Surdna Foundation Announces $4.5 Million in Grants

During the period of January-March 2019, 43 grants totaling $4,547,000 were approved by the Surdna Foundation staff and board to further the Foundation’s mission of fostering just and sustainable communities in the United States – communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, inclusive economies, and thriving cultures. Grants are listed below by program area with additional information about the specific strategy or former line of work within each program.  Grant information is also available in our grants database.

Inclusive Economies
Inner City Advisors, Oakland, CA
$400,000 | 2 years
Support to scale Inner City Advisors’ Good Jobs Accelerator which will grow good jobs and wealth building opportunities for under-resourced entrepreneurs.
Strategy: Business Start Up and Growth

Urban Manufacturing Alliance, Brooklyn, NY
$200,000 | 18 months
General operating support for Urban Manufacturing Alliance, a national coalition of organizations and individuals that are building manufacturing economies fit for the 21st century.
Strategy: Equitable Economic Development

Sustainable Environments
Community Labor United, Boston, MA
$275,000 | 36 months
General operating support for Community Labor United which is dedicated to coalition building, research and policy development, public education, and grassroots mobilization, to advance policies that promote quality jobs and climate and environmental justice for all.
Strategy: Environmental and Climate Justice

Fair Food Network, Ann Arbor, MI
$50,000 | 1 year
Closeout general operating support for Fair Food Network which seeks to grow community health and wealth through food.
Former Category: Regional Food Supply

Neighborhoods First Fund, New York, NY
$450,000 | 36 months
Support to enable Neighborhoods First’s work to build the power of historically disinvested communities to control land, infrastructure, and resources and to disrupt patterns of structural racism that continue to shape New York City’s built environment.
Strategy: Land Use Through Community Power

The Partnership for Working Families, Oakland, CA
$230,000 | 36 months
Closeout support for the Partnership for Working Families to provide training, technical support, and capacity building for local groups to ensure equity and sustainability outcomes in public infrastructure investments. This grant will also support an article on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Former Category: Integrated Infrastructure

Thriving Cultures
Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Fresno, CA
$150,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Alliance for California Traditional Arts, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Allied Media Projects, Detroit, MI
$125,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Allied Media Projects, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Alternate ROOTS, Atlanta, GA
$150,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Alternate ROOTS, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University, Tempe, AZ
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support for Arizona State University’s Foundation for a New American University, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Arts in a Changing America, Valencia, CA
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support for Arts in a Changing America’s participation in a learning cohort to establish effective philanthropic practices and strategies for investing in artist-leaders of color who are working to build a more racially just society.
Strategy: Other

Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA
$75,000 | 1 year
Closeout general operating support for Asian Arts Initiative, a community-based arts center that engages artists and everyday people to create art that explores the diverse experiences of Asian Americans and imagines and effects positive community change.
Former Category: Artists Engaging in Social Change

Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, CA
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Center for Cultural Innovation, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Center for Performance and Civic Practice, Chicago, IL
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Center for Urban Pedagogy, Brooklyn, NY
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for the Center for Urban Pedagogy, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

City of Oakland, Oakland, CA
$75,000 | 10 months
General project support for the City of Oakland, CA’s Cultural Affairs Office, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Community Aid & Development Corporation, Decatur, GA
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support for Community Aid & Development Corporation’s participation in a learning cohort to establish effective philanthropic practices and strategies for investing in artist-leaders of color who are working to build a more racially just society.
Strategy: Other

Complex Movements, Detroit, MI
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support for Complex Movements, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Creative Capital Foundation, New York, NY
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Creative Capital Foundation, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Crux, Albuquerque, NM
$150,000 | 1 year
A planning grant for Crux to: 1) complete the build out of its tech/platform; 2) develop critical partnerships and marketing materials; and 3) build a creator pipeline that will explore the development of immersive video games that will increase revenue streams for Black artists.
Strategy: Other

Design Studio for Social Intervention, Dorchester, MA
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support for Design Studio for Social Intervention’s participation in a learning cohort to establish effective philanthropic practices and strategies for investing in artist-leaders of color who are working to build a more racially just society.
Strategy: Other

Emerson College, Boston, MA
$100,000 | 10 months
General project support for Emerson College’s ArtsEmerson’s participation in a learning cohort working to establish effective philanthropic practices and strategies for investing in artist-leaders of color.
Strategy: Other

Eyebeam Atelier, Brooklyn, NY
$15,000 | 9 months
General operating support for Eyebeam, a platform for artists to engage society’s relationship with technology.
Strategy: Other

First Peoples Fund, Rapid City, SD
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for First Peoples Fund, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Fractured Atlas Productions, Inc., New York, NY
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Hester Street Collaborative, New York, NY
$175,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Hester Street Collaborative, an urban planning, design, and development nonprofit that works to ensure that neighborhoods are shaped by the people who live in them.
Strategy: Other

Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, New Orleans, LA
$50,000 | 1 year
Closeout support for Rethink’s Saturday Studio Sessions for formerly incarcerated youth who participate in the Jyo Power Collective; and organizing training for youth artists in New Orleans who are specifically interested in exploring the deep connections between art and justice.
Former Category: Artists Engaging in Social Change

Leeway Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Foundation, Inc., Boston, MA
$150,000 | 10 months
General project support for Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s Artward Bound program, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, City of Boston, Boston, MA
$50,000 | 10 months
General project support to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, City of Boston, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice. This grant will be used to cover time and costs related to participating in a learning cohort working to establish effective philanthropic practices and strategies for investing in artist-leaders of color working to build a more racially just society.
Strategy: Other

National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, San Antonio, TX
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

National Performance Network, New Orleans, LA
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for National Performance Network, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Native Arts and Culture Foundation, Vancouver, WA
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

NDN Collective, Rapid City, SD
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for NDN Collective, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

New York Community Trust, New York, NY
$500,000 | 36 months
Support for the Mosaic Network and Fund, a new donor collaborative created to support an arts ecosystem rooted in the values of racial equity by supporting arts groups that are led by, created for, and serve African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American people.
Strategy: Other

Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
$150,000 | 1 year
Closeout general operating support for Project Row Houses which engages neighbors, artists, and enterprises in collective creative action to help materialize sustainable opportunities in marginalized communities.
Former Category: Artists Engaging in Social Change

The MAP Fund, Inc., New York, NY
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for the Map Fund, Inc., a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, Porcupine, SD
$50,000 | 6 months
General operating support for Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, a key Thriving Cultures planning partner that is supporting the implementation of the Surdna Foundation’s refined strategy: Radical Imagination for Racial Justice.
Strategy: Other

UBW, Inc., Brooklyn, NY
$100,000 | 1 year
Closeout general operating support for Urban Bush Women (UBW) which seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance.
Former Category: Artists Engaging in Social Change

Capacity and Infrastructure
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), Oakland, CA
$10,000 | 1 year
Sponsorship of AAPIP’s 2019 National Leadership Summit.

Hispanics In Philanthropy (HIP), Oakland, CA
$15,000 | 1 year
Sponsorship of HIP’s 2019 Leadership Conference.

Flexible Grantmaking Fund
Hetrick-Martin Institute, New York, NY
$1,000 | 1 year
General operating support, in memory of David Beitzel.
Category: Presidential

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY
$1,000 | 1 year
General operating support, in memory of David Beitzel.
Category: Presidential