Learn about grants for Arkansas by browsing our curated list of top Arkansa funders below. Members can also research funding opportunities using the search tool for Grant Finder. Become a member.
Giving Trends in Arkansas
A smaller giving landscape than its other Southeast neighbors, grants for Arkansas nonprofits have been gradually increasing in recent years. Since 2018, over 400 grantmakers and counting have conducted about $940 million a year.
Grantmaking in Arkansas has evolved on a fundamental level. According to Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, President and CEO of Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation:
“new generation of leaders are leading philanthropy” in Arkansas (…) SECF members Regan Gruber Moffitt of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (WRF) and Sarah Kinser from the Arkansas Community Foundation (ARCF), along with others, founded Arkansas Impact Philanthropy (AIP). In 2016, the Clinton Foundation, WRF, and ARCF hosted the Bold Ideas Gathering at the Clinton Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Fifty leaders from 26 philanthropic organizations gathered to share experiences and brainstorm solutions for some of Arkansas's largest challenges. From that meeting, AIP emerged.”
Knowledge about giving in Arkansas also filters through Philanthropy Southeast and the Southeastern Council of Foundations. Grants for education outpace all of the state’s giving areas combined though arts & culture, as well as the environment and animals reveal other major giving areas. Arkansasan foundations are currently working to ramp up giving for economic development, an area of deep need state wide. In contrast from other states in the South, giving in Arkansas is particularly collaborative, as shows the recent development of Arkansas Impact Philanthropy (AIP) and the Asset Funders Network (AFN) – Arkansas Chapter.
Arkansas’s top funders include a mix of private, public, corporate and community foundations. While some funding whales dominate grantmaking in Arkansas, namely the Walton Family Foundation, which is also a major national funder, most grantmaking in Arkansas occur at the grassroots level. Other major Arkansas funders include Windgate Charitable Foundation, Arkansas Community Foundation, The Jesus Fund, Native American Agriculture Fund, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Winthrop Rockefeller Trust, and Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, among others.
Foundations in Arkansas
ARKANSAS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
ACF supports a broad range of issues in a majority of the counties in Arkansas. Most grants come from donor-directed funds, but ACF also funds local health, education, and economic well-being groups. This funder is the only state-wide community foundation in the Southeast.
ARKANSAS FARM BUREAU FOUNDATION
The Arkansas Farm Bureau Foundation supports education, research, litigation and disaster relief in Arkansas.
THE ARKANSAS INTERNATIONAL
The Arkansas International supports creative writing and literature in various forms in Arkansas and throughout the United States.
MARY REYNOLDS BABCOCK FOUNDATION
The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation supports democracy and civic engagement initiatives, such as community organizing, voter education, and voter registration, in eleven southeastern states.
BLUE AND YOU FOUNDATION
This funder supports health causes in Arkansas with an emphasis on regional and statewide efforts for healthcare delivery, policy and economics.
CARROLL COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Carroll County Community Foundation supports Carroll County, Arkansas in the areas of grade-level reading, critical needs, children and youth, hunger, medical care, arts, education.
CLEBURNE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Cleburne County Community Foundation supports Cleburne County, Arkansas nonprofits in a wide range of general charitable grants and an emphasis on middle school science.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LEE COUNTY
The Community Foundation of Lee County supports local basic needs, hunger relief, and community events in Lee County, Arkansas.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS
This is the largest funder in the region, awarding grants in western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi. Top areas of interest are education, human services, and nonprofit capacity building.
CONWAY COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Conway County Community Foundation supports education, literacy, and human services in Conway County, Arkansas.
CROSS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Cross County Community Foundation supports children and youth causes, summer camps, and human services efforts in Cross County, Arkansas.
ENDEAVOR FOUNDATION
Funds go to projects to improve health, education, and community vitality in Northwest Arkansas. Endeavor does not accept unsolicited grant inquiries, but you can call the staff to discuss your ideas.
FAULKNER COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Faulkner County Community Foundation supports local community efforts, neighborhoods, education, and literacy, and health in Faulkner County, Arkansas.
CHARLES A. FRUEAUFF FOUNDATION
This Little Rock, Arkansas-based funder supports education, human services, health, and hospitals. First-time grantseekers submit a survey form to start the process.
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Hot Springs Village Community Foundation supports children and youth, basic needs, human services, people with special needs, education, and animal welfare in Garland and Saline counties in Arkansas.
PHILLIPS COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Phillips County Community Foundation supports education, children and youth, basic needs, hunger relief in Phillips County, Arkansas.
PINE BLUFF AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Pine Bluff Area Community Foundation supports health, basic needs, hunger relief, education, and children and youth efforts in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County, Arkansas.
OUACHITA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Ouachita Valley Community Foundation supports children and youth, hunger relief, and community engagement efforts in Camden, Arkansas and the Greater Ouachita Valley.
MARION AND MIRIAM ROSE FUND
The Marion and Miriam Rose Fund supports human services causes in Little Rock, Arkansas.
WINTHROP ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
Founded by the late Arkansas governor, this funder is solely focused on Arkansas and gives to education, economic and racial/social justice causes in the state.
THE ROSS FOUNDATION
Ross accepts inquiries from groups in Clark County, Arkansas, in education, arts and cultural enrichment, community beautification and improvement, historical preservation, mental health and the developmentally disabled, forestry and research and conservation management.
ROY & CHRISTINE STURGIS CHARITABLE TRUST
Sturgis primarily supports nonprofits in Arkansas, but some grants go to the Dallas, Texas, area. Interests are arts, culture, humanities, education, health, and human services.
TWIN LAKES COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Twin Lakes Community Foundation supports basic needs, arts and culture, literacy, youth, and education efforts in the Arkansas counties of Baxter, Fulton, Izard, and Marion.
TYSON FAMILY FOUNDATION
The Tyson Family Foundation supports education, agriculture, business, engineering, computer science, nursing, health and youth in Arkansas.
TYSON FOODS FOUNDATION
The Tyson Foods Foundation supports Hunger relief, food supply, K-12 education, nonprofit capacity building, education and libraries in Arkansas and other places where the Tyson company does business.
UNION COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The Union County Community Foundation supports education, arts, health, social services, economic development, and civic affairs in Union County, Arkansas.
WILLARD AND PAT WALKER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
This funder broadly supports healthcare and education in Arkansas, as well as Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Unsolicited grant applications are accepted during two time periods each year.
WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION
This funder’s Home Region program supports Arkansas causes related to pre-K-12 education, environmental conservation, arts and culture, economic development, job creation, youth development, and public safety.
WHITE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
The White County Community Foundation supports education, human services, children and youth, and community development in White County, Arkansas.
WINDGATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
This Arkansas funder supports art education, K-12 education, higher education, Christian higher education, human services, Christian and marriage family relationships, children and youth.
WOMEN’S FOUNDATION OF ARKANSAS
The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas supports women and girls, education, economic security, health, poverty and human services in Arkansas.
