Weingart Foundation Grants: Full Details

You might already know the Weingart Foundation funds nonprofits focused on racial and economic justice in Southern California, but their grantmaking is unique—they work by invitation only and provide mostly unrestricted multi-year support. This approach not only streamlines funding but also empowers organizations to address shifting community needs and build lasting impact. What makes their strategy especially effective is the focus on historically underserved areas and ongoing partnerships with grantees.

Key Takeaways

• The Weingart Foundation grants are awarded through an invitation-only process, focusing on reducing application burden and ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
• Grants primarily provide multi-year, unrestricted operating support ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 over two years, strengthening capacity and sustainability for organizations.
• Eligible organizations must be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits serving Southern California, specifically in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties.
• The foundation emphasizes funding nonprofits advancing racial, social, and economic justice, prioritizing historically underserved communities like South and Southeast Los Angeles.
• Weingart also offers program-related investments (PRIs), including below-market loans, for addressing systemic issues such as housing justice and immigrant rights.

Funding Approach and Invitation-Only Process

The Weingart Foundation employs an invitation-only grantmaking process, which is designed to streamline funding for organizations whose work aligns closely with its strategic focus areas.

By not accepting unsolicited requests, it reduces the application burden and fast-tracks support to those best positioned to advance its mission in Southern California.

Invitation criteria are shaped by ongoing conversations between program staff and nonprofits, ensuring that applicant communication informs the foundation’s priorities and strengthens mutual understanding.

This approach allows the foundation to target multi-year, unrestricted support effectively, while maintaining open lines for questions and strategic dialogue with potential grantees.

Priority Areas and Geographic Focus

You’ll find the Weingart Foundation’s grantmaking primarily advances racial, social, and economic justice across five Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.

Their focus targets geographic disparities by supporting organizations that address urgent community needs and build long-term power in historically underserved communities—especially South and Southeast Los Angeles.

The foundation’s priority areas include Public & Society Benefit, Human Services, Education, Arts Education, and Health, all aimed at systemic change and community capacity building.

Grants emphasize multi-year Unrestricted Operating Support, ensuring nonprofits can respond flexibly to evolving community needs and strengthen their infrastructure for sustainable impact.

Grant Categories and Types of Support

Although the Weingart Foundation’s portfolio is diverse, it’s the emphasis on unrestricted operating support that distinguishes its grantmaking approach, offering nonprofits the flexibility to direct funding where it’s most urgently needed—whether for critical staffing, administrative infrastructure, or core programs—while reinforcing long-term sustainability.

Grants typically range from $50,000 to $200,000 over two years. The foundation uses an invitation-only funding application process, ensuring alignment with its strategic objectives and reducing the burden on potential grantees.

Key grant eligibility criteria include tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) and a focus on Southern California.

Unrestricted Operating Support: Structure and Impact

Unrestricted Operating Support (U.O.S.) forms the backbone of the Weingart Foundation’s grantmaking, providing flexible, multi-year funding that empowers nonprofits to strengthen their capacity and respond dynamically to emerging needs.

With grants typically ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 over two years, U.O.S. targets organizations in five Southern California counties that build community power or deliver critical services to historically underserved populations.

This unrestricted funding fuels organizational resilience, allowing you to invest in leadership, governance, and infrastructure—key drivers of long-term effectiveness.

Strategic Opportunity Fund: Responsive and Emerging Needs

Because urgent challenges require swift action, the Weingart Foundation’s Strategic Opportunity Fund (S.O.F.) provides rapid, targeted grants to nonprofits that address emerging needs and opportunities in Southern California.

With responsive funding, you can quickly adapt to unforeseen crises and seize transformative moments, especially in historically underserved communities.

S.O.F. prioritizes initiatives advancing racial, social, and economic justice, reinforcing the Foundation’s mission to foster equitable access to resources.

To secure support, you must demonstrate both your capacity to serve impacted populations and your readiness to tackle emerging challenges effectively.

This flexible approach amplifies community-driven solutions when they’re needed most.

Program Related Investments: Flexible Financing Options

As you investigate the Weingart Foundation’s Program Related Investments (P.R.I.s), you’ll find that these flexible financing options are designed to support organizations aligned with their mission of advancing racial, social, and economic justice.

You can expect P.R.I.s to offer types of investments that are strategically aligned with the foundation’s focus areas, such as providing below-market financing to improve organizations’ capacity.

Types of Investments

Though most funders rely on traditional grants, the Weingart Foundation also delivers its support through Program Related Investments (P.R.I.s), a flexible financing tool tailored for organizations tackling complex social challenges by providing below-market loans and other creative financial instruments.

You can expect these types of investments to:

1. Support organizations addressing systemic challenges in housing, homelessness, and immigrant rights.
2. Provide below-market financing aligned with the Foundation’s investment strategy focused on racial, social, and economic justice.
3. Improve organizational capacity for sustainable community impact with careful impact measurement.
4. Reinvest returned capital to fund additional social equity initiatives.

Funding Flexibility

The Weingart Foundation expands its support for racial, social, and economic justice by offering Program Related Investments (P.R.I.s), a funding approach that breaks from conventional grantmaking with flexible, below-market financing options.

