Goldhirsh Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Goldhirsh Foundation provides financial and other forms of support to social innovators to “ensure that the strongest ideas have the best support systems.” Grantmaking focuses on but is not striclty limited to the Los Angeles Area.
IP TAKE: For Los Angeles-based nonprofits and social innovators, the Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050 program is a great way to garner financial and public support. The program is run like a contest, with Los Angeles residents voting on the causes they wish to see funded. Goldhirsh also offers its grantees support in the areas of communications, operations and litigation. For organizations outside of Los Angeles, however, this will be a tougher sell, as the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for grants other than those related to the LA2050 program. One way to gain this funder’s attention would be to network with leadership and staff via social media.
PROFILE: The Goldhirsh Foundation was established in 2000 by Bernard A. Goldhirsh, founding publisher of Sail and Inc. Magazines. It seeks to “connect the dots between the best emerging innovations and the financial, social, and human capital to make them thrive.” In 2003, shortly after the foundation was established, Goldhirsh was diagnosed with brain cancer and subsequently passed away. The board of directors, which includes his two children, shaped a grantmaking program that reflects his values and entrepreneurial spirit. In essence, this funder supports social innovators and aims to “ensure that the strongest ideas have the best support systems.”
According to its initiatives page, the Goldhirsh Foundation provides its grantees with three types of support.
Civic Capital refers to support that is aimed at “mobilization and disruption within existing infrastructures.”
Seed Capital funds “social innovation in Los Angeles.”
Expansion Capital brings “proven solutions from other regions to Los Angeles.”
In addition to funding, the foundation supports its grantees with social capital, which refers to “[p]eople and forces that expand and promote solutions,” and human capital, which consists of “expertise and support to strengthen operations.” Meanwhile, the foundation’s grantmaking initiatives focus on the types of “vital services” that grantees provide.
Opportunity grantees “[p]rovide skills, programming, and support structures to improve educational and economic opportunity.”
Sustainability grantees “[p]ursue environmental health through innovation at both the cause and response sides of the issue.”
Activation grantees “[s]upport pro-social platforms and tools for independent expression and individual mobilization.”
Beyond these brief descriptions, the foundation does not provide explanations of its initiatives, leaving its grantmaking priorities and goals somewhat open to interpretation. Grantmaking prioritizes Southern California, but organizations in other parts of the U.S., as well as U.S.-based organizations working internationally, have received funding in recent years.
Grants for Education, Work and Opportunity
Grantmaking for education and career opportunities appears to stem from Goldhirsh’s the Opportunity initiative. One grant supported the Lost Angels Children’s Project, which provides disadvantaged young people with vocational training in Southern California. Another grantee, the New York City-based Defy Ventures, works nationally to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people develop career and entrepreneurship skills. Additional grantees in the areas of education and opportunity include Cerritos College, Holy Cross College and DIY Girls, which provides out-of-school STEAM programming to girls and gender-expansive youth in California.
Grants for Climate Change, Clean Energy and Environmental Conservation
Goldhirsh’s Sustainability initiative appears to prioritize climate change mitigation and environmental education and activism projects. Heal the Bay of Los Angeles received funding for its work to protect and restore Santa Monica Bay through “science, hands-on education and advocacy.” Another grantee, the Lowercarbon Capital Fund, provides backing to “companies that make money by slashing CO2 emissions, taking carbon out of the atmosphere, and working to slow the effects of climate change.” Other climate grantees include AltaSea, the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, Nature for All of Monterey Park, California and Climate Resolve of Los Angeles.
Grants for Democracy, Civic Engagement and Journalism
The Activation initiative’s priorities of “independent expression and individual mobilization” translate into support for independent journalism, digital rights, democracy and civic engagement. The foundation has provided multi-year support to ProPublica, for its “investigative journalism in the public interest.” Another grantee, Summit Impact, received funding for its Impact Lab, which works to “amplify, accelerate and support the work of remarkable change-makers, as they lead the way to a more resilient, representative democracy. Other grantees in these areas include the Unite America Institute, Legacy LA Youth Development, the National Press Foundation and the University of Southern California’s Sol Price Center for Social Innovation.
Grants for Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform
This funder does not articulate racial justice or related criminal justice reforms as areas of grantmaking interest, but tax filings reveal strong interest in these areas. A grant supported the work of Los Angeles’s Black Women for Wellness, which “is committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls through health education, empowerment and advocacy.” Funding has also supported the Connie Rice Institute for Urban Peace, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and the Center for Restorative Justice Works.
Grants for Global Development
Global development is a smaller area of giving, but a few grants in this area are notable. Goldhirsh provides ongoing support to Amigos of Costa Rica, which supports the well-being of people in Costa Rica through “vetted nonprofit solutions.” Goldhirsh has also funded Kiva, a San Francisco-based enterprise that provides microloans and other financial services to underserved and underbanked people around the world.
Grants for Arts and Culture
A handful of grants have also supported arts and arts education organizations and initiatives in the U.S. The foundation does not name goals for this grantmaking, but giving appears to prioritize programs that emphasize social justice and equitable access to the arts. Grantees include Education Through Music, the Dia Art Foundation and Ruckusroots, a Los Angeles-based organization that runs “art programs that cultivate environmental awareness and action in under-represented communities.”
Grants for Los Angeles
Launched in 2011, the Goldhirsh Foundation’s ambitious LA2050 initiative focused on “driving and tracking progress toward a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles.” The program began with extensive research on Los Angeles in the areas of “education, income and employment, health, public safety, housing, environmental quality, arts and cultural vitality, and social connectedness.” This was followed by an extensive “community visioning process” through which the initiative named specific “goals to make Los Angeles the best place to learn, create, play, connect, and live.” Finally, the initiative launched the the LA2050 Grants Challenge, which awards $1 million in grants each year through a process in which residents vote on the issues they wish to see funded. This program also accepts applications for a Youth Ambassador Program for people ages 14-24 “who are passionate about making an impact and interested in community engagement, philanthropy, and service.”
Grant recipients include the Arts for Healing and Justice Network, Los Angeles Walks, Prosperity Market and the Peer Health Exchange. Sign up for the program’s newletter for updated award opportunities.
Important Grant Details
Goldhirsch grants range from $1,000 to $200,000, although more than half of all grants range from $25,000 to $100,000.
This funder names broad giving initiatives for opportunity, sustainability and activation, but grantmaking extends beyond these categories and focuses on the “vital services” that grantees provide the communities they serve.
Los Angeles receives the lion’s share of grants and is the subject of the foundation’s LA2050 Grants Challenge, through which community members vote on issues that are most important to them.
Descriptions of past recipients and their work are available on the initiatives and LA2050 Grants Challenge pages.
Only the LA2050 Grants Challenge program and its affiliated Youth Ambassador Program accept proposals for a single annual grantmaking cycle. Sign up f or the program’s newsletter to receive updated information on guidelines and due dates.
Inquiries may be submitted to the Goldhirsh Foundation via email at team@goldhirshfoundation.org. Questions about the LA2050 program may be emailed to connect@la2050.org.
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