Carnegie Corporation of New York
OVERVIEW: The Carnegie Corporation of New York supports education, democracy, voting & immigration, and international peace & security. It also invests in higher education and research in Africa.
IP TAKE: The Carnegie Corporation of New York is one of the oldest charitable organizations in the world, known for its staid support of organizations working in its areas of interest. An organization with gravitas, Carnegie is generally considered to be a nonpartisan outfit that’s committed to a traditional vision of a strong U.S. democracy and a pluralistic society. Lately, it’s been in a period of transition: in 2023, Carnegie welcomed a new president, Dame Louise Richardson, after the unexpected passing of longtime President Vartan Gregorian. There is no indication, however, that the foundation’s strategy and priorities are set to change direction, as Richardson has affirmed her commitment to the foundation’s giving legacy.
Carnegie is a transparent funder, with a searchable grants database on its website, but it is only somewhat accessible. Unsolicited grant proposals are not accepted, and questions about grants are referred to a generalized contact page. Staff bios are included on the website, but without accompanying email addresses. This funder has been in the philanthropy game for over a century, and many of its recipients are established organizations that have seen grants year after year. Carnegie also makes room for new grantees, but without many open calls for grant applications, it is not easy to pitch your work here.
PROFILE: The Carnegie Corporation of New York was founded in 1911 by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, considered by some as the “father of modern philanthropy.” The Carnegie Corporation is known as “America’s oldest grant making foundation.” During his lifetime, Carnegie wrote The Gospel of Wealth, which articulated his view of the rich as “trustees of their wealth who should live without extravagance, provide moderately for their families, and use their riches to promote the welfare and happiness of others.” While the foundation is based in New York, its scope is global, as it gives to major national and international organizations. Boasting over $4.5 billion in endowments, the corporation seeks to “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding,” prioritizing “international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.” Its four main programs include Education, Democracy, International Peace and Security and Higher Education and Research in Africa.
Carnegie also offers revolving “special projects,” which include:
Grants for Education
Carnegie’s comprehensive Education program emphasizes the need for public education in the U.S. to provide “all students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions they need to be active participants in a robust democracy and to be successful in the global economy.” To this end, the corporation has named five focus areas: Leadership and Teaching, New Designs to Advance Learning, Pathways to Post-secondary Success, Public Understanding and Integration, and Equitable Systems.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Leadership and Teaching subprogram prioritizes the recruitment, preparation and development of teachers for today’s diverse classrooms, while the New Designs to Advance Learning program aims to develop and implement “whole school” models that enhance learning.
The focus of Carnegie’s Public Understanding program works to “foster collaboration among families, educators, community leaders and students” in order to build awareness of the progress necessary in this field.
Finally, Carnegie’s Equitable Systems program works to create more equitable education systems through efforts to “reduce fragmentation, foster collaboration and build cultures of continuous learning.” Past grantees in the area of K-12 education include Columbia University’s Teachers College, InnovateEDU, Third Sector New England, and Turnaround for Children, Inc.
Grants for College Readiness
Support for college readiness stems from the corporation’s New Designs to Advance Learning program, which aims to create a “new vision” of education in which purposeful, holistic learning experiences lead to the mastery of “the higher-order skills and knowledge that enable postsecondary success.”
Additionally, the foundation’s Pathways to Post-Secondary success program supports efforts to align K-12 standards with the expectations and requirements of higher education.
One past grantee, Trellis Education, aims to improve the quality of California’s teachers in the STEM disciplines. Another grantee, Illustrative Mathematics, used funding to develop a professional learning support system for teachers of mathematics that aims to produce “measurable growth in teachers’ knowledge and quality of instruction.”
Grants for Higher Education
Carnegie supports higher education through its Education and Africa programs. Working exclusively in the U.S., the education program has funded innovation in teacher education and educational research that works toward “more effective models of learning for diverse learners.” Meanwhile, Carnegie works in sub-Saharan Africa to “strengthen Africa’s higher education sector through enhancing academic training, research and retention.”
This funder also offers funding directly to scholars through the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program, which periodically changes focus and topics. These fellowships provide $200,000 to 30 exceptional scholars, authors, journalists and public intellectuals.
Past grantees include New York University, Teachers College at Columbia University, the Bank Street School of Education and the Association for African Universities.
