OVERVIEW: The Grace Farms Foundation pursues initiatives for human rights, nature, arts, community and faith. This is not a traditional grantmaker.
IP TAKE: The Grace Farms Foundation is a great place to get involved if your organization works in the areas of human trafficking, exploitation or slavery. The foundation hosts multiple conferences, convenings and events each year and has inspired many pilot projects make bold strides toward ending “modern slavery.” Unfortunately, the foundation’s monetary giving has tapered off recently. Keep up with opportunities by signing up for the foundation’s newsletter.
PROFILE: Established in 2009, Grace Farms Foundation (GFF) is the philanthropic entity of Grace Farms, “a center for culture and collaboration” located in New Canaan, Connecticut. GFF was founded by Sharon Prince, who earned an undergraduate and master’s degrees in business from the University of Tulsa. Prior to founding Grace Farms, she was the president of the U.S. division of outerwear company 66°North. She is the wife of Bridgewater Associates co-CEO Robert Prince. At its 80-acre Connecticut campus, GFF works to “bring together people across sectors to explore nature, arts, justice, community, and faith.” The foundation also pursues humanitarian work “to end modern slavery and foster more grace and peace in our local and global communities.” Grantmaking supports human rights locally, nationally and globally. Other interests include the environment, arts and community development.
Grants for Human Rights and Justice
A majority of this funder’s engagement concerns “modern slavery” and includes advocacy, policy development, prevention, awareness and services for victims of all forms of human trafficking and exploitation. Monetary grants, however, constitute only a small part of the foundation’s work an have decreased in number and amount over the past few years.
A signature program Design for Freedom, focuses on the “issue of forced labor in the building materials supply chain” and annually convenes “hundreds of leaders of the built environment […] to reaffirm their commitments to the Design for Freedom movement and stand together to issue a call to action.”
Since its start in 2020, the movement has spawned several justice-oriented pilot projects in other parts of the U.S. and around the world, using Design for Freedom as a model.
The foundation hosts and facilitates many programs, talks and conferences on human rights, labor rights and social justice annually. For information about these programs, see the foundation’s event calendar or a recent annual report.
Tax filings indicate that Grace Farms has not made monetary grants for human rights in several years, although past recipients include the International Justice Mission, Next Generation Nepal and Love146, which “journeys alongside children impacted by trafficking today and prevents the trafficking of children tomorrow.”
Grants for Environment, Arts, Religious Causes and Community Development
Grace Farms also runs on-site programs and events in the areas of nature, arts, community and faith, although it does not make grants in these areas. Most programs charge a small fee for participation, although the Grace Farms campus is typically open to the public. For information about current program’s see the individual programs pages or Grace Farms’ events page.
Important Grant Details:
Tax filings indicate that the Grace Farms Foundation’s sole grantee over the past few years has been the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, which received grants of $50,000 for general operating support.
It is unclear if Grace Farms will resume any regular grantmaking programs in the coming years.
There are many ways to get involved with Grace Farms and its human rights work via its various events, convenings and affiliated pilot projects at other locations.
For information about past giving, see the foundation’s tax filings.
Contact the Grace Farms Foundation via email at info@gracefarms.org or telephone at 203.920.1702.
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