Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation is the philanthropic entity of the major league baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. This funder addresses homelessness, indigent healthcare, and children's programs in Arizona. It also gives back for education and youth sports throughout the state.
IP TAKE: The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation is one of the most accessible and well-established sports team funders in the country with programs for community, youth, and sports organizations. Unsurprisingly, the majority of ADF’s charitable giving goes to support youth sports in the state, especially baseball, with funding for athletic facilities, physical education programs, afterschool and out-of-school activities, and other forms of outreach. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to go around for more traditional nonprofits. ADF has multiple grant programs providing project-specific, general operating, and capacity building grants organizations that provide basic needs, human services, and other resources for residents of Arizona. It is worth noting that these grants may be modest and highly competitive, as the majority of ADF’s giving is conducted through special initiatives and discretionary grants.
This is not the most transparent funder, as it does not maintain a comprehensive grants database or easily accessible list of past grants on its website. It is also difficult to track down any financial reports or tax filings associated with the foundation, so it’s not easy to get a full picture of the foundation’s grantmaking priorities and strategy. It is relatively accessible, as it accepts applications for several of its programs, however it does not seem to provide any publicly available contact information for foundation staff or program officers, which may make networking difficult. Yet, as with many community funders, networking may be the best way to get on this funder’s radar for grant opportunities that are normally by invitation only.
PROFILE: The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation (ADF) was established in 1997, after the team was awarded an expansion franchise by MLB but before they played their first major league game in 1998. While a significant portion of the foundation’s funding comes from the baseball team’s revenues, it also accepts donations—both in cash and in the form of memorabilia and other items to be auctioned off—and hosts frequent fundraising events for the foundation, including auctions, celebrity golf tournaments, fun runs, galas, and raffles. While the foundation’s main focus is to promote and support youth sports, especially baseball, its mission is to support “three main areas of need: homelessness, indigent healthcare and children's programs of all types.”
Grants for Education and Youth
The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation’s grants for education and youth mainly center around sports and other types of outreach activities, but it also funds programs for K-12 education and academic success. ADF maintains several charitable programs, each with its own priorities and eligibility requirements:
Mike Kennedy Diamonds Back Field Building Program helps communities build or refurbish baseball and softball fields with the goal of increasing children’s participation in these sports throughout the state of Arizona. Funding may go to things such as lighting, scoreboards, fences, backstops, grass, dirt, and watering systems. Applications for this program are usually due at the end of July, with grants awarded by December 1.
School Challenge grants support Arizona’s public, private, and charter K-12 schools with $5,000 for innovative projects. Examples of funded projects include “vocational activities for special education students, digital sculpting for animation art classes, community gardens, after school fitness classes and much more.”
Play Ball Fund supports Arizona’s youth sports teams with grants of $1,000 to cover expenses related to equipment, training, facilities and more. Teams may apply for funding from April through the end of August. Ten grants are awarded each year.
Teaming Up for Education makes grants of up to $10,000 to “transform educational outcomes” through educational impact programs, innovative technologies, or student wellness programs.
Futureshaper STEM Grants Program awards grants of up to $5,000 to schools proposing innovative science and math education initiatives. Projects that prove to be especially successful may receive an additional $15,000 grant at the end of the grant term.
ADF also manages several scholarships available to students graduating from Arizona high schools and/or attending university or trade school in Arizona:
D-Backs Avnet STEM Scholars, a four-year scholarship for high-achieving, first-generation college students pursuing a STEM degree at an Arizona university.
Teaming Up for Education, three full-ride scholarships at the University of Phoenix awarded through the Teaming Up for Education program.
Grants for Housing, Public Health, and Economic Opportunity
The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation makes grants that broadly support housing and human services throughout its giving area. These include general operating support, project-specific, and capacity building grants for nonprofits serving residents of Arizona:
Ken Kendrick Grant Slam Award Grants, named for the team’s general managing partner and award grants of $25,000 to $250,000 to community organizations based in Arizona. These grants typically support construction projects, large purchases or programs that “increase the capacity or efficiency” of grantees operations. Applications for this program are typically due at the end of November for disbursement in April of the following year.
Program Grants support organizations serving people in Arizona with smaller grants of up to $5,000 for programmatic expenses. Grant applications are due in early August for disbursement in December.
Gonzo’s Hometown Heroes Fund makes grants to organizations that support first responders such as police offers, firefighters, and paramedics
ADF also supports Arizona veterans dealing with “homelessness, PTSD, addiction and the complex transition back to civilian life” through two fundraising programs, Strikeouts Helping Heroes and Hits for Heroes, which collect fundraising dollars from ACF for every strikeout or hit (respectively) made by a Diamondbacks player in an official game.
Past grantees for housing, health, and veterans include Central Arizona Shelter Services, Flagstaff Veterans Resource Center, Rebuilding Together, Phoenix Police Reserve Foundation, United Phoenix Firefighter Charities, and MANA House.
IMPORTANT GRANT DETAILS:
Grants generally range from $1,000 to $5,000. For additional information about this funder’s past grantmaking, see its program pages and its recent tax filings.
Grantmaking centers around the state of Arizona, including major national organizations with branches operating in the state.
ADF accepts unsolicited grant applications from organizations located in and serving Arizona. Grant eligibility, guidelines and due dates vary significantly by program, but each funding opportunity maintains its own page with application instructions and materials.
Requests for capital campaigns, individuals, endowments, fundraising activities not affiliated with ADF, and lobbying will not be considered.
The foundation does not provide a reliable way to contact staff for grant or media inquiries.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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