Deadline: 15-Aug-25
The John Templeton Foundation is requesting applications for its grant program to support interdisciplinary research and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe and wonder.
Funding Areas
- Individual Freedom & Free Markets
- The Individual Freedom & Free Markets Funding Area supports education, research, and outreach projects to promote individual freedom, free markets, free competition, and entrepreneurship. Grounded in the ideas of classical liberal political economy and with a commitment to the moral equality of all human beings, they seek and develop projects that aim to advance freedom, widespread prosperity, and human flourishing for all. Whether by academic research, instruction, public outreach, or supporting debate on public policy, the grants contribute toward making the world more just, more prosperous, and more conducive to human flourishing.
- They welcome projects on any of the above topics, but they are especially interested in projects that could contribute to one of the following themes.
- Projects advancing current research in and scholarly engagement with the classical liberal tradition (and fields related to political economy and Politics, Philosophy & Economics)
- Projects that bring greater attention to the important role of basic political freedoms and explore how those rights are effectively maintained in pluralist societies.
- Projects that explore market- and enterprise-based solutions to poverty (domestically in the U.S. and internationally).
- Public Engagement
- The Public Engagement department supports content projects that include video, audio, public events, and print media. In addition, they seek proposals that support the next generation of thought leaders, generate durable courses and programming at leading universities, and highlight the role of virtues like intellectual humility, gratitude, curiosity, and love in solving society’s most pressing problems.
- Character Virtue Development
- The Character Virtue Development area seeks to advance the science and practice of character, with a focus on moral, performance, civic, and intellectual virtues such as humility, gratitude, curiosity, diligence, and honesty.
- Grants in the Character Virtue Development department fall into one of two categories:
- Science of Virtues: The primary goal for this area of work is to catalyze scientific discoveries that will inform the understanding of specific virtues, and that have the potential to inform programmatic work in the future.
- Programs and Applied Research: They also support applied research that can inform the practice of character, as well as programs that engage directly with individuals and communities to cultivate character. Programmatic support is provided through project-based grants, typically for organizations that seek to develop, implement, enhance, scale, or evaluate research-informed character.
- Life Sciences
- The Life Sciences portfolio supports research and engagement projects on such questions. They are particularly interested in applications that seek novel and fundamental insights into the meaning and significance of life processes, by which they can better understand humanity’s place within nature. They support experimental and theoretical work on a broad range of areas and topics, including origins of life, complexity, emergence, evolution, human development, and ecological health and interventions.
- Mathematical and Physical Sciences
- In the Mathematical and Physical Sciences funding area, they support research seeking to shed light on the fundamental concepts of physical reality. They also explore the interplay between these sciences and broader human experience.
- They seek projects that will conduct rigorous scientific research in one or more of:
- Cosmology
- Quantum Foundations
- Complexity and Emergence
- Religion, Science, and Society
- The Religion, Science, and Society funding area supports the discovery of meaningful and practical insights into the religious, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of humanity.
Duration
- The grant duration is often up to three years. In rare instances the Foundation may support a project for up to five years. The Foundation will not fund any project for more than five years.
Eligibility Criteria
- They fund charitable entities that operate inside and outside of the United States. On rare occasions, they may fund individuals and for-profit companies doing charitable work that is consistent with the tax-exempt status.
- The Foundation has made grants to organizations from around the world.
For more information, visit John Templeton Foundation.
