Deadline: 21-Jan-25
The Tinker Foundation’s Institutional Grants program provides project funding to organizations working to improve the lives of Latin Americans.
Program Areas
- They award grants through three program areas that they have prioritized during the last decade because of their importance to the region.
- Democratic Governance: They invite projects that work toward creating and consolidating systems of justice that are independent, effective, reliable, equitable, and transparent. They will consider proposals focused at the national or sub-national level, including those with comparative or regional components. Projects may relate to what could be called the “unfinished work of judicial reform,” i.e., the challenges and opportunities involved with implementing and operating within more recently adopted structures and frameworks.
- Areas of interest include:
- Promoting transparency and accountability in the justice sector, both from within justice institutions and without (civil society monitoring, etc.)
- The selection, training, and assessment of justice sector actors, as well as developing next-generation talent
- Increasing access to justice, particularly for vulnerable and marginalized groups
- Areas of interest include:
- Education: The Tinker Foundation is committed to prioritizing students from vulnerable backgrounds and addressing the persistent learning gaps that widened because of the pandemic. In addition, the Foundation seeks to support longer-term strategies that lead to more effective, inclusive, and resilient educational systems in the region.
- Funding priorities
- Tinker welcomes promising projects from across the region that:
- Promote foundational learning recovery and acceleration. After extended school closures and inconsistent access to remote learning, many students have fallen well below grade-level standards. They welcome projects that seek to address these gaps.
- Evolve curricula and teaching approaches. They invite projects that involve work with school systems, educational leaders, and families to promote basic learning and implement evidence-based pedagogical approaches that increase educational equity and quality.
- Tinker welcomes promising projects from across the region that:
- Funding priorities
- Sustainable Resource Management: The Tinker Foundation’s work on the environment is focused on efforts that support sustainable management of habitat and resources and incorporate social and economic dimensions affecting the well-being of local communities. Projects will address these challenges at multiple levels ranging from engaging with policy makers, to capacity building, and standards development and implementation. Funding is available for projects that address one of the following key themes:
- Promoting Sustainable Management Practices
- Projects should address the crucial links between effective resource management and communities that use them and seek to ensure that economic returns resulting from improved management policies benefit local populations. Potential strategies include assessing and establishing best practices; developing the human talent required to manage and conserve resources (i.e., technical training); and identifying mechanisms, practices and/or policies that avoid or mitigate overexploitation. Issues of interest include sustainable forestry and non-timber forest products. Projects may also consider conservation and livelihood aspects of fisheries management and payment for environmental service programs.
- Water
- Water scarcity and quality issues have emerged as critical concerns worldwide. In Latin America, as elsewhere, the shortage of water and the resulting social, economic, and health costs disproportionately impact the poor. For that reason, the Foundation has a particular interest in projects that promote equitable access to a clean and secure water supply. Ideally, proposals should offer innovative ideas and policies that improve locally determined mechanisms for watershed management with an emphasis on governance; develop water policies and management methodologies based on local hydrological assessments; or identify, implement, and replicate workable models of freshwater management and protection.
- Promoting Sustainable Management Practices
- Democratic Governance: They invite projects that work toward creating and consolidating systems of justice that are independent, effective, reliable, equitable, and transparent. They will consider proposals focused at the national or sub-national level, including those with comparative or regional components. Projects may relate to what could be called the “unfinished work of judicial reform,” i.e., the challenges and opportunities involved with implementing and operating within more recently adopted structures and frameworks.
Funding Information
- Generally, they award grants for up to three years with annual payments that range between $50,000 and $150,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Tinker Foundation provides grants only to organizations that are charitable in nature, i.e., with a United States 501(c)(3) tax status or its equivalent if the organization is located outside the U.S. Organizations from Latin America do not need to have United States 501(c)(3) status.
- The project must be focused on the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, including:
Ineligibility Criteria
- They do not fund
- Individuals, including individual research
- Direct or grassroots lobbying
- Annual or other fund-raising appeals
- School tuition or scholarships, or child sponsorships
- Support for building construction or major equipment purchases
- Production costs for film, television, and radio projects
- Art museum collections, films, and exhibits
- Endowments
For more information, visit Tinker Foundation.