Tinker Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Tinker Foundation supports Latin American development and Latin American Studies programs at U.S. research universities.
IP TAKE: Tinker’s institutional grants support education, democratic governance and sustainable resource management in Latin America, and the foundation has recently prioritized COVID-19 relief and recovery projects for Latin American nations. Tinker’s other grantmaking programs support research and scholarship on Latin America at leading U.S. universities through research grants and visiting professorships.
An accessible funder, Tinker accepts letters of inquiry for its institutional grants and runs two annual grantmaking cycles. Grants range from $25,000 to $300,000 and generally support established organizations with strong track records for improving the lives of Latin American people. This funder is also approachable and collaborative.
PROFILE: The Tinker Foundation was established in 1975 by Edward Larocque Tinker. Tinker, the son of a successful New York City attorney, earned Ph.D. degrees from the Universities of Paris and Madrid and wrote extensively about the cultures of Latin America and New Orleans during his life. His foundation supports economic and social development in Latin America by making grants to nonprofits, research institutes and universities that work towards solving pressing challenges in the region. The foundation currently runs institutional and field research grants programs, as well as a visiting professors program and a field research collaborative for graduate-level Latin American studies programs.
Grants for Global Development and Immigration
Tinker makes grants for development in Latin American nations through its institutional grants program, which aims to “support changes to policy and practice that improve the lives of Latin Americans.” Grants support “research, innovation, scaling of proven models, and exchange of ideas that have the potential to make significant, positive impact.”
Recent areas of specific interest include democratic governance, education, sustainable resource management, migration and COVID-19 relief. A recent grant went to the Washington D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, for the development of policy innovation on migration management.
In Guatemala, the foundation made a grant to the Asociación AMA for the development of a plan school reopening plans during COVID-19, and in Argentina, the Fundación Leer received a grant to develop plans for literacy instruction for distance learning during COVID-19 school closures. In the area of resource management, the foundation supported a program by Flora and Fauna International USA to support the economic and ecological recovery of the Honduran fishing industry from the COVID-19 crisis.
Grants for Higher Education
The Tinker Foundation supports higher education via its field research grants, field research collaborative and visiting professors funding programs.
The Field Research Grants program supports graduate students’ pre-dissertation or master’s thesis research in Latin American countries. Tinker funding is generally matched by participating academic institutions, and application is open to all graduate students at participating schools, including those pursuing degrees at professional schools and citizens of Latin American countries pursuing degrees at American institutions. Applications are chosen based on academic program and individual project quality. Funding may be used for travel and/or research-related expenses, with most grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.
The Tinker Field Research Collaborative grants are awarded to centers for Latin American studies at U.S. universities with the aim of supporting pre-dissertation field research and promoting “opportunities for joint experimentation, tool building, and knowledge exchange at the institutional level.” Fifteen institutions were chosen to participate in the program’s 2020-2025 collaborative, including Columbia University’s Institute for Latin American Studies, the University of Michigan’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the University of Texas at Austin’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies. Grants range from $50,000 to $100,000.
The Tinker Visiting Professors program consists of five endowed positions at U.S. universities that are filled each academic year by distinguished visiting scholars and practitioners from Latin America. The program’s goal is to “enhance the experience and training of students and scholars in U.S. universities, and to enable leaders from Latin America to amplify their work and extend their professional networks.” Since its inception in 1968, over 400 visiting professors have been hosted at Columbia University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Important Grant Details:
The Tinker Foundation makes over $2 million in grants yearly. Institutional grants generally range from $25,000 to $300,000, with an average grant size of about $75,000. Field research collaborative grants, which are awarded to universities, range from $50,000 to $100,000, and individual field research grants are generally awarded in amounts between $1,000 and $2,5000. This funder tends to work with established U.S. and Latin American organizations of strong repute and leading research universities in the U.S. The Tinker Foundation maintains a searchable database of past grantees and a featured grants page.
The Tinker Foundation accepts letters of inquiry for its institutional grants and runs two annual grantmaking cycles. Due dates may vary by topic (democratic governance, education, sustainable resource management), and prospective grantees are encouraged to check the application page frequently for updates. If selected, applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, with final decisions made within a six-month period. Questions may be directed to program officers, whose contact information is available on the foundation’s leadership and staff page.
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