Nathan Cummings Foundation - Advancement Grants

The Nathan Cummings Foundation offers Advancement Grants to support projects aimed at addressing racial, economic, and environmental justice. These grants provide two-year funding to scale innovative solutions and enhance partnerships with social-change organizations. Eligible applicants must align with the Foundation's focus areas and values, demonstrating a commitment to diversity and the capacity to deliver impact data. This initiative seeks to leverage resources for systemic transformation in communities facing inequality and climate challenges.

NOTE: Letter of Inquiry is accepted on a rolling basis. Applicants will receive notification within approximately 12 weeks of submission whether their LOI has been selected for further consideration.
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a multigenerational family foundation rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, committed to creating a more just, vibrant, sustainable, and democratic society. It seeks to partner with social-change organizations that deliver innovative, catalytic solutions to the dual crises of inequality and climate change. In pursuing this mission, the Foundation applies a holistic “totality of assets” approach—leveraging grants, investments, knowledge, voice, and relationships to drive systemic transformation.
Mission, Vision & Priorities
The Nathan Cummings Foundation’s mission is to advance racial, economic, and environmental justice by addressing root causes of inequity and ecological harm. The Foundation prioritizes investments in three interconnected focus areas—racial justice, economic justice, and environmental justice—while also deploying resources through place-based initiatives such as the U.S. South and Israel/Palestine to amplify impact across context and geography.
These grants are designed to provide two-year support to project-based work and/or help scale organizations and promising solutions.

Eligibility

Alignment with one or more NCF focus areasAlignment with NCF’s values, including a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion  Ability to return capital according to agreed-upon terms  Ability to provide agreed-upon impact data to evaluate progress in NCF focus areas  Inability/difficulty obtaining sufficient capital through conventional financial institutions  Opportunity for learning that enhances the work of NCF and its partners  Opportunity to catalyze action and investment from others  Opportunity to demonstrate and amplify successful models and approaches that may be overlooked or underutilized by traditional sources of funding

Ineligibility

501(c)(4) organizations  Individuals  NCF maintains a funding area in Israel-Palestine, that portfolio is invitation-only  Social or direct service projects that are not a part of a larger advocacy strategy. For example, we do not support direct services (e.g. cash transfer, work development programs, food and education services, housing assistance, etc.).  Fundraising events, sponsorships, panel requests, or galas  Campus or prison-based programs  K-12, extra-curricular, religious, or community arts education programming  Religious communities, congregations, and churches  Community gardening and tree planting projects  Conservation projects  Projects addressing diseases, including medical research, personal health, and wellness program