Embrey Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: This foundation invests in gender and racial equity, human rights, arts and culture, civic engagement and democracy.
IP TAKE: This funder awards very few grants for general operating support. Most awards invest in specific projects. Additionally, this is a low-key funder that remains tight-lipped about its grantmaking approach in its focus areas, or “passion points.” The foundation’s ambiguity appears to inform its grantmaking approach, revealing that the foundation would rather fund a broad variety of grantseekers rather than have a specific approach to its grantmaking. This is an open-minded funder, but expect competition from its current grantees.
While it is quiet about its strategies, the Embrey Family Foundation is an accessible funder. For some of its interests, the foundation accepts unsolicited proposals online; however, it will reach out to you for full proposals. You can also call or email the foundation and introduce your organization’s work or proposed project and see if it’s a fit for their foundation. At the very least, reaching out may get you on their radar.
PROFILE: The late J. Lindsay Embrey established Embrey Family Foundation (EFF), located in Dallas, Texas, in 2004. Today, Lauren and Gail Embrey, along with a board of directors, guide the foundation’s giving. The foundation works to “expand awareness, explore possibilities, and elevate consciousness” by promoting “love, seeking balance, and (…) uncovering truth.” EFF’s grantmaking programs—referred to as “passion points” by the foundation—include arts for social change, advocacy, gender equity, racial equity, social justice, human rights and collaborative connections.
The Embrey Family Foundation’s website is sparse and does not offer descriptions of its grantmaking programs, which restricts information about its funding strategies. The foundation’s site also names an impact-investing approach with holistic wording. It’s unclear what they seek in grantees; however, tax filings show a variety of interests within each identified area of grantmaking.
Grants for Women and Human Rights
The Embrey Family Foundation supports organizations that bring gender rights and equality to the center of the human rights landscape. The foundation prefers a broad approach to women and girls empowerment, economic or otherwise.
It also conducts related funding through two grantmaking programs focused on supporting its local community of Dallas, Texas. In 2009, the foundation expanded its Community Grants program to include the state of Colorado. The foundation awards grants to other states through its Mission Without Borders and Discretionary Grants performs.
Embrey Family Foundation conducts grantmaking for women and girls across its areas of giving. In particular, it concentrates related funding through its Mission Without Borders (MWB) program, its largest area of funding, which supports organizations advocating for systemic change in human rights, domestic human trafficking, women and girls leadership, racial and gender equity, arts for social change, and women’s media. While this grantmaking program includes multiple areas of grantmaking interest at EFF, “[t]he plight and potential of women and girls is at the core of MWB’s design,” and grants support projects both big and small that “[m]ove the gender lens into the center of human rights, human trafficking, and media.”
EFF’s Discretionary Grants program supports newer organizations raising awareness in the foundation’s areas of grantmaking interest at the national level.
Embrey’s human rights grants range from $10,000 to $25,000; however, the foundation has awarded large international rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, significantly larger grants from $175,000 to $300,000. Past women and girls grantees include Advocate Safehouse Project, Fund for Women’s Equality, Ms. Foundation for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, and Dallas Women’s Foundation, among others.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Embrey Family Foundation supports theater productions and organizations across the United States. Embrey’s daughters Lauren and Gayle, who have backgrounds in filmmaking and the arts, now run the foundation. Given the sisters’ backgrounds, the foundation has become a strong supporter of various film and arts projects, especially those located in Texas and Colorado.
Inspired by Global Art Corps’ work, the Embrey Family Foundation has partnered with them to bring the outfit to Texas. This lead to the American premiere of the production at “SMU’s Bob Hope Theatre in 2007, after which the cast and production traveled to Flint, MI, Colorado Springs, CO, Jackson Hole, WY, and Washington, D.C.”
The foundation conducts related arts giving through its focus on Arts for Social Change. Related arts projects, therefore, must have an equity or justice component to be eligible for funding. Past arts related work includes theater, music, dance and the visual arts. Grantees include Aspen Film, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Carbondale Council on the Arts and Humanities, Dance Initiative, Thunder River Theater Company, Dallas Theater Center, Pen American Center, Cry Havoc Theater, Dance Exchange, Soul Rep Theater, Texans for the Arts, The Art Base, Teatro Flor Candela, and Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, among others.
Grants for Racial and Social Justice, Democracy
The Embrey Family Foundation supports racial and social justice organizations that work to restore and protect the civil rights of people of color, and a variety of underrepresented groups. The foundation prefers a broad approach to racial justice and social justice; however, the emphasis here is on community-building whether at the local or national levels. The foundation conducts related funding across all of its grantmaking programs, which includes its Community Grants program, Discretionary Grants, and its Mission Without Borders program. It also makes related grants through its Arts for Social Change funding initiative. Furthermore, Embrey also oversees Dallas Faces Race (DFR), a “sustainable forum on race in Dallas” that works to bring together organizations that seek to “build their capacity to address racial equity and make change.” Embrey, through the forum, intends to collaborate with participating organizations in order to manifest change in the Greater Dallas area.
Past racial and social justice, as well as democracy, grantees include Texas Democracy Foundation, Dallas Holocaust Museum, Alliance for Justice, and the Society of Native Nations, among others.
Important Grant Details:
Embrey theater grant amounts range from $10,000 to $50,000. According to the foundation’s tax filings, EFF typically supports smaller, local theater organizations, such as the Cara Mia Theater in Dallas, Texas and the Thunder River Theater in Carbondale, Colorado. EFF awards grants to organizations located across the United States. However, it prioritizes organizations located in Texas, especially Dallas and Austin, and Colorado.
Foundation-wide, Embrey grants range from $10,000 to $50,000. Some grants fall between $100,000 to $500,000. To learn more about the types of organizations Embrey supports and at what level, explore its individual grantees page.
The foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications; however, full proposals are accepted by invitation only. Applicants should tour Embry’s complex website often for evolving details. Email the foundation at grantsadmin@embreyfdn.org.
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