How to get a grant from Arnold Ventures

OVERVIEW: A major U.S. funder, Arnold Ventures supports criminal justice, health care, higher education and career pathways, infrastructure, public finance, evidence and evaluation, and journalism. Its grantmaking centers heavily on research, policy, advocacy and the implementation of evidence-based approaches.

IP TAKE: Arnold Ventures is one of the nation’s largest philanthropies, moving hundreds of millions of dollars a year toward what it calls evidence-based solutions to systemic failures. Its style is proactive, policy-minded and comfortable with influence. The Arnolds are dedicated to maximizing impact, and they aren’t shy about engaging with political giving: the Arnolds fund 501c4s, join funding collaboratives, and work through public-private partnerships.

This is a tough funder. Most funding opportunities come through direct, warm outreach, though Arnold periodically issues RFPs and LOIs. Grants typically support research, policy development, advocacy or implementation rather than general operations, and often go to universities, research centers, think tanks, policy shops, intermediaries, government partners and larger nonprofits with strong evaluation capacity. Still, the funder does not appear closed to new grantees when the fit is clear.

The best path onto Arnold’s radar remains close alignment with a current strategy, but grantseekers should distinguish between its largely proactive grantmaking and its genuinely open research opportunities. Arnold Ventures says it sources the majority of proposals through direct outreach and does not accept general unsolicited proposals. However, it periodically issues formal RFPs. Organizations outside those channels are best positioned when they are already visible in the research, policy, government or grantee networks surrounding an Arnold Ventures priority.

PROFILE: Founded in 2008 as the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Arnold Ventures has since evolved into the Arnolds’ umbrella philanthropy. After signing the Giving Pledge in 2010, Laura and John Arnold expanded their giving through a set of related vehicles, including LJAF, Action Now, Inc., and a donor-advised fund. In 2019, they launched Arnold Ventures as an LLC to oversee this broader grantmaking operation and advance what it describes as “evidence-based solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice.” In 2024, that giving totaled roughly $190 million through LJAF and $10 million through Action Now.

Arnold Ventures has grown quickly, with a sprawling grantmaking portfolio that continues to push into new terrain. Arnold Ventures’ current giving page identifies five core grantmaking areas: Criminal Justice, Health Care, Infrastructure, Public Finance, and Higher Education & Career Pathways.

Evidence & Evaluation remains a major, separately staffed area of work that funds research across these and other social-policy issues.
Journalism also remains active, although Arnold Ventures no longer lists it among the five core areas on its main giving page.

Grants for Health

Arnold Ventures’ Health program aims to “improve health care delivery, lower costs and reduce disparities in access.” It seeks to lower prices, reduce low-value or harmful care, and improve care for complex patients.

Arnold’s Health page topics include Drug Prices, Commercial Sector Prices, Medicare-Medicaid Integration, Provider Payment Incentives, Medicare Sustainability, Organ Donation, Same Service, Same Price, FDA Accountability, and Medicaid.
Health grantmaking appears mainly proactive and staff-directed, though related research questions may appear in cross-cutting Evidence & Evaluation RFPs.
Arnold Ventures also supports a broad range of Clinical Trials for medications, devices and diagnostics across many medical specialties.
Funding prioritizes research programs at universities and institutes, think tanks, advocacy and other health and policy organizations. Arnold Ventures generally looks for work capable of influencing policy, generating strong evidence or improving health-system incentives rather than conventional local health-service delivery.
Grantees include Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the United States of Care Campaign and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which received millions for research on the coordination of drug policy and “meaningful drug innovation” through clinical trials.

Grants for Criminal Justice Reform

Arnold Ventures’ criminal justice program backs research and policy aimed at reducing crime and improving outcomes for people who encounter the justice system. Its approach is characteristically evidence-driven: fund rigorous research to identify what works, then use policy and advocacy to bring effective strategies to scale.

The portfolio spans the justice process, from crime prevention and accountability to recidivism reduction, incarceration cycles and the broader evidence base for reform.
Current funding interests include causal research on community safety and the criminal justice system, including the Criminal Justice Causal Research RFP.
Arnold Ventures also hosts Building Research Ideas and Generating Evidence, or BRIDGE, Days, convenings that bring small groups of researchers and practitioners together to sharpen ideas, build partnerships and develop stronger submissions for its criminal justice research funding opportunities.
Criminal justice grantees include Michigan State University, the Research Triangle Institute, George Mason University, the Regents of the University of California Los Angeles, Social Science Research Council, and the Regents of the University of Colorado, among others.
For prospect researchers, Criminal Justice stands out as one of Arnold Ventures’ most accessible areas because it combines a standing open research process with deliberate researcher-practitioner networking.

Grants for Education and Economic Development

Arnold Ventures names Higher Education & Career Pathways as a core giving area, with a focus on building a system that leaves students better off for enrolling and shields taxpayers from underwriting ineffective institutions.

