Hearst Foundations

OVERVIEW: The Hearst Foundations’ mission is to “build healthy, productive, and inspiring lives.” The foundations seek to achieve this by supporting well-established nonprofit organizations that operate in the areas of culture, education, health and social services.

IP TAKE: The Hearst Foundations are a significant national funder, but this is primarily a prospect for established organizations. Current guidelines exclude nonprofits operating with less than $2 million in audited expenses, as well as organizations undergoing a leadership transition or with new leadership in place for less than one year. Hearst also has a strong preference for large institutions in several portfolios: organizations with budgets over $10 million have received about 80% of recent Education and Health funding and about 60% of Culture funding.

Importantly, however, Hearst accepts unsolicited applications through an open, rolling online process. There is no general deadline or LOI requirement. Hearst says it can fund approximately 25% of requests, with about 80% of funding directed to prior grantees and about 20% targeted to new grantees. First-time applicants therefore face steep competition, but an existing Hearst relationship or invitation is not required to apply.

For new prospects, the strongest approach is to establish fit before submitting. Review Hearst’s funding priorities and recent grant recipients, make sure the organization clears all eligibility restrictions, and compare the proposed request with organizations Hearst already funds in the same field. Hearst explicitly looks for differentiated results and sustainability, and it does not fund seed or pilot programs or established programs that cannot demonstrate long-term impact.

A deep connection to a current grantee, peer institution, co-funder or field leader may be useful for learning more about Hearst’s interests and establishing credibility, but grantseekers should not treat networking as a substitute for programmatic fit. The foundations maintain a genuine direct application route for new grantees.

PROFILE: The Hearst Foundations, founded in 1946 and 1949, are the philanthropic legacy of William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper publisher who expanded into radio and television in the first half of the 20th century. The mission of the foundations is to “identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives.” Though the two foundations operate “as one entity, sharing the same funding guidelines, leadership and staff,” the offices based in New York City and San Francisco independently oversee grantmaking east and west of the Mississippi River, respectively.

Grantmaking supports culture, education, health and social services. The foundations mainly support large, well established organizations with annual operating budgets of over $1 million. Funding is limited to the U.S.

Grants for Early Childhood, K-12 and Higher Education

Hearst’s education grantmaking accounts for about 30% of its total giving and supports “educational institutions demonstrating uncommon success in preparing students to thrive in a global society.” While the portfolio leans strongly toward higher education, the foundations also support early-childhood and K-12 programs and educator professional development. Organizations with budgets above $10 million have received about 80% of recent Education funding.

Current Education priorities include:
- Higher education programs and scholarships, with limited support for postgraduate scholarships;
- College access and college success;
- Professional development for educators;
- Science education and career pathways related to science, technology, engineering, environment and math; and
- Education and training for the next generation of health professionals, including nursing and mental health.
Hearst makes program, scholarship and capital grants, with general operating and endowment support available on a limited basis. The minimum grant size is $100,000.
Recent Education grantees illustrate a wider range of work than higher education alone. Spring 2026 grants supported nursing scholarships for first-generation and low-income students at Northern Illinois University, technology training and job placement through NPower, college-readiness work at Eastside College Preparatory School, youth journalism and civic education through the Pulitzer Center, foster-youth college programming through United Friends of the Children and general support for several education nonprofits.
Universities and other large institutions with multiple departments are expected to coordinate requests centrally rather than submit competing proposals.

Grants for Public Health and Diseases

The Hearst Foundations’ health grantmaking supports hospitals, medical centers, specialized healthcare institutions and nonprofit providers serving high-need populations. It also supports healthcare workforce development, medical research and early-career investigators. Health has accounted for about 30% of recent grantmaking, and organizations with budgets above $10 million have received approximately 80% of funding in this area.

Health funding focuses on program and capital support.
Grantmaking overlaps with the foundations’ education giving to support education and training programs for the medical and health professions.
Vulnerable populations, including veterans the elderly, rural, and low-income communities are stated priorities.
Other areas of interest include mental health care, innovation in coordination and delivery of services and early-career researchers working to establish “new cures and treatments for prevalent diseases, such as cancer.”
Hearst lists program and capital grants as core forms of Health support and considers endowment support on a limited basis. The minimum grant is $100,000.
Recent grantees include the American Cancer Society for prostate cancer research, Cancer Research Institute for an investigator award, MD Anderson Cancer Center for a glioblastoma clinical trial, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for early-career investigators, Alzheimer’s Los Angeles for capacity building, and organizations providing behavioral healthcare, workforce development and healthcare access. Several Health grantees also received general operating support in Spring 2026.

