Deadline: 15-Dec-20
Applications are now open for the Philip L. Graham Fund to support organizations that provide a wide array of direct services to individuals and families.
The Fund awards grants across four focus areas and a geographically vast area that includes 7 counties in Virginia and Maryland as well as the District of Columbia.
The Fund is always looking for innovative and efficient organizations to support. Over the past several decades, the Fund has invested tens of millions of dollars in the physical infrastructure, information technology, and transportation needs of local nonprofit organizations. The Fund’s five-member board weighs requests for one-time projects or expenses equally with requests for a program or operational support. Multiyear grant requests are also considered.
Focus Areas
- Health & Human Services: The Health & Human Services segment of the Fund’s portfolio is the largest portion of the Fund’s giving and includes a wide array of services designed to ensure everyone in the greater metropolitan area has access to the tools necessary for healthy and productive living.
- Education: The Philip L. Graham Fund is committed to supporting efforts to advance and expand educational offerings for children and adults in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The Fund gives high priority to programs that improve public education and adult literacy.
- Arts & Humanities: From its earliest days, the Philip L. Graham Fund has supported both large and small arts organizations in and around Washington, D.C. Many of the city’s largest and most innovative theatre companies, museums, dance companies, and arts education programs can trace their earliest funding back to the Graham Fund. The Fund remains committed to supporting longstanding organizations devoted to bringing high-quality and unique programs to the community and to seek out new organizations bringing fresh ideas and offerings to the metropolitan area. The Fund is specifically interested in arts programming that shows a clear intersection with one of the Fund’s other focus areas.
- Community Endeavors: Recognizing the importance of Washington, D.C., to the nation and the world, the Fund considers requests from institutions that tell the stories of the country’s history, values, and accomplishments and strengthen the greater metropolitan community as a whole. This includes support for a broad spectrum of organizations, such as institutions of national significance located in the metropolitan area, improvement of local parks and playgrounds, and efforts to help the community through programs that strengthen families and neighbourhoods.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be considered for a grant, an organization must:
- Be a 501(c)(3) public charity;
- Serve residents of one or more of the jurisdictions in the Fund’s giving footprint, which includes:
- Washington, D.C.;
- Maryland: Charles, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties;
- Virginia: Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
- The Fund no longer accepts proposals from organizations located in or primarily serving residents of Calvert, St. Mary’s, or Stafford counties.
How to Apply
- The Philip L. Graham Fund follows a two-step application process. Organizations interested in applying for funding must submit a Letter of Inquiry through an online application system prior to one of the several deadlines each year.
- The Fund does not accept paper applications. Within 30 days of each Letter of Inquiry deadline, all applicants will be notified of their application status and select applicants will receive an invitation to submit a full proposal.
- The Fund’s next application deadline is December 15, 2020, at 5:30 pm EST.
For more information, visit https://plgrahamfund.org/how-to-apply/