-economic-justice/"><span>Ra… + Economic Justice</span></a><span>: NCF supports strategies that challenge policies that criminalize low-income people and people of color, stripping families and communities of their humanity and stability. We invest in leaders, organizations and coalitions working to expand economic opportunity and racial justice by eradicating institutional practices steeped in racial hierarchy, discrimination and implicit bias. We partner with those building pathways to greater economic security, inclusion and mobility for all people by promoting business ownership, wealth and asset-building for people in socially and economically excluded communities. Advancing a truly just society requires creative problem solving along with a diverse set of approaches. Strategies that center and elevate the voices, stories and leadership of directly impacted people, along with the use of art, religious or ethical traditions, are critical to fostering positive cultural shifts toward inclusion and pluralism. </span>Specifically, we support innovative ideas, strategies, and programs that increase income, build wealth, disrupt mass incarceration, and reduce debt.</li> <li><a href="https://nathancummings.org/our-focus/inclusive-clean-economy/"><span>In… Clean Economy</span></a><span>: We support bold leaders who strive to create an inclusive clean economy, sparking an energy and economic transformation that reduces harmful carbon emissions in replicable, scalable and equitable ways. Achieving this requires nurturing a more diverse and inclusive movement that both builds power for frontline communities, and shifts narratives from ones that undermine a clean inclusive economy to ones that feature more voices and hold those in charge accountable. We support investments and multi-sector collaborations that spur sustainable development, inclusive wealth building and job creation. Philanthropic capital is critical, and we work to direct it to underfunded parts of the movement. </span>Specifically, we will support innovative ideas, policies and programs that build power, shift narratives, and demonstrate solutions and change market behavior</li> <li><a href="https://nathancummings.org/our-focus/corporate-political-accountability… & Political Accountability</span></a><span>: NCF focuses our corporate and political accountability work on efforts to hold corporations accountable for the ways in which they impact progress on racial and economic justice and the creation of an inclusive clean economy. We use our standing as both a grantmaker and an investor to spur greater transparency, drive changes in philanthropic, corporate and government behavior, decrease concentrated corporate power and wealth, and challenge problematic narratives underpinning our economy and markets.</span></li> <li><a href="https://nathancummings.org/our-focus/voice-creativity-and-culture/"><sp…, Creativity + Culture</span></a><span>: We recognize the power of storytelling and the arts to reflect and sustain traditions, languages, history, hopes, dreams and truths across generations. By raising the voices of poets and prophets, artists, spiritual leaders and culture shapers to shift the dominant narratives about race, class, gender and ethnicity, we can expand our collective capacity for radical empathy. We encourage voices and values that challenge imbalanced power dynamics and expand racial and economic justice.</span></li> </ol> <p>Through the Voice, Creativity, and Culture portfolio, NCF supports the following types of innovative ideas and portfolios: artistic practice, storytelling strategies, moral action, spiritual practices</p>