OVERVIEW: The Pittsburgh Foundation focuses on the needs of communities in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and the greater Pittsburgh region.
IP TAKE: The Pittsburgh Foundation is a well-rounded and approachable community funder that has well-defined funding areas. This funder has has recently revamped its grantmaking areas, placing greater emphasis on justice and equity. In addition to clear guidelines and information, the foundation provides contact information for relevant staff on each program and subprogram page.
It supports organizations of all sizes across a broad array of interest areas, often with unrestricted, multi-year support. For most of its programs, grants are accepted for two grantmaking cycles each year. Applications are accepted, making it an accessible funder. This is an indispensable source of support for nonprofits in Western Pennsylvania.
PROFILE: Established in 1945, the Pittsburgh Foundation is a community foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and serving Allegheny County and the greater Pittsburgh area. This is the 14th-largest community foundation in the U.S. It has close to 2,500 donor funds under management that have been created by individuals, businesses and organizations, and it maintains assets of close to $1.5 billion. The foundation’s mission is “to improve the quality of life in the Pittsburgh region by evaluating and addressing community issues, promoting responsible philanthropy and connecting donors to the critical needs of the community.”
This funder makes both foundation-directed and donor-advised grants. Foundation-directed grants focus on the areas of Basic Needs, Equality & Social Justice, Environmental Action, Arts & Culture and Economic Mobility. Additional grant opportunities exist through individual funds that name thematic or geographic priorities. Grantmaking is mainly limited to the greater Pittsburgh region. Faith-based organizations number significantly among the Pittsburgh Foundation’s grantees, particularly in human services.
Grants for Housing, Food Systems, and Economic Development
The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Basic Needs grantmaking aims “to improve the stability of low-income people” by providing direct services and assistance to people facing hardship, “especially those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).”
- Grants for Food Access support “programs and services that assist low-income individuals and families to obtain enough food–especially healthy, culturally-appropriate food–to meet the nutritional needs of all members of their household.”
- In addition to food banks and pantries, the program gives to meal delivery programs, community gardening projects, out-of-school meal programs for children and “[p]rograms that assist eligible families with applying for benefit programs that provide access to food, such as SNAP and WIC.”
- Past recipients include the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, Rainbow Kitchen Community Services of Homestead, Pennsylvania and Aliquippa Green, which received funding for its community agriculture programs.
- The Housing subprogram names two main goals for its grantmaking: to “[s]upport or fill gaps in a county-wide eviction prevention system” and to provides services and assistance to “those living in transitional housing and/or facing unexpected loss of housing.”
- Housing grantees include North Hills Affordable Housing of Glenshaw, Action-Housing of Pittsburgh and Sisters Place, a women’s shelter in Pittsburgh.
- Grants stemming from the Employment subprogram aim to “support youth and adults who experience significant barriers to employment, including limited math and reading skills.”
- The foundation names individuals who are low-income, have a disability, are formally incarcerated, experience housing insecurity, in or aging out of foster care, and single parents” as priority populations.
- Grantees of the employment subprogram include Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment, Anchorpoint Counseling Ministry and New Century Careers, which provides vocational training to underrepresented populations in the manufacturing sector.
The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Small and Mighty grantmaking program duplicates the work of the Basic Needs program on a smaller scale, making grants to organizations with annual budgets of less than $600,000. Both programs accept applications for operational and project support.
- The Basic Needs program runs two application cycles each year, with application due dates falling in February and July.
- Small and Mighty applications are due in February. Links to detailed information about eligibility, guidelines and virtual information sessions are linked to each program and subprogram page.
This funder also makes grants for housing, work and economic opportunity via its Economic Mobility grantmaking area, which names Career Advancement, Entrepreneurship and Homeownership as priorities.
- The Career Advancement program focuses on technology training, partnerships with employers for training related to career advancement and programs within the education system that support career readiness and skills. Grants emphasize programs that target “women and BIPOC individuals.”
- Entrepreneurship is a new area of giving for this program, and the foundation has yet to outline specific goals and priorities. However, the program will focus on Pittsburgh’s Black community and will address the difficulty that small and family-owned business often have “in accessing lines of credit, working capital or venture capital.”
- Homeownership grants focus on the difficulty BIPOC people can experience “in obtaining the credit necessary to become homeowners.” Grants stemming from this subprogram financial and homebuyer education, mortgage assistance programs and nontraditional homeownership, including “Community Land Trust agreements, cooperatives or other collective ownership.”
The Economic Mobility program links application information to each subprogram page. Grant applications are accepted for two annual cycles, with due dates falling in February and July.
