Hearst Foundation – Funding for Culture Nonprofits

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

• Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Preference will be given to

• Artist development and training
• Arts education programs that effectively fill the void of arts programming in K–12 curricula
• Science programs based in museums or cultural organizations that focus on developing skills in science, technology, engineering, environment, arts and math

Further information

• Minimum grant size is $100,000
• If a grant request is unsuccessful, an organization must wait a minimum of one year from the date of declination before reapplying
• Grantees must wait a minimum of three years from their grant award date before the Foundations will consider another request
• For more information on our process, please visit the Funding Limitations, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and the Grant Request Evaluation Process pages