Adams Legacy Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Adams Legacy Foundation invests in the ecology education, art and architecture, and conservation. Its 2016-2020 grant cycle focuses on projects which work to address the potential for the solace and lessons of nature to be applied to solving specific local problems.
IP TAKE: Grants are very competitive given how few grants this funder offers each year. Adams only funds organizations in California or Ohio. Grantseekers looking for long term support should also be aware that this funder will not support any grantee for more than three years in a row, in order to make funds available to new grantees. This is an accessible funder that provides an online application process with deadlines. You can also contact them by email with further questions and to get onto their radar. However, it will be changing its grantmaking approach and will no longer accept unsolicited proposals between 2021-2025 as it helps its current grantees through COVID-19.
PROFILE: Based in Long Beach, California, the Adams Legacy Foundation was founded in 2006 by Peter Adams, the former owner of the Adams Rite Manufacturing Company, and his wife, Rebecca, with profits from the sale of their family business. The foundation is run by the Adams family. Central to its funding is the belief that “the thoughtful appreciation of nature is critical to developing a well-rounded individual, as well as to ensuring a livable planet for future generations.” Every five years, the foundation begins a new funding cycle, which refines the scope of its work. The 2022-2026 grant cycle targets “organizations which use Nature to Strengthen, Nurture and Heal the Soul.” The Adams Legacy Foundation conducts funding through an environmental lens focused on the natural world across all of its priority areas. Its dedicated conservation program maintains an equally broad approach and does not name specific areas of grantmaking interest.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
Although conservation is not specifically articulated as a current grantmaking interest, this has been a large area of giving in past grantmaking cycles. Past conservation grantmaking prioritized facilities the expansion and program and operation expenses of organizations engaged in activities that align with the foundation’s current grantmaking focus. Program-related investments, endowments and matching grants, and leadership-development and organization-improvement efforts are also eligible for funding. In the past, Adams has also funded larger scale initiatives for sustainable farming and ranching across a whole state or region, and also works with large land trusts to help them acquire land and conservation easements. The foundation does not fund environmental or ecological education (i.e. technical, structured, classroom type experiences), environmental advocacy or structured / classroom-type experiences.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Adams Legacy Foundation’s current grantmaking mandate prioritizes K-12 education programs that provide opportunity for immersive, unstructured and inquiry-based learning with the involvement of “little to no technology/electronics.” The foundation has not traditionally supported any “technical, structured, classroom type experiences.” In 2017, Adams Legacy partnered with the California-based Wildwoods Foundation to sponsor a series of trips to the Santa Monica Mountains for families from inner city Los Angeles with young children.
Grants for Military and Veterans
Although military and veterans are not named as current priorities, past grantmaking has gone to many organizations involved with “re-integration of military personnel into civilian life.”
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000. The Adams Legacy Foundation almost exclusively funds non-profit organizations based in Southern California and Ohio, except on the special recommendation of a board or committee member. It will accept applications from previous grantees, but it will not fund any group for more than three years in a row.
Applicants may submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) through the foundation’s online application portal between April 15 and October 15 annually. If an applicant’s LOI is approved it will be invited to proceed to the full application. The foundation will generally make its decision by mid-March of the following year. As of 2021-2025, the foundation will no longer accept unsolicited applications.
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