Rainwater Charitable Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Rainwater Charitable Foundation supports mostly education causes around Fort Worth Texas but also research for neurodegenerative diseases.
IP TAKE: The Rainwater Charitable Foundation primarily supports education and community development in the Forth Worth area, as well as research into neurodegenerative disease. Nonprofits have the best chance of catching Rainwater’s attention with an early childhood education or teacher/principal training program. This is a transparent and approachable funder especially partial to the Fort Worth area.
PROFILE: Established in the early 1990s, the Rainwater Charitable Foundation is the foundation of the late investment billionaire Richard Rainwater. The founder got his start in the investment industry for the Bass family in the 1970s. As an independent investor, Rainwater founded ENSCO International, Columbia Hospital Corporation, Mid Ocean Limited, and Crescent Real Estate Equities. Grantmaking areas of interest are early childhood education, K-12 education, public schools, teacher and principal training, and neurodegenerative disease research. Rainwater’s three big funding initiatives include Family Economic Security Program, Medical Research Program, and Other Foundation Programs.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity, Housing and Homelessness, and Community Development
The foundation’s Family Economic Security Program is a comprehensive program that supports “North Texas families and children through quality education, upskilling, affordable housing, and childcare.” It works to help families improve their economic condition through the Upskilling subprogram, which helps students, families, and underskilled adults understand the postsecondary opportunities available to them, and the Community Asset Building subprogram, which works to build neighborhood-level and family-level assets to increase “the potential for children and families to thrive.” Community asset building includes affordable housing, museums, parks, and community centers.
Grants for Early Childhood and K-12 Education
Most of the foundation’s education funding happens through its Family Economic Security Program, which includes a subprogram focused on early childhood education and development, called Early Childhood & Family Support, and another on K-12 Education. Early childhood education has always been a big focus of the foundation. Grants support public education through 12th grade, with specific efforts on school leadership. Rainwater believes that improving education begins with principals and supports development programs for principals as well as teachers. Education efforts in both Fort Worth and South Carolina, where Rainwater’s wife is from, are the geographic focus areas.
Rainwater helps to provide Scholarships through the Dream Big Determined Scholars Program, “a program designed for Tarrant County public high school juniors who have demonstrated academic achievement despite adversity.”
Grants for Global Development
The Africa Funding program is an exception to the Rainwater Foundation’s geographic focus on Fort Worth, Texas. It works to help provide students in Rwanda and Kenya with access to “affordable, high-quality education.” It partners with educational organizations, local leaders, and community groups to address “systemic challenges” and advance “educational and economic progress.”
Grants for Public Health and Access, Science Research, Diseases, and Brain and Cell Research
The foundation’s primary grantmaking for health and medical research happens through its Medical Research Program. In 2009, the late Richard Rainwater was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and started supporting research for neurodegenerative diseases. This is a disease with no known cause, treatment, or cure, and the foundation’s personal connection to it has expanded overall grantmaking. Rainwater formed the Tau Consortium with at least 35 leading physicians and researchers in the field to find a cure. The foundation has given millions to this cause.
The Rainwater Prize awards innovations and advancements in Neurodegenerative Research. A list of previous awardees is available here and selection criteria are here.
The foundation has an Additional Research Programs category that covers temporary and transitional funding initiatives. Currently, it includes a $500,000, two year grant program, called the Tauopathy Challenge Workshop, which is “a small, invitation-only challenge workshop with the goal to solve key gaps in our understanding of mechanisms of pathology in primary tauopathies.”
Rainwater also has a COVID-19 Related funding program that supported research into the virus at the height of the pandemic and helped to fund the development of vaccines. It also supported research into the longterm medical, educational, and societal effects of the pandemic upon the general population.
Important Grant Details
Foundation grants are often in the $100,000 to $500,000 range. The funder does not share an online grants database on its website. The founder spent much of his life in Fort Worth, Texas, and therefore, a significant portion of grants are made in this region.
The Rainwater Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals or letters of inquiry; however, its website’s Funding Process page states that it will review LOIs for its K-12 Education, Upsilling, and Community Asset Building funding areas. Direct general questions to the foundation staff at information@rainwatercf.org.
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