This strategy provides nonprofits with the financial flexibility to address critical community needs. You can utilize P.R.I.s to foster sustainability and long-term organizational effectiveness, aligning with the foundation’s mission to drive systemic change.

Impact and Outcomes

While traditional grants support immediate needs, Program Related Investments (P.R.I.s) from the Weingart Foundation deliver flexible, below-market financing that strengthens organizations’ long-term sustainability and capacity to advance racial, social, and economic justice.

Through strategic impact assessment and outcome measurement, these investments demonstrate tangible results:

1. Enhanced organizational capacity: By offering $400,000 to the Polaris Project and $200,000 for a universal basic income pilot, P.R.I.s directly boost groups tackling housing instability and economic inequity, allowing them to scale solutions and innovate beyond grant cycles.
2. Operational resilience: Below-market loans give nonprofits critical breathing room to invest in staff, systems, and infrastructure—key to weathering financial uncertainty and expanding services for marginalized communities.
3. Systems change in action: P.R.I.s target essential infrastructure for homelessness and housing, empowering organizations to drive systemic reforms rather than just deliver stopgap services.
4. Long-term community impact: Flexible financing helps sustain advocacy, research, and direct service—building lasting civic power and equity where it’s needed most.

Recent Grants and Illustrative Examples

By focusing on unrestricted operating support, the Weingart Foundation has recently bolstered the capacity and resilience of numerous nonprofits tackling critical social issues.

This approach improves the grant impact by allowing organizations to invest in their growth and community investment. For example, you can see support for immigrant rights through various grants, reflecting a commitment to social justice.

However, the specific details provided about grants to Starting Over, Inc., Haitian Bridge Alliance, Inc., CLUE Justice, and others aren’t noted in recent Weingart Foundation publications.

Health Services and Public Health Initiatives

1. $200,000 to AIDS Project Los Angeles to sustain essential community health services.
2. $175,000 to Pomona Community Health Center to expand public health access.
3. $150,000 to Westside Family Health Center to improve care in underserved areas.
4. $70,000 to Transitions – Mental Health Association for mental health support.

Moreover, $100,000 supported Immigrant Defenders Law Center’s humanitarian health efforts.

Human Services and Immigrant Rights Support

You’re seeing the Weingart Foundation’s continued focus on funding human services that center immigrant rights and support.

Recent grants have bolstered organizations providing critical humanitarian aid, legal defense, and community engagement for immigrant populations.

This approach reinforces their commitment to social justice and sustaining essential services for Southern California’s diverse immigrant communities.

Human Services

The Weingart Foundation’s human services grants are pivotal in enhancing organizational capacities and fostering equity in Southern California. You’ll find these awards target organizations with the vision and agility to adapt to community needs, ensuring flexible support for direct service delivery and long-term movement-building.

Key facets of this strategy include:

1. Flexible Operating Support: You receive unrestricted grants like $600,000 to Starting Over, Inc. and $150,000 to the Latino Center for Prevention & Action, empowering you to respond dynamically to emerging challenges.
2. Prioritizing Underserved Communities: Your funding bolsters groups such as the Haitian Bridge Alliance, addressing urgent humanitarian needs for newly arrived migrants.
3. Capacity Building: Grants like those to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center increase your ability to deliver critical legal and social services to vulnerable populations.
4. Alignment with Equity Goals: Your investments reflect a steadfast commitment to racial and social justice, channeling resources where they’re needed most in Southern California.

Immigrant Rights

As you support immigrant rights through the Weingart Foundation, you’ll notice that its grants are tailored to empower organizations that address critical needs in Southern California’s immigrant communities.

You partner with groups like the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which received $125,000 in 2024 for direct aid to newly arrived migrants, and the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, awarded $100,000 for humanitarian response.

You also collaborate with CLUE Justice, supporting their role in the LA Welcome Collective with $45,500 to foster community integration and immigrant advocacy.

Your funding underscores a commitment to racial and social justice, prioritizing historically underserved neighborhoods and encouraging open, strategic dialogue to amplify impact.

Education and Youth Development Programs

1. $200,000 to the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools in 2020 to improve educational outcomes.
2. $200,000 to Parent Institute for Quality Education Inc. in 2019 to boost parental involvement.
3. $100,000 to Communities In Schools of Los Angeles West INC. in 2019 for student support services.
4. $150,000 to Coachella Valley Workforce Excellence, Inc. in 2019 promoting career readiness and vocational training.

They also invest in arts education through the Ford Theatre Foundation’s cultural equity plan.

Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment Efforts

Community Engagement and Leadership Development

The Weingart Foundation strengthens community engagement and leadership development by supporting collaborations that address systemic inequalities across Southern California.

When you partner with the Foundation, you join a network committed to amplifying community impact through targeted initiatives and leadership training. Here’s how the Foundation advances these goals:

1. Multi-Year Support for Youth Organizing

You benefit from Unrestricted Operating Support and a peer learning community that helps 25 organizations grow their capacity through the Youth Organizing Capacity Building Initiative.

