Meadows Foundation Grant Program

The Meadows Foundation Grant Program is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for Texans through diverse funding initiatives across education, environment, arts, and health. With a focus on community development and support for nonprofit organizations, the foundation aims to address pressing issues like homelessness and mental health. By prioritizing programs that offer measurable outcomes, they foster innovation and empower local efforts, ensuring a lasting impact in Texas. This grant program reflects a commitment to sustainable development and community well-being.

NOTE: You can submit one proposal every 12 months. Our grant cycle takes four to five months from receiving your proposal to making a final decision. We encourage you to apply at least four months before you need funding.
What We Fund: Our Program Areas
Texas is diverse.
We provide grants throughout Texas within our program areas and also our initiatives in education, environment, homelessness, and mental health.
Arts and Culture
We support organizations throughout the state that provide opportunities for all Texans to experience and benefit from the arts. Our most significant partner is Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts and the Meadows Museum.
Education
The link between quality of education and quality of life is undeniable. Each additional year of schooling increases earnings by 8-10%. In addition, early reading, high-quality instructors, access to resources, and high expectations for all students improve life-long study skills and academic achievements.
Health
Access to quality health care is essential. Health and mental health programs that offer a chance to rethink what can be accomplished with new knowledge and technology ultimately lead to Texans living healthier lives. We invest in programs and initiatives that promote innovation in services and delivery and strengthen the ecosystem of health and mental health care.
Human Services
In communities across Texas, people face overwhelming challenges and times of personal or family crisis. We support programs and agencies that thoughtfully weave compassion and respect into the support systems that improve the quality of life for the most vulnerable Texans.
What We Fund: Initiatives
Five initiatives are linked to our long-term goals, and requests in these areas receive additional consideration in the review process.
Postsecondary Completion
The changing economic landscape requires a shift in the kind of preparation offered to connect Texans to jobs, career paths, livable wages, and economic and social mobility. By 2030, 60% of the Texas workforce will need a postsecondary credential to be gainfully employed, a driving factor for the state’s higher education plan. We aim to ensure that awarded postsecondary degrees, credentials, and certificates align to real-time labor needs, are affordable for all Texans, and offer value to students and society.
Educator Preparation
Quality teachers are consistently identified as the most important school-based factor in student achievement. On average, a high-performing teacher increases student learning by 50% more than expected growth over the course of a school year. Texas has hundreds of educator preparation programs of varying quality and varying levels of accessibility to aspiring teachers. The teacher pipeline must be robust to meet the needs of a growing state with a growing student population.
Water Conservation
Texas has grown rapidly, and the state’s population is projected to expand by 70% from 2020 to 2070. While this growth can fuel robust economic development, ensuring the vitality of Texas’ cities, industries, and agriculture while also protecting natural resources will require careful water management. As water demand increases, state water supplies will drop by 18%. The state water plan suggests that water conservation strategies could meet 30% of future water supplies.
While conservation success can be determined in part by policies, everyday water users are the conservation decision makers, and how they value water is the most crucial element of achieving an overall demand reduction.
Depression
Depression is the most common mental illness in the U.S. In North Texas alone, 300,000 adults and children experience depression annually. However, less than one in 10 receive this type of care.
With appropriate training and support, primary care physicians can screen, identify, and provide effective behavioral and mental health treatment and referrals to their patients, which could fill this gap in care. In fact, at least 80% of individuals diagnosed with depression can be treated by their primary care physician.
Homelessness
Thousands of individuals experience homelessness every year in Dallas and Collin counties. Access to adequate housing provides the safety needed to survive and the stability needed to thrive. We are working with our partners to make homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
Types of Funding
Specific programs or projects account for almost 85% of our total givingAlthough not a significant part of our funding, we will considerCapital projects aligned with our initiatives and green building guidelinesProgram-related investment loansEndowment and scholarship grants are rare
Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Eligibility

We award grants only to qualified 501(c)(3) public charities or public entities serving the people of Texas.Up to 50% of our giving is focused on the Dallas-Fort Worth area.Proposals must benefit the state of Texas in order to be considered, although an organization’s headquarters are not required to be in Texas.

Ineligibility

We do not lend or grant money to individual persons. We do not fund scholarships.What We Don’t FundFundraising event underwritingAnnual fundraising drivesProfessional conferences and symposia unless directly related to our initiative areasOut-of-state travel expenses for performances or competitionSingle artistic events or performances