Edward W. Hazen Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Edward W. Hazen Foundation’s criminal justice and anti-violence grants focus on structural oppression and its impact on young people.
IP TAKE: This committed social justice funder supports grassroots and community-based organizations working within its areas of funding interest. While smaller and less accessible in contrast with other funders in the same giving spaces, Hazen works to rise to meet the pressing needs of communities of color. This funder is approachable and accepts inquiries by email at hazen@hazenfoundation.org, but it may be slow to respond. In order to be chosen for a grant here, your work must be able to show a history of conducting it through a racial equity lens.
The Hazen Foundation is particularly committed to support organizations that are “comprised of and led by people of color,” as well as those led by women and LGBTQ persons. The foundation also geographically prioritizes grantmaking in California (several focused on building youth organizing capacity in the often overlooked Inland Empire and rural Central Valley), while other grants are distributed nationally in Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Seattle, Phoenix and Salem, and Oregon, among others.
In addition to direct financial support, Hazen has “created a capacity building initiative to increase the effectiveness of grantees’ racial justice analysis, internal training, and organizing campaigns.”
A supportive funder, Hazen’s staff works to play an active role in “legitimizing racial justice as a framework for grantees and philanthropic partners.” You can call the foundation to learn more about how it’s staff does this, especially if you’d like to partner or strengthen your work with a similar approach. The foundation also works beyond it’s own giving to “expand support inside and outside of philanthropy for youth organizing and education reform.” Grantees’ feedback suggest that Hazen an informed funder in the racial equity space, but needs to develop “its communications capacity.”
This is a competitive funder that awards multi-year grants in order to help grantees scale or improve the impact of it’s work.
Note that this funder is spending down it’s assets by 2024.
PROFILE: Established in 1925, the private Edward W. Hazen Foundation is “committed to supporting organization and leadership of young people and communities of color in dismantling structural inequity based on race and class.” Areas of grantmaking focus include public education, youth development, and youth organizing. Specific funding interests include legitimizing racial justice as a framework in education reform and youth development policies, immigration, juvenile justice, and LGBTQ rights. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation’s grants represent a nearly five-fold increase in committed funding compared to its spring 2019 docket.
Grants for Criminal Justice and Racial Justice
This funder conducts all of its grantmaking through a racial justice and equity lens. It’s giving for racial justice focuses on helping youth and families, particularly in the education space. This funder supports organizations that work towards organizing for “educational justice and those that engage young people in middle and high school to organize for racial and social equity.” Hazen envisions overlap between these two groups, but groups serving either or both may be eligible for funding. According to Hazen, in order to receive funding, prospective grantees must “ground their action in the leadership and experiences of those closest to the issues, young people of color, their families and communities. They will articulate an understanding of structural oppression based on race and class and engage in campaigns that have the potential to fundamentally shift policy and discourse on racial and social equity.”
That said, nearly all of this funder’s grantmaking in the racial justice space focuses on public education and youth development. Some grantees receive grants for projects that address some aspect of youth incarceration and juvenile justice, but work must have an education component. Hazen has very distinct ideas about racial justice and equity, which it outlines more thoroughly here. Make sure to read grantmaking directions closely to see if you qualify.
This funding area benefits BIPOC youth, LGBTQ youth, undocumented and immigrant youth, and those in the juvenile system.
Grants for LGBTQ
While the foundation does not have a separate program dedicated to LGBTQ youth, tax filings show an interest in LGBTQ youth and education. Past LGBTQ grantees include FIERCE, which received support for its work addressing issues that affect LGBTQ youth of color; and Youth Organizing Institute, which received a grant to support multiple programs, including creating positive school environments for LGBTQ youth.
Important Grant Details:
Hazen Foundation grants are modest, often ranging in amount from $500 to $3,000. Past grantees in the criminal justice and violence prevention space include the Partnership for Safety and Justice, which received funding for its work helping those affected by crime, violence and the criminal justice system; and the Youth Justice Coalition, which received a grant for its work organization young people in or affected by the juvenile and criminal justice systems. To learn more about the types of organizations Hazen supports and at what level, explore its searchable grants database.
Hazen awards one, two and three year grants. The foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding.
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