Mize Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Mize Family Foundation awards grants to organizations promoting global environmental justice, social justice, inclusive journalism and gender equality. Mize also supports groups that fight for the natural resource rights of marginalized and Indigenous communities. International grants are typically geared toward developing countries.
IP TAKE: Mize is a grassroots-friendly funder that aims to drive social change and support the voices of local communities. Its main priority is climate change, which it supports across all initiatives. Other areas of interest include leadership development, innovative media and human rights. This funder currently offers small grants of up to $30,000 and does not accept requests for multi-year funding. Grantmaking is global in scope, but more than half of all grants go to U.S.-based organizations.
This is not an accessible funder, but potential grantees may email the foundation with ideas and general inquiries. They’re pretty responsive and approachable.
PROFILE: Established in 2010 and based in Seattle, Washington, the Mize Family Foundation “supports organizations that promote global environmental justice and a diverse environmental movement, building a sense of urgency around the impacts of climate change on human and wildlife communities.” Primarily known as a climate change and environmental conservation funder, the foundation’s grantmaking also supports a variety of social and environmental justice efforts around the world, specifically “organizations – in the U.S. and in Sub-Saharan Africa – that model and promote diversity, social justice, and gender equality within their own structures and in the communities they serve.” Although the foundation does not impose geographic restrictions on its grantmaking abroad, it focuses on fostering widespread social change in developing countries. Current grantmaking strategies include Innovative Media, Leadership Development, Community Empowerment and Human Rights.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
The Mize Family Foundation primarily focuses on climate change. Indeed, the foundation conducts work through a climate change lens across it’s initiatives in some way. The foundation’s grants to support Leadership Development fund organizations that empower youth, women’s and grassroots groups that promote more effective solutions to climate change. Its Innovative Media grants support organizations that “use creative methods to effectively communicate issues related to climate change and environmental justice.” The Community Empowerment initiative funds community projects that focus on environmental rights and other issues in sub-Saharan Africa. And Mize’s Human Rights focus area supports programs that combine climate change and human rights advocacy as part of its broader focus on human rights. Past climate change grantees include 350 Seattle, the Global Greengrants Fund and Honor the Earth, which supports the global Native environmental movement.
Grants for Human Rights, Women and Girls
The foundation’s Leadership Development grantmaking focuses on empowering young people, women and grassroots organizers to advocate for effective and sustainable solutions to the “devastating impacts of climate change.” Past Mize Family Foundation grantees related to girls and women include the Global Press Institute, an organization using journalism as a tool to empower women in developing countries; and the Na’Ah Illahee Fund, which received funding for its capacity building work of Native woman-led organizations in the Northwestern United States. It has also supported Urgent Action Fund – Africa and Akili Dada, both based in Kenya.
The foundation’s Human Rights grantmaking mostly targets organizations that advocate and fight for women’s rights, but it also awards grants to groups that advance the rights of local, rural and indigenous communities to land, water, food and other resources. Past human rights grantees include FRIDA | the Young Feminist Fund, which supports human rights and social justice movement for women, girls and trans youth in the global south. Other human rights grantees include Front Line USA Foundation, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights and Na’ah Illahee Fund.
Grants for Journalism and Media
Mize’s journalism and media grantmaking stems from its Innovative Media program and supports “organizations working in traditional and new media, who use creative methods to effectively communicate issues related to climate change and environmental justice.” Past grantees include KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio and the Global Press Institute, which trains and supports women journalists in international developing media markets.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
The Mize Family Foundation makes grants for racial justice and Indigenous rights through its Human Rights and Community Empowerment funding initiatives. Past grantees include Latino Community Fund of Washington State and Thousand Currents, an organization that “funds grassroots groups and movements led by women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples in the Global South.”
Grants for Civic and Democracy
The Mize Foundation does not have a specific grantmaking program for democracy and civic participation, but it has made grants in this area in the past. Previous grantees include Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, Global Press Institute, Latino Community Fund of Washington State, Tides Foundation and Front Line USA Foundation, a division of Front Line Defenders, which works to support “people who work, non-violently, for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Important Grant Details:
The Mize Family Foundation makes about $200,000 in grants a year, with grant amounts ranging from $15,000 to $30,000. The foundation shows a strong preference for grassroots organizations and global organizations that support local activism and leadership development.
The Mize Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for funding or grant applications. Prospective grantees may email the foundation with general inquiries.
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