Grants for Human Services, Housing and Economic Opportunity

Hearst’s social services funding area aims to “tackle the roots of chronic poverty by applying effective solutions to the most challenging social and economic problems.” Grantmaking targets scalable programs that have strong records of success, especially areas related to financial independence and stability.

This is a smaller area of giving, accounting for about 15% of Hearst’s overall giving.
Grants fund program, capital and general operations support.
Support has gone to an exceptionally broad range of interest areas, including housing, job training, legal services, reentry progarms, youth development, food security, domestic violence prevention and more.
Program, capital and general operating support are available. Hearst generally favors national or headquarters-level initiatives over local chapters of national organizations.
Recent giving reflects a strong direct-service orientation, including support for housing stability, workforce development, affordable housing, reentry, food access, legal assistance and services for survivors of domestic violence. These patterns make Hearst a better fit for established service organizations with a demonstrated operating model than for early-stage or experimental projects.
Organizations primarily engaged in advocacy or public policy research should look elsewhere: Hearst specifically lists these activities among requests it does not fund.

Grants for Arts and Culture, Arts Education

The Hearst Foundations’ culture supports established cultural institutions offering arts and science programming, particularly work engaging young people and producing lasting, measurable results. It also supports the training and development of artistic talent. About 25% of recent Hearst funding has gone to Culture, with organizations above $10 million in budget receiving about 60% of funding in this portfolio.

Priorities include: Artist development and training; Arts education that helps fill gaps in K-12 curricula; and Museum and cultural programs developing skills in science, technology, engineering, environment, arts and math.
Hearst makes program and capital grants in Culture and considers general operating and endowment requests on a limited basis. The minimum grant size is $100,000.
Recent culture grantees include the American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Museum, Center Theatre Group, Park Avenue Armory, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Save The Music Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation and several arts organizations undertaking capital projects.
The funder does not support radio, film or television production or requests for publications, books, magazines or newspapers, making it a weak prospect for standalone media production and publishing projects even when they have a cultural or educational purpose.

Other Hearst Programs

The William Randolph Hearst Foundation also administers two longstanding programs that are separate from its regular nonprofit grantmaking. Neither program should be confused with an open grant opportunity for nonprofit organizations.

The United States Senate Youth Program brings two high school student leaders from every state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity to Washington for an intensive public-service and government program. For the 2026-2027 program year, 104 delegates receive a $12,500 undergraduate scholarship, and Hearst covers transportation, accommodations and meals. Students apply through their state education systems rather than through Hearst’s regular nonprofit grant portal.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is a national undergraduate journalism competition. The 66th annual program includes writing, photojournalism, audio, television, podcasting and multimedia competitions and awards up to $700,000 annually in scholarships, institutional matching grants and stipends. In 2026, 104 colleges and universities with accredited undergraduate journalism programs were eligible to participate.

Important Grant Details:

In 2025, Hearst awarded more than $64 million through 314 grants. Summer 2026 grantmaking alone included 80 awards totaling more than $14 million to nonprofits across the country.

The Hearst Foundations are an open, rolling funder. Applications are accepted throughout the year through the foundations’ online application system, and there is no general application deadline. Hearst does not publish a general LOI or invitation requirement.
The minimum grant size is $100,000.Applicants must be U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations and must provide an IRS determination letter.Hearst does not fund organizations operating with audited expenses below $2 million.
Organizations undergoing a leadership transition, or with new leadership in place for less than one year, are ineligible.Hearst says it funds approximately 25% of requests; roughly 80% of funding is directed to prior grantees and about 20% to new grantees.
Applicants that are declined must wait at least one year before reapplying. Organizations receiving a grant must wait at least three years from the award date before submitting another request.Hearst’s review process generally lasts four to six weeks at the staff level. Applicants moving forward receive a site visit before board consideration. The board meets quarterly, and the average period from submission to grant award is about six months.
Capital requests generally will not be considered if the project has raised less than 50% of its fundraising goal.
For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s grants database.
The New York and San Francisco offices share a single application portal accept applications on an ongoing basis. Access information about how to apply here.
For application assistance or general questions, contact either support.ny@hearstfdn.org or support.sf@hearstfdn.org. The phone number for the foundation’s New York office is (212) 649-3750, and in San Francisco, the foundation can be reached at (415) 908-4500.

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Last updated on August 9, 2026