Trust for Mutual Understanding Grant

The Trust for Mutual Understanding Grant supports exchanges in the arts and environment between U.S. professionals and those from 29 countries, including Albania and Ukraine. This grant is open to American nonprofit organizations and focuses on fostering collaborations that enhance professional interaction and community engagement. Funding can be used for both in-person and virtual exchanges, covering costs like travel, accommodation, and administrative expenses. Note that applications reopen on December 1, 2025, for projects starting July 1, 2026.

The Trust for Mutual Understanding awards grants to American nonprofit organizations to support exchange in the arts and the environment (and the intersection of the two) between professionals from the United States and TMU’s geographic region of 29 countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Types of Exchanges TMU Supports
TMU provides grants for costs associated with professional exchanges (both in-person and virtual) in the arts, the environment, and the intersection between these.
Arts
TMU supports exchanges between professional artists and designers, art managers and curators – primarily within the visual and performing (dance, music, theater) arts. In the performing arts, our grantees typically include choreographers, composers, directors, performers, and playwrights.
Commonly supported exchanges in the arts include:
creative artistic collaborations, curatorial research projects, performances given in conjunction with lectures/demonstrations and/or workshops, historic preservation projects, arts management programs, cultural documentation activities, and exchanges intended to aid nongovernmental arts organizations seeking greater institutional capacity and stability, and network-building.
Environment
TMU supports exchanges between professional, environmental activists, conservationists, researchers, and scientists.
Commonly supported exchanges focused on the environment include:
activities that facilitate more effective international contact and networking between environmental organizations; advanced training programs; joint events, conferences, seminars & workshops; collaborative environmental research projects; collaborative environmental actions, projects and programs (focused on the issue areas listed above); and exchanges intended to aid nongovernmental, environmental organizations seeking greater institutional capacity and stability.
Intersection of Arts & Environment
TMU also supports exchanges at the intersection of the arts and environment. Typically, these types of intersecting exchanges fall into two categories:
collaborations between professionals in arts and environment intended to learn and draw inspiration from one another, cooperate, and/or explore areas for integrating ideas and methods from one another into their respective work
activities led by native communities that support Indigenous ways of knowing and being, wherein the arts and environment are inherently interconnected

Eligibility

In the visual arts, our grantees typically include artists and designers from a variety and combination of mediums, including ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, and traditional crafts. Our grantees also include professional art and design administrators/managers, archivists, curators, historians, researchers, and those specifically working on cultural and language documentation and preservation.In the environment, our grantees typically include those whose work emphasizes biodiversity preservation, ecosystem & habitat preservation, environmental advocacy, environmental law, environmental science, environmental sustainability, land use planning, species conservation, and sustainable development.Countries eligible for TMU supportAlbania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.TMU grants are made to American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations. Typically, it is these organizations that submit Initial Inquiries and, if invited, Full Proposals.  Note: TMU only supports exchanges between adult professionals in the arts and environmental fields. Allowable expenses eligible for TMU funding include:

• Expenses associated with supporting IN-PERSON exchanges;
• Expenses associated with supporting VIRTUAL exchanges;

Indirect/Administrative expenses (up to 30% of total allowable expenses)Expenses associated with supporting IN-PERSON exchange - Expenses related to supporting exchange are eligible for TMU funding, including:international airfare & airport transferslocal transportationtravel insurancevisas and applicable visa processing feesaccommodationsper diemtranslation & interpretation costsentrance & registration fees for exchange-related conferences, events & trainingscosts associated with more environmentally-friendly travel and other allowable expenses (e.g., reducing or compensating for/offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from exchange-related travel; low-carbon events, etc).Expenses associated with supporting VIRTUAL exchangesCosts associated with virtual exchanges are also eligible for TMU funding, for example:staff time related to planning for and participating in virtual exchanges related technology (hardware, software, and/or cloud-based tools, fees & subscriptions) for online communication and collaborationonline event registration feesAdministrative/Indirect expenses
TMU allows up to 30% of the total eligible expenses associated with supporting exchanges to be allocated toward administrative or indirect costs. For example, if the total eligible, direct expenses for exchange are $10,000, then $3,000 can be added to cover administrative or indirect costs.

Ineligibility

We do not typically support professional exchanges focused on architecture, film, video, or literature.We do not support exchanges where the primary participants or beneficiaries are students or youth.TMU does not make grants directly to individuals* or institutions abroad. However, an Initial Inquiry may be made by an individual or institution in any of the countries in which TMU is active. If invited, individuals or organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status may then submit a Full Proposal through the fiscal sponsorship of an American nonprofit organization. The fiscal sponsor must submit a letter stating their involvement with the project and their willingness to administer any grant funds, as well as a copy of their 501(c)(3) determination letter.Countries not listed on TMU’s geographic focus are ineligible for funding.