Fidelity Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Fidelity Foundation offers a variety of grant types to a broad range of community and social service programs that provide basic needs.
IP TAKE: The Fidelity Foundation takes a rigorous, business-model approach to the types of projects it funds, even in this realm. It also restricts its grantmaking to twelve metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada. This foundation likes to fund a wide array of work, so don’t be discouraged by its seemingly vague and broad grantmaking. It also restricts its grantmaking to specific geographic areas, so if your work exists outside of these areas, look elsewhere for funding. Fidelity is somewhat accessible in that it considers letters of inquiry on a rolling basis, but don’t expect to send a full proposal unless invited to do so. Also, this is a funder that only makes grants to mid-sized and larger organizations. If you’re a small or grassroots operation with an operating budget of less than a million, look elsewhere. It likes to fund bigger projects, so don’t be afraid to think big. Fidelity also likes to develop long-term funding relationships, so this is great funding if you can get it, making for a more competitive grant space.
PROFILE: The Fidelity Foundation was established in 1965 as the philanthropic arm of Fidelity Investments, the multinational financial services corporation. The foundation seeks “projects from organizations of regional or national importance throughout the United States. High-impact projects with potential to inform or influence the nonprofit sector are of particular interest.” The Fidelity Foundation focuses on five areas of giving: Arts & Culture, Conservation, Education, Health, and Social & Economic Mobility.
It currently prioritizes three types of projects: Capital Improvements, such as “new construction, renovations, expansions and other initiatives that support the organization’s strategic vision”; Planning Initiatives, such as funding for “project consultants to develop strategic, business, technology and other types of plans”; and High-Impact Technology Projects “that can substantially increase an organization’s efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability.”
Grants for Housing, Community Development, and Economic Opportunity
Fidelity’s Social and Economic Mobility grants support non-profit organizations that provide “financial literacy for youth including financial education and capability.” The foundation looks for “strategic, transformative projects that have the potential to substantially increase the grantee’s impact, efficiency or long-term sustainability.” Grantees include Longwood Gardens, Rogerson Communities, Strawbery Banke Museum, Center for Women and Enterprise, and the Commonwealth Club of California.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Fidelity Foundation funds high-impact Arts and Cultural organizations in its giving regions. While the foundation does not have any stated priorities, it tends to support museums, performing arts institutions, and schools of the arts, such as the New England Conservatory of Music, Portland Museum of Art, Frog Pond Foundation, and Handel & Haydn Society.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
The Fidelity Foundation funds high-impact conservation organizations in its giving regions. While the foundation does not have any stated priorities, it tends to support land resource management, local preservation initiatives, and parks at the local, state, and national level. Past grantees include Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Friends of Acadia, and National Park Foundation.
Grants for Education and Youth
The Fidelity Foundation funds high-impact education organizations in its giving regions. While the foundation does not have any stated priorities, it broadly supports select institutions of higher education, as well as education- and youth-related non-profits. Grantees include Boys and Girls Clubs, College of the Atlantic, Junior Achievement, and Friends of Choice in Urban Schools.
Grants for Public Health
The Fidelity Foundation funds high-impact health organizations in its giving regions. While the foundation does not have any stated priorities, it tends to support organizations that provide human services in its giving regions, such as food banks, homeless shelters and transitional housing, and retirement and aging care. Grantees include Health Leads National, Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter, St. Anne’s Center, and Amos House, and Sherrill House.
Important Grant Details:
The Fidelity Foundation generally only funds organizations with operating budgets of $1,000,000 or more, and projects budgeted at $100,000 or more. The Fidelity Foundation also restricts its grantmaking to these twelve metropolitan areas in the US and Canada where it has offices: Albuquerque, NM; Boston, MA; Cincinnati, OH/Covington, KY; Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX; Denver, CO; Jacksonville, FL; Merrimack, NH; New York, NY/New Jersey; Raleigh/Durham, NC; Smithfield, RI; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON.
The Fidelity Foundation accepts Letters of Inquiry on a rolling basis, but full proposals by invitation only.
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