Program: Hearst Foundations Funding Priorities in Culture
Funder: Hearst Foundations
Award Details: 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. The minimum grant size is $100,000.
Eligibility: Organizations must be registered as 501(c)(3) organizations in the United States. They must have audited expenses of at least $2 million and should not be undergoing leadership transitions or have new leadership in place for less than one year. Preference is given to artist development and training programs, arts education programs that fill the void of arts programming in K-12 curricula, and science programs focusing on developing skills in science, technology, engineering, environment, arts, and math.

Other Relevant Information:
- The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests.
- Approximately 80% of funding is directed towards prior grantees while about 20% is targeted towards new grantees.
- Grantees must wait a minimum of three years from their grant award date before the Foundations will consider another request.
- The Foundations do not fund organizations based outside of the United States or proposals seeking funding for festivals, tours, conferences, workshops or seminars; radio, film or television production; publications; advocacy or public policy research; special events for fundraising; seed money or pilot programs; established programs lacking long-term impact on populations served; program-related investments (PRI); local chapters of national organizations; scholarship or fellowship recipients studying or residing outside of the United States.
- In limited cases, the Foundations may fund endowment grants if the organization has an existing endowment with the Hearst Foundations and a track record of strong performance and consistent steward.