Andrus Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Andrus Family Fund supports a variety of criminal justice and anti-violence organizations, as well as, social justice organizations across the United States, focusing on youth populations.
IP TAKE: AFF is a fund of the Surdna Foundation, but it manages its programs and processes independently. Note that this accessible funder receives many requests for funding, making this a highly competitive and crowded giving space. In February 2022, Andrus announced a major update to it’s Theory of Change, which now focuses more on the intersection between racial justice and youth justice than before.
According to Andrus, it is growing it’s focus on improving the lives of BIPOC and Indigenous youth making it a funder to keep an eye on. Check their site often for new developments, which are occurring quickly.
PROFILE: The Andrus Family Fund (AFF) was established in 2000 by the Surdna Foundation’s board of directors to engage the next generation of Andrus family members between the ages of 25 and 45. AFF believes that “every child deserves more than one chance at a successful life,” and supports organizations that “understand the intersection of racial and economic justice.” Its grantmaking centers around empowering and engaging young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 impacted by the foster care or juvenile justice systems, and it supports organizations working towards the same goal through grants falling under the categories of direct service, policy/advocacy, capacity building, and community organizing.
Direct service grants support “high quality programs and services that are developmentally appropriate for older youth” and organizations that “contribute to the well-being of youth and their communities.” Policy/advocacy grants support programs that amplify the “active voice of those to be impacted by policy change” and work to “counter punitive and unjust policies that disproportionately impact historically disenfranchised communities and communities of color.” Community organizing grants support “active participation and leadership of youth and young adults at all levels of decision-making,” as well as programs that build the “leadership capacity of current and potential grassroots leaders” and “mobilize community members and partners.”
AFF’s Capacity building efforts consist in the Strengthening Organizations and Amplifying Resilience program (SOAR), which helps select grantees gain access to organizational development consultants that “support leadership development grounded in somatics and healing justice, engage in strategic communications trainings, enhance internal financial, human resource or evaluation systems, and more.”
Grants for Criminal Justice and Racial Justice
Andrus conducts grantmaking related to racial and criminal justice through what it terms it’s “youth justice” grantmaking. One of Andrus’s stated goals is to help young people who have been negatively affected by juvenile justice systems. While this funder supports work related to these focus areas across it’s initiatives and programs noted above, it also conducts work related to racial justice and youth justice through it’s Visionary Freedom Fund, established in 2020, which seeks to ensure that “frontline communities have the resources, capacities, supports, infrastructure and relationships they need to develop and implement inspiring long-term strategies to transform the youth justice system.”
In 2022, the Andrus Family Foundation announced a “strategy refresh” that will “double down on youth organizing, abolition of prisons, policing and family separation systems, builds movement infrastructure and capacity, and seeds alternative models to local systems meant to serve youth and communities.”
Past Andrus grantee in the social justice space include the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which received funding for its work helping people of color and low-income people shift resources away from prisons and helping to make communities safe. Equal Justice USA is also a past grantee. The organization received funding for its work building fair justice systems free from violence and mass incarceration.
Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement
A major component of AFF’s philanthropy is youth organizing, and its work is “guided by a strong commitment to social justice and racial equity.” Its community organizing grants support “active participation and leadership of youth and young adults at all levels of decision-making,” as well as programs that build the “leadership capacity of current and potential grassroots leaders” and “mobilize community members and partners.” Grantees in this category include Foster Youth in Action, Young Women’s Freedom Center, Center for Native American Youth, Youth Engagement Fund, Puente Movement, and Urban Youth Collaborative.
Grants for Education
While it is not one of Andrus’s main priorities, the foundation does give to educational causes as part of its overall youth justice mission. 2018, AFF and the Communities for Just Schools Fund co-hosted Education Anew: Shifting Justice, a convention of advocates, organizers, and funders in the fields of education and youth justice. Other grantees include Educate Tomorrow and Silver Lining Mentoring, both of which focus on helping disadvantage and foster youth gain access to education, mentors, and life skills training.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $5,000 to $400,000; however, most grants generally fall in the $10,000 to $10,000 range. Learn more about the types of organizations AFF supports by exploring its grantees page.
AFF generally accepts letters of inquiry from mid-April to mid-May. The foundation warns that groups that have not been invited to submit a full application may not receive a reply at all.
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