This area includes research topics related to Higher Education, Career Pathways and Scaling What Works.
Arnold says it funds research, policy, advocacy and litigation to improve higher education outcomes, accountability, ROI for students and taxpayers, student success, career pathways, and scaling what works.
Higher Education RFPS include Causal Research to Improve Outcomes for Part-Time Students RFP was open as of the page capture, with LOIs due June 14, 2026, invited full proposals due August 16, 2026, and funding decisions by December 31, 2026.
- Applicants submit LOIs by email and invited applicants receive full proposal instructions.
- For the open RFP, for-profit institutions are eligible; partnerships with institutions or state agencies are not required but are strongly encouraged; descriptive or correlational studies are not eligible; the RFP funds research-related activities, not program implementation or service delivery costs.
Grantees include the Project on Predatory Student Lending, the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, Colorado’s State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and Johns Hopkins University, which received funding for an evaluation of the My Brother’s Keeper Mentoring Program, and

Grants for Housing, Community Development, and Energy

The Infrastructure focus area invests in “infrastructure solutions that ensure everyone has access to opportunity – leading to a globally competitive economy that benefits everyone.” Like Arnold’s other giving areas, grants support research, analysis to identify workable solutions and translate those solutions into meaningful public policy.

This area includes research topics related to Housing, Transportation and Energy.
This area features RFP infrastructure, but opportunities are influx, as with all AV RFP opportunities.
Housing grants focus on making it easier to build homes of all shapes and sizes in the U.S., and making the homebuilding process shorter, simpler, and more transparent.
In the area of transportation, the philanthropy focuses on the cost and time involved in constructing new and efficient systems to support economic growth.
AV supports evidence-based policy solutions that “lower energy costs, increase reliability, reduce emissions, and ensure American competitiveness.”
- Grantmaking for energy is increasing, with a focus on reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers and accelerating the development of energy solutions that ensure long-term economic growth, national security and global leadership – while keeping energy affordable and reliable for American families and businesses.
- In 2024, the Houston Chronicle reported that Arnold provided vital investment in Fervo Energy, a for-profit geothermal energy startup based in Houston.
This is primarily a policy, research, regulatory-reform and government-capacity portfolio rather than a conventional community-development or environmental-grants program. Grantseekers whose work consists mainly of constructing affordable housing, providing housing services or running local environmental programs are likely to be weaker fits unless their work connects clearly to the funder’s systems-change strategy.

Grants for Public Finance

AV’s Public Finance area seeks to “advance tax and budget policies that promote both fiscal stability for government and economic opportunity, mobility, and security.”

This area includes research topics related to Federal Tax Policy, Program Integrity, Fiscal Sustainability, and Responsible Tax Reform.
According to AV, “structural dysfunction in Congress, special interests, and increasing political polarization have created significant hurdles to adopting tax and budget systems that achieve these goals.”
Mostly proactive research/policy grantmaking; no current public finance-specific RFP appears visible at the time of this writing, but check back on RFPs as opportunities materialize quickly.
Grantees include the Center for Taxpayer Rights, the National Bureau of Economic Research and research on policies to identify and reduce tax evasion at the London School of Economics.

Grants for Journalism & Democracy

Arnold Ventures’s Journalism giving seeks to “strengthen a free press that is fair, transparent, and ethical.” While this is not one of AV’s main focus areas, journalism funding is observed across tax filings year over year. As well, Arnold’s press release topic filters include Journalism.

AV’s journalism funding invests in: statehouse and local news outlets; investigative outlets ; issue-specific news organizations that dovetails with AV’s research interests; and innovation that creates a sustainable future for nonprofit news.
A recent grantee includes the Missouri School of Journalism Statehouse Reporting Project.

Grants for Evidence and Evaluation

Arnold Ventures’ Evidence & Evaluation team works across social policy to determine which programs and policies produce measurable results and to help policymakers use that evidence.

The program has two related goals: build stronger causal evidence about what works and move existing evidence into policy and implementation. It funds randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies, while also working to scale interventions that already have a strong evidence base.
This area currently offers some of Arnold Ventures’ clearest open funding opportunities. Learn more about what impactful research looks like for evidence and evaluation.

Important Grant Details:

While Arnold Ventures awards grants into the millions on occasion, most awards fall in the $50,000 to $200,000 range. In 2024, Arnold Ventures reports awarding approximately $190 million through the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and another $10 million through Action Now, Inc.

Arnold’s own 2024 summary allocates foundation funding as Criminal Justice 31%, Health Care 27%, Evidence & Evaluation 14%, Other 14%, Infrastructure 5%, Higher Education 5%, Public Finance 4%.
AV’s grantmaking heavily supports quantitative research and analysis that it uses to drive evidence-based reform in public policy across its areas of interest.
Grantmaking is mainly limited to the U.S. and national concerns.
Arnold Ventures does not accept unsolicited proposals, but grantseekers may find opportunity among its requests for proposals.
To keep up with the latest opportunities and announcements, sign up for the organization’s newsletter at the bottom of the website.
Submit general inquiries to Arnold Ventures via its contact page or reach out to staff members via their LinkedIn accounts, which are linked to their profiles.
Arnold Ventures’ phone number is listed as (713) 554-1955.

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Last updated on June 9, 2026