Ceres Trust
/OVERVIEW: The Ceres Trust supports the environment, climate change resiliency, animals and wildlife, film and sustainable agriculture in Hawaii, the Upper Midwest and Central California.
IP TAKE: While the Trust does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding, it is fairly transparent with what its grants support and provides information about previous grantees on its website. Ceres restricts its grantmaking to three geographic areas, but its grantees are a mix of regional and national funders, and smaller to mid-sized grantees get most of the attention.
As with many funders that do not accept unsolicited funding requests, networking is the best bet here. This is not an accessible or particularly approachable funder.
Ceres in spending down it’s assets and no longer considering new grantees. IP will keep this funder profile available until the foundation has closed.
PROFILE: Established in 2006, the Ceres Trust is a private foundation based in Chicago, Illinois. The “Ceres” name honors an ancient goddess of agriculture, as this is a primary interest area for the foundation. The Ceres Trust aims to support “movement–oriented organizations, independent scientists and the preservation and restoration of ecological, Indigenous and farmer knowledge.” Geographically, it focuses its attention on Hawaii, the Upper Midwest and the San Joaquin Valley of California. This funder is known for investing in resiliency efforts and programs that spark equitable and transformative change. Grantmaking revolves around funding for healthy and resilient farms, forests and communities through support for the ecosystems that are essential for life to flourish.
Grants for Sustainable Agriculture
Ceres has several priority grantmaking areas, most of which relate to organic farming and sustainable agriculture in some way. Its Organic Farmer Education program supports organizations and projects that provide access to agriculture-focused “education for farmers in organic, sustainable and resilient farming systems.” The Food Crop Biodiversity and Public Access to Seeds program supports efforts to mitigate threats to the future food supply as a result of the loss of seeds and genetic diversity. The Pollinators program makes grants to “organizations that are working to ensure pollinator proliferation, and to transform urban, suburban and rural land management to protect pollinators, people and the ecosystems on which we all depend.” The Pesticides program works to protect people, farms, and ecosystems from pesticide poisoning by funding organizations, projects, and independent scientists in Hawai’i, the upper Midwest, and the San Joaquin Valley of California. Similarly, its GMO Contamination Protection program focuses on protection from GMO contamination.
Ceres’ Grantmaking in Hawaii program touches on many of the issues addressed by the above programs but focused on Hawaii. Grantmaking through this focus area touches on ending exposure to hazardous pesticides and mitigating contamination of food crops and other plants with genetically modified organisms. It also “supports organizing, movement building and Indigenous and farmer–led alternatives to industrial and plantation–based agricultural production” and “the revitalization of Native Hawaiian knowledge and systems, food crop biodiversity, public access to seeds, and a strong movement for Malama ‘Aina.”
Each individual program page provides a comprehensive list of previous grantees and supported projects.
Grants for Environment
In addition to its farming and agriculture-centric programs, the trust also works toward environmental protection and restoration. Its Forest Protection program supports groups that focus on protecting forests from genetic engineering and use as biofuels. With the Land Access and Retention program, Ceres works to combat consolidated private ownership and corporate control of land and supports “land access and retention, as well as collective and cooperative stewardship, ancestral restoration and governance, and redistribution of ownership” via general support grants and investments. The Independent Science program helps to fund research by independent scientists “and the learning and use of traditional and Indigenous knowledge, as part of movements to create healthy and resilient farms, forests and communities.” This program also supports research into healthy ecosystems.
Each individual program page provides a comprehensive list of previous grantees and supported projects.
Grants for Film
The trust funds documentary films related to the environment and climate change and that work to “transform public understanding and opinion on key issues.” Specifically, its film grants support “innovative documentary films that address critical environmental and economic issues affecting human health and well-being, modern ecosystems, and habitat stability.” Documentaries that have received funding through this program include Burned, which investigates the energy industry’s interest in biomass as a solution to climate change, and The Vanishing of the Bees, which focuses on colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon threating bees worldwide. Further information about the types of film projects it funds and descriptions of other past projects can be found here.
Important Grant Details:
Although Ceres Trust grants can range from $3,000 to $650,000, the most common grant amount is $100,000. Ceres does not accept unsolicited requests for funding.
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