Nathan Cummings Foundation - Enterprise Grants

The Nathan Cummings Foundation's Enterprise Grants provide invitation-only, multi-year funding to support social-change organizations aligned with their focus on racial, economic, and environmental justice. These unrestricted grants aim to catalyze systemic transformation through innovative solutions to inequality and climate change. Eligible applicants must demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while providing impact data and the ability to return capital. This funding opportunity emphasizes collaboration for sustainable societal change.

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 invitation-only and are designed to provide multi-year, unrestricted funding to partners that have deep alignment across our REEJ focus areas and offer the most opportunity to use all our financial and non-financial resources to support their 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