OVERVIEW: The Joyce Foundation funds conservation and sustainability efforts in the Great Lakes region.
IP TAKE: The Joyce Foundation’s grant application process takes approximately four to six months from the receipt of a letter of inquiry. Grantseekers should be aware of this timeframe when considering their funding needs. The foundation only supports grantmaking to organizations located in Great Lakes Region, including the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
PROFILE: Beatrice Joyce Kean founded the Joyce Foundation in 1948 as “a vehicle for her personal charitable giving to hospitals, universities, and the Community Fund (now United Way).” When she passed in 1972, she left nearly $100 million of her estate to the foundation, which now works on “addressing major problems facing the Midwest region, including protecting the Great Lakes, improving educational and economic opportunities for disadvantaged residents, supporting cultural organizations, and improving public policies and public participation in government.” The foundation currently offers the following grantmaking programs: Culture, Democracy, Environment, Education & Economic Mobility, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, and a Special Opportunities program.
The Joyce Foundation’s Environment program works to address the “long-term environmental challenges facing the next generation in the Great Lakes region.” The foundation’s strategy in this field has a two-pronged approach, one which centers on climate solutions. The other focuses on Great Lakes grants, which are aimed at “threats to the health of the Great Lakes and their vital role in the region’s economy,” such as “polluted runoff from cities and farms, aquatic invasive species, and surface water diversions,” as well as necessary maintenance to the region’s “aging water infrastructure.”
Education and economic opportunity grants generally range from $100,000 to $400,000. Grantseekers may explore the foundation’s grants database to get a better sense of the types its grantmaking habits. Past grantees include the Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, and Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.
The Joyce Foundation accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry (LOI) throughout the year and recommends that applicants submit LOIs at least six to eight weeks before proposal deadlines.
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