2. Developing Social Justice Leaders

The John W. Mack Movement Building Fellows Program equips you with leadership skills in an 18-month cohort, fostering emerging social justice voices and peer learning.

3. Encouraging Community Participation

You’re invited to engage in awareness campaigns and participatory processes that unite diverse stakeholders in building alliances for collective impact.

4. Sharing Resources and Guidance

You receive practical guidance and resources to drive meaningful change within your nonprofit or community group, ensuring your efforts align with systemic change goals.

Equity, Capacity Building, and Nonprofit Effectiveness

Although the Weingart Foundation’s mission centers on advancing racial, social, and economic justice, you’ll find that its approach to equity is inseparable from a deep investment in nonprofit capacity building and organizational effectiveness across Southern California.

By prioritizing Unrestricted Operating Support—typically $50,000 to $200,000 over two years—the foundation bolsters nonprofits serving historically underserved communities, with a clear expectation that you embed equity frameworks into your leadership and operations.

Your organization must demonstrate meaningful client and constituent leadership and commit to ongoing capacity assessment. This strategy guarantees grants directly strengthen your infrastructure, partnerships, and ability to drive systemic change.

Alignment with these principles is central to qualifying for support.

Learning, Transparency, and Sharing Insights

You can expect the Weingart Foundation to prioritize internal learning by continuously adapting its funding strategies based on insights gained from its grantmaking experiences.

The Foundation practices external transparency by openly sharing grant information and philanthropic trends to keep nonprofit partners well-informed.

Additionally, it fosters the sharing of insights through active communication and resources that help nonprofits improve their strategies and align with community needs.

Internal Learning

By continuously sharing insights on philanthropy’s evolving challenges and trends, the Weingart Foundation fosters a culture of internal learning that improves transparency and collaboration.

This internal learning process is central to how you, as part of the Foundation’s community, strengthen strategies and drive organizational improvement.

1. Encouraging Internal Collaboration

Program staff actively discuss application reviews together, building collective recommendations for funding decisions—reinforcing teamwork and shared knowledge.

2. Informing Strategy

Staff regularly communicate with nonprofits to better understand community needs and refine grantmaking approaches.

3. Learning from Evaluation

The Foundation’s assessment and learning frameworks help you measure impact, identify lessons, and adapt practices over time.

4. Sharing Outcomes

You have access to detailed reports and financial materials, ensuring accountability and informing future grantmaking for greater effectiveness.

External Transparency

Transparency extends beyond internal reflection to how the Weingart Foundation shares its grantmaking decisions and insights with the broader community. You can review recent grants and program-related investments on their website, promoting funding transparency.

Regular updates keep stakeholders informed about developments and initiatives. Nonprofits are encouraged to engage openly with program officers to clarify strategies, strengthening alignment with focus areas.

Resources like insights and best practices support grantseekers in enhancing organizational effectiveness, reflecting the Foundation’s commitment to transparent grantmaking practices.

Shared Insights

While advancing its mission, the Weingart Foundation actively shares insights gained from its grantmaking and investing practices to foster learning within the philanthropic community and among nonprofit partners.

You’ll find the foundation’s approach centers on several key practices:

1. Transparent Reporting: Regularly publishing detailed grant dockets and outcomes guarantees stakeholder engagement, keeping nonprofits and the community informed about funding strategies and results.
2. Resource Sharing: The foundation curates a dedicated section highlighting current philanthropic trends and challenges, helping nonprofits align their strategies and maximize impact.
3. Open Communication: Proactive outreach and collaboration with grantees strengthen alignment and support ongoing learning, essential for systemic change.
4. Continuous Improvement: By reflecting on lessons learned and sharing findings, the foundation models adaptive, effective philanthropy, encouraging partners to innovate and sustain their efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the $7,000 Grant Money?

The $7,000 grant money is not part of the Weingart Foundation’s typical funding; they focus on larger, invitation-only grants ranging from $50,000 to $200,000, prioritizing unrestricted operating support aligned with grant eligibility and funding purpose. Smaller grants like $7,000 generally do not fit their strategic objectives.

How Can I Apply for a Grant From Weingart?

Purposeful partners, you can’t directly apply for a Weingart grant—they invite eligible organizations aligned with racial equity, using an invitation-only application process for grant eligibility. Build bonds by connecting with program officers or signing up for updates.

What Not to Say When Applying for a Grant?

When writing grant applications, avoid making common mistakes in grant writing by not presenting a lack of alignment with focus areas, vague governance strategies, or neglecting community impact.

How Does the Weingart Foundation Select Grantees?

When applying for Weingart Foundation grants, where an astonishing 80% of nonprofits report a positive experience, you must understand that grant selection is based on eligibility criteria. The foundation selects grantees through an invitation-only process, focusing on alignment with its strategic priorities.

Conclusion

When you partner with communities on the frontlines of justice, you don’t scatter seeds—you cultivate roots. By centering equity and trusting nonprofits to lead, the Weingart Foundation’s grantmaking becomes a mirror, reflecting the strength and vision of those it serves. Stronger organizations emerge, systems shift, and impact deepens. With every invitation, you’re invited, too—to witness transformation, share in learning, and help grow a Southern California where justice isn’t just imagined, but lived.