Green Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Miami-based Green Family Foundation supports education, arts and culture and civic engagement prioritizing the South Florida area. It also supports development and education in Haiti.
IP TAKE: This funder prioritizes higher education in South Florida, having bankrolled several named programs and initiatives at Florida International University. The foundation also maintains a strong connection with Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Grantees across all areas of interest include large, well-established organizations as well as small, local concerns. It’s an equal opportunity giver, but it’s laser-focused on its geographic and interest areas.
While it does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding, the Green Family Foundation invites organizations working in its areas of interest to email the foundation to be added to its RFP contact list. The foundation issues RFPs on an invitation-only basis several times a year, selecting from an initial pool of applicants for candidates to submit full proposals. This is not an accessible funder, but it accepts contact for general questions.
PROFILE: The Miami-based Green Family Foundation was established in 1991 by Steven Green, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore from 1997 to 2001, and his wife, Doretha. During his tenure as ambassador, Green managed projects that fostered bilateral relations in the fields of economic development, national security, and intellectual property. He also established Friendship Works, a program aimed at increasing U.S. corporate citizenship and philanthropy related to community building, education and health care. The foundation’s early grantmaking focused almost exclusively on HIV/AIDS prevention and education. Headed today by the Greens’ daughter, Kimberly, the Green Family Foundation aims to “enable underserved communities to achieve sustainability and self-reliance by alleviating the cycle of poverty and disease.” The foundation names global health and development, community empowerment, youth arts programs and education as its grantmaking areas of interest, but recent grantmaking has mainly focused on education and cultural organizations in the Miami area.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Education is the foundation’s largest area of giving, with grantmaking supporting “programs where young people are challenged to think outside of their community norms so they can broaden their understanding of social challenges, health awareness, government and interpersonal communication.” The main recipient of funding for the past several years has been Florida International University, where the foundation has supported a broad array of initiatives and programs including the Digital Library of the Caribbean, the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, the Kimberly Green Latin and Caribbean Center and the University’s Neighborhood HELP Program, which is also named for the Green Family. Collectively, grants to Florida International University top $1 million a year. Other grantees in education include the University of Miami, the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Center for Black Studies and the United Negro College Fund. A few very small grants have gone to K-12 schools and programs in the Miami area including a local chapter of Communities in Schools, the youth development program Teens Exercising Extraordinary Success (TEES) and the Parent-Teacher Association of North Beach Elementary School in Miami Beach.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Arts and culture grantmaking is the foundation’s second largest area of giving. This area centers on supporting youth programs that encourage young people to express themselves in creative and constructive ways. Grantmaking prioritizes organizations that celebrate the cultures and art forms of minority populations and organizations operating in Greater Miami. Past grantees include Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, the Jorge M. Perez Art Museum, the Miami Children’s Museum, the Haitian Heritage Museum of Miami, Haitian Jazz USA and New York’s Harlem Stage.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
In the areas of civic engagement and democracy the Green Family Foundation supports voter registration initiatives and projects that foster community “participation, education and activism.” Recent grants have gone to Americans for Immigrant Justice, Miami’s Family Action Network Movement, which used funding for a voter registration program, and People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy organization that works against right wing extremism in U.S. politics.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
Work and opportunity is a smaller area of giving at the Green Family Foundation, with only a few grants awarded in this area each year. Grantmaking prioritizes South Florida and organizations serving Haitian and Haitian-American communities in the U.S. Recent grants have gone to the National Alliance for the Advancement of Haitian Professionals, Year Up South Florida and Miami’s Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, which offers English language learning, literacy, financial literacy and employment programs and services.
Grants for Global Development
A portion of the Green Family Foundation’s grantmaking supports organizations involved in development in Haiti. Grantmaking in this area prioritizes programs that help communities “bridge the gap between poverty and access to opportunity.” One recent grantee is the Haitian Education and Leadership Program, which provides tuition support, books, housing and food stipends to Haitian college students in need. Another grantee, Hope on a String, aims to empower and engage communities through music and art. The foundation has also supported PRODEV Haiti, which runs a network of successful K-12 schools and teacher training programs.
Important Grant Details:
The Green Family Foundation makes about $2 million in grants a year, on average. Grants generally range from $5,000 to $100,000, with an average grant size of about $10,000, although grants to programs at Florida International University that bear the Green name tend to be much larger. The foundation prioritizes the greater Miami area as well as organizations that serve the people of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. The foundation provides information about past grantees on its grants page.
The Green Family Foundation awards grants through an invitation-only RFP program. RFPs are presented to qualifying organizations throughout the year, and applications are reviewed by the foundation’s executive board, after which some applicants will be selected to submit full proposals. While the foundation does not accept unsolicited requests, it invites grantseekers working in its areas of interest to email the foundation for information about RFPs and to be added to its RFP contact list.
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