Grant Details

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations' Board of Trustees recently completed a comprehensive, three-year strategic planning process which included a review of program areas and funding priorities in the context of both the founder's vision of strengthening America's religious, charitable, scientific, literary and educational organizations” and to better align with current and future philanthropic opportunities.

After thorough research, analysis, and deliberation, the Foundations' Board of Trustees confirmed its continuing commitments:

• Private Higher Education 
  • The Private Higher Education Program Area supports colleges and universities that prioritize undergraduate education and emphasize the liberal arts. The Foundations provide grants directly to private colleges and universities as well as to consortia that support those institutions in their educational mission. Although the Foundations support a variety of programs in higher education, grants typically support projects that improve student outcomes or enhance faculty leadership. The Foundations do not provide grants to support capital projects or endowment.
• Interfaith Leadership & Religious Literacy
  • Achieving these twin goals requires Americans to embrace a deeper understanding and appreciation for religious traditions other than their own, and to cultivate opportunities for collaborations and friendships across religious divides.
  • The Interfaith Leadership and Religious Literacy Program Area seeks to advance these goals by supporting organizations that promote religious literacy, and create opportunities for courageous multi-faith conversations and collaborations.

In these three programs, grant proposals will be considered from designated partner organizations ONLY, and the Foundations will not consider unsolicited requests from other organizations.  

• Public Educational Media
  • At the present time, public media also plays an important role in the domains of radio and podcasting and the Foundations have expanded their funding to these other media. In public radio, the Foundations support efforts by local public stations to fill gaps in local journalism, especially in markets that are losing local newspapers. In podcasting, the Foundations support the production and distribution of podcasts that focus on history or science, that are aimed at a youth audience, or that promote one or more of the Foundations' Program Areas.
  • Film and television grants are typically provided to non-profit production companies or public media stations for programs that have a firm commitment to national distribution. While projects funded by the Foundations concern a variety of subjects, supported programs typically focus on science or history, or have American youth as a primary audience.
• Environmental Solutions
  • The Environmental Solutions Program Area does not accept open submission funding requests. Grants in Environmental Solutions aim to educate audiences about urgent environmental problems, motivate them to take action, and guide them to effective solutions. Our grantees specialize in strategic communication, organizational transformation, or training, and the projects they carry out are informed by cutting-edge research in the natural and social sciences.
• Palliative Care
  • The Palliative Care Program Area does not accept open submission funding requests. At present the Foundations are supporting grants that increase the availability of palliative care to under-served communities, enhance the quality of nursing for palliative care patients, and provide workforce training for healthcare professionals who provide palliative care.