Which foundations can provide financial support for substance abuse prevention programs in my communities and where can I get information on these funding opportunities?
A foundation is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that provides financial support to organizations and activities that serve the public good. The more than 45,000 foundations in the United States today generally fall into one of four categories: 1) independent foundations (funded by a person or family of wealth), 2) corporate foundations (funded by business corporations), 3) operating foundations (which run research, social welfare, or other charitable programs), and 4) community foundations (focus on a specific community or region). Some prominent national foundations that have a strong history of providing support to substance abuse prevention projects throughout the United States include:
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation: provides grants to organizations at the state, city, and community level that are addressing the needs of vulnerable children and families. Contact: (410) 547-660 or http://www.aecf.org.
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The JM Foundation: provides grants to projects in the areas of rehabilitation for people with disabilities; prevention and wellness; education, prevention; early intervention in AOD use; and health policy research. Contact: (212) 687-7735
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The Pew Charitable Trusts: provides grants to nonprofit organizations in the fields of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy, and religion. Contact: (215) 575-4939 or http://www.pewtrusts.com.
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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: provides grants to organizations addressing the following three areas: assuring access of basic health care to all Americans at a reasonable price; improving services for people with chronic health conditions; reducing harm caused by tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Contact: (609) 452-8701 or http://www.rwjf.org
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W. K. Kellogg Foundation: provides grants to projects in the areas of health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, higher education, philanthropy and voluntarism. (919) 968-0413 or http://www.wkkf.org.
Resources for Researching Foundations
For a complete listing of foundations throughout the country, grantseekers should consult The Foundation Center directory. The Foundation Center is a nonprofit service organization that has information on all private foundations, and is an essential resource for identifying prospective funding sources. You can search this directory by:
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Subject: the specific type of projects that a foundation typically funds. For substance abuse prevention, this may include substance abuse prevention, youth development, and other relevant subject titles.
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Geographic location: the particular city or state in which a foundation typically funds projects. Although some give nationally and even internationally, most funders limit their giving to specific geographic areas.
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Type of support: the type of support that the foundation provides to recipients, such as building funds, seed money, scholarships to individuals or general operating support.
Foundation Center directories can be found at "cooperating
collections" within your state, which are free information centers
in libraries, community foundations, and other nonprofit resource centers
that house Foundation Center publications and other supplementary
materials that are useful to grantseekers. To find a location near you,
refer to the Foundation Center website at http://www.fdncenter.org/collections/index.html.
Other Related Documents and Websites:
Regional Associations of Grantmakers (RAGs) is a nonprofit membership association of foundations and related organizations that work to strengthen philanthropy in each geographic region. Each RAG produces a directory of local foundations that it sells for a reasonable price. To contact an association close to you, refer to the RAG website at http://www.givingforum.org/aboutrags/index.html.
The Foundation Center website provides an excellent orientation for new grantseekers on ways to identify appropriate funding sources in foundations. The Foundation Center can be located at http://fdncenter.org/onlib/orient/intro1.html.
Information on both government and non-government funding for substance abuse prevention can be found on the Join Together website at http://www.jointogether.org/sa/resources/funding.
Please contact the Northeast CAPT at capt@edc.org for more information.
