Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation supports environmental conservation, water conservation and sustainable agriculture projects in the U.S., Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean.
IP TAKE: Rather than naming specific focus areas, this small foundation looks to “foster connections between individuals, communities, the environment and the world at large.” Many of its grantees run educational or participatory conservation or arts programs and receive ongoing support.
The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation recently stopped accepting applications. It is unclear if it will resume doing so, but if you feel that your organization or project may be a perfect fit here, reach out with an email to discuss opportunities.
PROFILE: The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation was established in 1996 in Minneapolis. This small foundation supports “innovative organizations that work at the intersection of culture, development and environment.” This foundation does not name specific areas of focus, but most of its grants support the environmental conservation, marine conservation, sustainable agriculture and food and the arts. Global grantmaking is concentrated in Africa and Latin America. In the U.S., more than half of its grantmaking remains in the states of Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Environmental conservation is the Porter Foundation’s largest area of grantmaking. Although it does not outline specific goals for its funding in this area, it appears to prioritize environmental education and participatory programs. One recent grantee, the Dakota Resource Council, used funding for its Fort Berthold Air Quality Sovereignty Campaign, which has supported tribal air quality advocacy programs on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Another environmental grantee is Peru’s Masters Indigenous Leadership Initiative, which supports the organization and activism of indigenous groups in remote areas of the Amazon against environmental degradation from industry and mining. Other conservation grantees include Kansas’s Land Institute, Illinois People’s Action, Crow River Trail Guards and Greenwatch Africa, which works with communities affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.
Grants for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
The Porter Foundation prioritizes sustainable agriculture projects that partner with small-scale farms and indigenous and nomadic peoples to combat hunger through the adoption of sustainable agriculture. In Niger, the foundation has given to RAIN, an organization that helps rural farmers adopt and implement well and irrigation systems that increase the availability of food to local communities. Another grantee, CRADESC, operates in Senegal, where it encourages small farms to form cooperatives that can work and advocate more efficiently for the management of pollution and climate change hazards. In the U.S., the foundation has supported Dakota Rural Action, which used funding to run agricultural training programs for Lakota Farms, and the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
Water conservation initiatives have received a significant portion of Porter funding in recent years. In the U.S., the foundation has given to Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, which aims to protect the region of lakes west of Lake Superior from the effects of sulfide mining, and Friends of the Mississippi, which works to preserve and maintain public access to areas of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. In Costa Rica, the Porter Foundation has supported a program that trains aquatic parataxonomists, and in Jamaica the foundation has given to the Environmental Trust’s campaign for the preservation and management of 85 public beaches.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Porter Foundation names arts and culture as another area of grantmaking interest. In recent years, arts funding supports arts projects that address mental health and/or social justice in the state of Minnesota. One grantee, Keep the Fire Alive, is a collaborative project of the Illusion Theater, the Indigenous People’s Task Force and other Native American cultural groups. Another recent grantee, Upstream Arts, created an arts-based “trainings designed to advance inclusion for young adults with disabilities who are transitioning from K-12 education to adult life.” Other recent arts grantees include Puppeteers of America and Minnesota Fringe.
Important Grant Details:
The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation made about $260,000 in grants in a recent year. Grants range from $1,000 to $50,000, with an average grant size of about $10,000.
U.S. grantees tend to be small, grassroots organizations.
Global grantmaking tends to support larger NGOs and nonprofits that mobilize communities toward environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture.
Geographic areas of focus appear to be Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and the foundation’s home state of Minnesota.
The foundation maintains a database of past grantees on its website.
This funder recently ended its application program, and it is unclear if it will resume accepting applications or LOIs in the future. This funder can be reached via email or telephone at (612) 889-2029.
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