Joyce Foundation: Environment Grants

Joyce Foundation: Environment Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Joyce Foundation
Last Updated: November 24, 2025

Summary

The Joyce Foundation's Environment Grants focus on addressing critical environmental challenges in the Great Lakes region, such as climate change and water safety. The foundation prioritizes equitable, carbon-free energy solutions and clean water access for all communities. Grants are awarded to organizations committed to environmental justice and innovation in climate policy, particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, ensuring that the voices of affected communities guide project development.

Overview

Note: The Joyce Foundation welcomes new ideas, but primarily funds on an invite basis.The Joyce Foundation accepts grant inquiries online throughout the year. Letters of inquiry should be submitted at least six to eight weeks prior to the proposal deadline for a given grant cycle. See Deadlines here represented by full proposal deadlines above.Applicants should anticipate the application process to take approximately four to six months from the initial submission of the letter of inquiry to the receipt of funding.Grant proposals are considered at meetings of the Foundation’s Board of Directors in April, July, and December. Applicants are strongly encouraged to plan their application and proposal submission process for the April or July meetings, since most grant funds will be distributed at those times. Program Area: Environment For more than two decades, the Joyce Foundation has been a leading foundation funder of policy work related to the Great Lakes. We are working to address three of the region’s critical long-term environmental challenges: climate change, the safety and accessibility of the water we drink and the health of the Great Lakes. Climate change is the largest intergenerational environmental threat in our region. Great Lakes states are at a pivotal moment to dramatically reduce the emissions that drive climate change, while also creating economic opportunity and improving people’s health. Moreover, this region emits nearly 20 percent of all US climate pollution, so gains here are essential to national progress. More than 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, and protecting the Lakes is central to the region’s environmental health, economic vitality, and very identity. In our region, climate change is causing more intense storms and increasing the variability of Great Lakes’ water levels. These patterns increase polluted runoff and stress aging water systems. While all communities face water challenges, the most severe impacts fall on people from communities that have lacked investment because of structural racism or other barriers. To respond to these challenges, Joyce will support efforts to put Great Lakes states on a path to achieve just, equitable, carbon-free electric power systems by 2040. We will also seek to ensure all people in the Great Lakes region have clean water from lake to tap by supporting policy to address threats, improve infrastructure, and remedy water disparities in communities of color. In all our grants, we will prioritize projects that are guided by the perspectives of people impacted by the environmental issues being addressed. The program has two focus areas: Climate Solutions and Great Lakes & Drinking Water. Climate Solutions Shifting to non-carbon sources of electric power is essential to eliminating global warming pollution – both directly by reducing the burning of fossil fuels in power plants, and indirectly as the transportation, industrial, building heating, and other sectors switch to electricity. There is positive technological, economic, and—in some Great Lakes states—policy momentum behind transitioning to carbon-free electric power. Yet, no states in our region are more than about halfway to achieving complete electric sector decarbonization, and some still get 80 or 90 percent of their electricity from fossil fuels. Joyce will support work on clean energy policy in Great Lakes states to secure long-term commitments to 100 percent carbon-free electricity. Goal: To put Great Lakes states on a path to achieve just, equitable, carbon-free electric power systems by 2040. Secure long-term commitments to transition to carbon-free electricity, including states establishing 100 percent carbon-free electricity goals and strategies, and states, utilities and their stakeholders embracing racial equity and energy justice as core elements of decarbonization plans Achieve full implementation of near-term state energy efficiency and renewable energy policies, with strategies tailored to fit the unique needs and opportunities in each state— focusing mostly on Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, with smaller investments in Ohio and Wisconsin Support policy innovation to achieve complete, equitable decarbonization, closing the gap between the cumulative reductions that can be driven by the current generation of clean energy policies and 100 percent decarbonization Great Lakes & Drinking Water One of every five gallons of fresh water on the surface of the planet is found in the Great Lakes, which provide clean, abundant drinking water for 40 million people in our region. Yet the future health of the lakes is far from assured, given major threats to their physical, chemical, and biological integrity. Public and private decisions made in the next decade will likely determine whether the Great Lakes will be healthy enough to provide for the next generation as they have provided for us. Protecting the health of our region depends on protecting the health of the Great Lakes and the water systems that serve our communities. The Great Lakes and Drinking Water focus area will accelerate actions to protect the region’s freshwater, upgrade our water infrastructure, and improve access to safe, affordable drinking water. We will pursue two initiatives, with most efforts focused in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Goal: To ensure all people in the Great Lakes region have clean water from lake to tap by supporting policy to address threats, improve infrastructure, and remedy water disparities in communities of color. To help ensure that the Great Lakes remain healthy enough to provide for the next generation as they have provided for us, we will address major threats to their physical, chemical, and biological integrity, with a focus on efforts to: Improve water infrastructure performance, management, and funding, with a focus on remedying water system disparities in communities of color Prevent unsustainable diversions from the Great Lakes by enforcing the Great Lakes Compact Prevent groundwater depletion (proposals currently by invitation only) Reduce the risk of oil spills from oil transport by continuing to support closure of the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline Reduce polluted runoff in rural and urban areas Prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species To help make certain that the next generation in our region has access to safe, affordable drinking water, Joyce will support equitable water policy that ensures that water systems and infrastructure provide safe, affordable water services for everyone. We will focus on efforts to develop and support utility, municipal, state, and federal policies that: Reduce the risk of lead exposure in drinking water Ensure high quality, affordable water services

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. The Joyce Foundation makes grants to national organizations whose work in the Great Lakes region advances the Foundation’s Climate Solutions or Great Lakes & Drinking Water priorities.We support environmental justice organizations working to improve policies related to the climate and water issues identified in our guidelines.Our grant portfolio is focused on the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Ineligibility

For work on equitable deep decarbonization policy innovation, the Environment Program is not currently accepting unsolicited grant requests.Issues that fall outside Joyce’s priorities include:Anti-fossil fuel campaigns, including efforts to shut down or prevent construction of new fossil fuel facilities or infrastructure, except as integral parts of broader 100 percent clean electricity campaigns or otherwise specified in the program guidelines; Projects related to fluctuating lake levels, forest management, terrestrial invasive species, mining, toxic pollutants (including Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS]), or other Great Lakes environmental problems not specifically noted in the program guidelines; and Local community climate action or climate resilience, including development or implementation of municipal plans, with limited exceptions for our home community of Chicago.The Environment Program generally does not fund:Environmental education, whether through educational institutions or aimed at the general public; Conferences or other public events, except as part of broader policy-focused initiatives supported by the Foundation; Local conservation or cleanup projects, including efforts to preserve individual species or to purchase, restore or remediate land; Basic scientific research related to environmental problems or solutions; Physical infrastructure, including lead service line replacement, community solar power installations, etc.; or Pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of emerging technologies.We do not provide funding for campaigns to block or close specific facilities, clean up polluted sites, or for general operating support.We do not make grants for work in New York or PennsylvaniaOther than by direct invitation, the Foundation does not fund:Capital proposals Endowment campaigns Direct service programs Commercial ventures Religious activities Scholarships.Does the Foundation fund lobbying activity? No.