Grants for STEM Education
CCNY conducts its STEM education grantmaking through its Education program, which has a heavy STEM focus in both K-12 and higher education. Carnegie also seeks to improve the standards by which students’ progress is assessed. The corporation states that “fewer, clearer, and higher standards are needed… to ensure that every high school graduate is ready for college and career,” a goal that “requires effective implementation of Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards.”
A significant amount of Carnegie’s STEM funding is a result of its support of the 100Kin10 network. Cofounded in 2011 by Talia Milgrom-Elcott, then a Carnegie program officer, 100Kin10 seeks to address the shortage of STEM teachers and improve STEM learning. Partners in the 100Kin10 initiative include colleges and universities, museums, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and teacher recruitment organizations such as Teach for America.
The sizes of Carnegie grants for STEM education range significantly, generally falling between $15,000 and $500,000. Even though it does not have an education program dedicated exclusively to STEM, this area is a priority for Carnegie, and there are certainly grants available for education nonprofits and providers, both domestic and international.
Grants for Journalism
Although Carnegie does not have a grantmaking program specifically dedicated to journalism, it awards a number of related grants through its other programs. For example, the WGBH Educational Foundation received funding for its Nova Science Studio project, which was used to launch a pilot program connecting Boston-area students with science writers and communicators in order to foster student engagement with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professions.
As well, individual journalists may receive funding through the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program.
Grants for Civic and Democracy
Carnegie’s Democracy program area seeks to “foster a pluralistic, vibrant democracy through the civic integration of immigrants, support for nonpartisan voter registration and education, and voting rights.” It conducts grantmaking through five main focus areas:
Alliance Building grants “[strive] to build alliances that bring together a left-to-right spectrum of viewpoints on civics, citizenship, and immigration, while reflecting America’s long tradition of acceptance and respect for newcomers of all nationalities, cultures, and religions.”
Field Building grants work to improve “the capacity of organizations supporting immigrant integration in states and localities across the country.”
Strategic Communications grants promote “balanced and nuanced coverage of immigrants and immigration in the news media.”
Policy Development grants support “the development of policies that focus on fixing the current immigration system” and fund “research around multiple issues impacted by immigration” such as deportation.
Nonpartisan Civic Engagement promotes “nonpartisan voter engagement, especially among groups that have traditionally shown low levels of voting and who have little access to information about government.”
Past grantees include the Migration Policy Institute, iCivics and Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation.
Grants for Security and Human Rights
CCNY makes grants through its International Peace and Security program to “build a more secure, peaceful and prosperous world through independent analysis and action addressing critical global challenges.” It conducts grantmaking through five main focus areas:
Nuclear Security grants seek to “avert the spread or use of nuclear weapons.”
Global Dynamics grants “address the sources of global instability stemming from geopolitical trends with emphasis on the Euro-Atlantic and Asian regions, rapid technological advances, and other related trends.”
Transnational Movements and the Arab Region grants seek “to empower local institutions and scholars to improve outcomes for the region, promote cross-regional analysis and dissemination, and contribute to international policymaking.”
Peacebuilding in Africa grants promote “policy-relevant research and outreach by African scholars, and international engagements of relevance to peace-building in Africa.”
Cross-cutting Challenges grants “support rigorous, evidence-based and policy-relevant academic research and its connectivity and applicability to the policymaking community and the public at large.”
Cybersecurity is another concern here, and CCNY has made grants to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to support the endowment’s ongoing work into cyber warfare. As well, Carnegie offers the Nunn-Lugar Award to “reduce the threat of nuclear weapons.”
Past grantees include Atlantic Council of the United States, Inc., Century Foundation, Lancaster University, Georgetown University, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Center for International Policy.
Important Grant Details:
Grants may range anywhere from $5,000 to $2 million, but generally fall between $50,000 and $200,000. A searchable database of grantees is available on the Carnegie Corporation website.
The Carnegie Corporation does not accept unsolicited proposals, but letters of inquiry are accepted year-round. It is important to note, however, that the foundation does “not seek” and “rarely fund[s] unsolicited grant applications.”
For international projects, Carnegie is only able to offer support “for a small percent of funding to be granted to nonprofit organizations based in countries that are, or have been, members of the British Commonwealth.”
CCNY does not fund individuals; endowments, buildings or fundraising drives, including fundraising dinners; political campaigns, to support political activities or to lobby for or against particular pieces of legislation; existing deficits; scholarships; churches or other religious organizations.
Grant seekers may reach out to CCNY through its Contact page for any questions about upcoming funding opportunities. Media inquiries may be directed towards communications director Celeste Ford at CFC@carnegie.org.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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