Contemplative Changemaking Grants

Overview

The Mind & Life Institute seeks applications for its Contemplative Changemaking Grants. Through this grant program, Mind & Life will support the use of contemplative approaches by grassroots changemakers addressing urgent community needs. The Contemplative Changemaking Grants, of up to $10,000 (USD), will fund small-scale, impact-oriented work undertaken by individuals, community workers, and non-profit organizations that ground themselves in contemplative practices to achieve real impact in people’s everyday lives. 

Building upon the Francisco J. Varela Research Grants—established by Mind & Life in 2004 to support scientists and scholars conducting contemplative research—the Contemplative Changemaking Grants will support contemplative changemakers in transforming lives and communities. For example, we know that young climate activists globally struggle with a profound sense of loss, frustration, and anxiety in the face of failed leadership around this issue. Our hope is to support those seeking to integrate contemplative approaches into their work as a means of building resilience and agency for their community.

Given the unprecedented challenges of our time, the Contemplative Changemaking Grants are a critical component of Mind & Life’s work to “inspire action toward flourishing.” The impact of the grants—and the stories that will emerge from these projects—will help to generate visibility for and momentum around the role of contemplative practices in generating positive social change.   

Through these grants, we seek to encourage the expansion of contemplative practices and their benefits beyond the individual and into the community. Proposals will be encouraged across broad domains, including civic engagement, climate action, economic empowerment, education, physical and mental health, and social inclusion.

Eligible Contemplative Approach

The Mind & Life Institute defines contemplative practices in a broad sense—including various forms of meditation, mindfulness, compassion, loving-kindness, gratitude, introspection and awareness of mind-body states, reflective writing, contemplative prayer, and embodied or movement-based practices such as yoga, qi-gong, and other indigenous and traditional practices from various contexts and cultures that may include dancing, drumming, and more. 

As part of our efforts to increase the engagement of young adults from diverse backgrounds, priority will be given to projects led by emerging leaders (18-30 years of age by the application deadline) and those who identify as belonging to historically marginalized groups (e.g., BIPOC in the US, BAME in the UK), for activities that serve traditionally underserved and underrepresented groups in contexts and spaces where the projects are going to be implemented.

Projects must be:

• Anchored in one or more contemplative wisdom practices
• Activity based and impact oriented
• Reach beyond the individual well being of grantees to serve a larger community