Trellis Charitable Fund

OVERVIEW: The Trellis Charitable Fund makes grants for human rights, journalism and visual arts projects. This funder tends to offer ongoing support to a select group of grantees working in its areas of interest.

IP TAKE: The Trellis Charitable Fund is a good funder to know for multi-year support, but it’s not an easy nut to crack. They do not have a current website or publicly available means of contacting them, which makes getting through the door here tough without networking.

PROFILE: The Trellis Charitable Fund was established in 1998 in Washington, D.C. According to its (now-defunct) website, this family foundation “gives voice to the voiceless, exposes injustice and advocates for change both here and abroad.” Trellis’s grantmaking prioritizes “groups whose rigorous research and strategic interventions successfully change people’s lives” and “organizations who tackle the toughest and most complex societal issues.”

This funder no longer maintains a website, as of our most recent review of their grantmaking, but according to its recent tax filings and news from their grantees, Trellis makes grants for human rights, journalism and visual arts projects and organizations that focus on social justice. 

Grants for Global Security and Human Rights

The Trellis Charitable Trust provides ongoing support to a corps of large human rights organizations and NGOS that operate globally. Recipients include Human Rights Watch, the Global Witness Foundation and the Fund for Global Human Rights.

Grants for Journalism and Democracy

Trellis demonstrates a strong, but broad commitment to journalism and news organizations involved in human rights and social justice reporting. Grantmaking here intersects with advancing civic engagement and democracy as well. Funding in these areas has steadily increased over the past several years. Recent journalism grantees include ProPublica, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Marshall Project, which focuses on criminal justice issues in the U.S.

Grants for Visual Arts

The Trellis Charitable Trust does not outline specific goals for its visual arts grantmaking, but has demonstrated an interest in photographic exhibitions. Grants have gone to the National Gallery of Art and the Yale Art Gallery.

Important Grant Details:

The Trellis Charitable Fund makes about $1 million a year in grants, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Grants range from $5,000 to $200,000, with an average grant size of about $50,000. The Fund only offers a handful of grants a year.

  • According to 990s, grantmaking appears to prioritize Washington D.C. and New York City. This is not a grassroots funder as it appears to funder, mid-sized and larger organizations in its areas of interest.

  • Over the past several years, the fund has provided ongoing support to a small corps of well-established organizations in its areas of interest. This means multi-year support is possible if you can get through the door.

For additional information about past grantmaking, see the fund’s recent tax filings. This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals or letters of inquiry. There is no current contact information available for their staff.

PEOPLE:

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