Grants for Public Health, Mental Health and Disease Research
Grantmaking for health and mental health account for a significant portion of Pittsburgh’s Basic Needs giving. Giving aims to ensure “access to quality, affordable and culturally responsive services.”
- The subprogram for Physical Health makes grants that span the areas of “physical, dental and visual primary health care services.” Grantmaking also prioritizes health equity by focusing on “reducing the social, financial, logistical and systemic barriers that prevent individuals and families from accessing care.”
- Mental Health grantmaking works to “to support the mental health needs of residents by ensuring access to quality, affordable and culturally responsive mental health services, and both formal and informal community supports.”
- Links to guidelines are provided on individual subprogram pages, and applications for health and mental health grants are accepted twice per year, with due dates falling in February and July. Smaller organizations with budgets of less than $600,000 per year may apply for health or mental health grants via the foundation’s Small and Mighty program, which accepts applications once annually, with a due date in February.
The Pittsburgh Foundation also makes grants for Medical Research through over 20 of its its donor advised funds, which generally aim to “spur medical advances through grants under the stewardship of our Program and Policy staff.”
- The foundation names “various types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, geriatrics and blindness” as areas of interest, but funding is not limited to research on these diseases.
- Application for medical research funding is by invitation only, but grantseekers may reach out to the program’s director, Michael Yonas, via email with questions and ideas.
Grants for Education
The Pittsburgh Foundation’s grantmaking for education is one of its largest giving areas. The Basic Needs program generally makes grants for Childcare and K-12 Education, while the Economic Mobility program names Access to Post-Secondary Education a giving priority.
- The Child Care subprogram works broadly to “to ensure equitable access to quality child care.”
- Areas of specific interest include childcare subsidies for low-income families, investment in high quality care and early childhood education centers, stabilization of the childcare workforce, informal childcare networks and care for children of parents who work irregular hours.
- Grantees include the Riverview Children’s Center, the YMCA of Sewickley Valley, Hug Me Tight Childlife Centers and the Jubilee Association, which received funding for a program that subsidized care expenses for families experiencing poverty.
- The Basic Needs Education program supports K-12 initiatives for the improvement of educational quality throughout the Pittsburgh region and high quality, “culturally-responsive” out-of-school learning programs.
- Grants for education quality focus on “curricula improvements at high-need, low-performing schools serving marginalized students.” Other areas of interest include “[c]ulturally responsive professional development” and the elimination of “systemic policies and practices that negatively impact students and their families.”
- Grants for out-of-school learning support programs that “promote academic achievement and whole-child development.”
- K-12 grantees include Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, the Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education, the Youth Enrichment Association and Stem Coding Lab, Inc.
- Grants for higher education and mainly stem from the Economic Mobility program’s Access to Post-Secondary Education subprogram.
- The program funds programs that help high school students earn college credits, programs that help students navigate admissions and financial aid as they approach graduation and programs that support non-traditional students, including those returning to college after a period of absence.
- Other grantees include the University of Pittsburgh, St. Vincent College and the Woodland Hills School District’s College and Career Access Center.
The foundation accepts applications for education grants stemming from both the Basic Needs and Economic Mobility programs twice annually, with due dates in February and July. Smaller organizations may apply via the Small and Mighty program, which accepts applications with a due date in February. Guidelines are linked to program pages.
Grants for Racial Equity, Civic Engagement, Democracy, Community Development, Criminal Justice Reform and Journalism
The Pittsburgh Foundation has increased its giving and engagement for social justice significantly in recent years. A recent reorganization of its grantmaking programs resulted in a new Equity and Social Justice giving area. Grants also stem from the foundation’s Social Justice Fund, which was established in 2018 “to strengthen support for efforts that address the root causes of inequity and increase the engagement, power and influence of community members affected by economic inequality and racial inequity.”
- Pittsburgh’s Equity and Social Justice giving program works to “to support civic participation and community organizing to achieve policy changes that will address the root causes of economic and racial inequities.” Grantmaking addresses five key areas.
- Grants for Voter Engagement support non-partisan initiatives for voter education, registration and turnout. Grants also support “reforms that preserve existing rights and support inclusive ballot practices.”
- A subprogram for Access to Information addresses widespread “reduction in traditional news outlets” and the resulting “wave of mis- and disinformation that is amplifying distrust and concern.”
- The program also makes grants to Protect Basic Needs of members of the region’s BIPOC community. This new program builds on the work of the foundation’s Basic Needs giving area and aims to dismantle “the systemic forces that limit access to economic opportunity and create inequities that hamper people’s ability to meet their basic needs.”
- Grants to End Mass Incarceration work to reform the criminal justice system in Allegheny County through a racial justice lens. Grantmaking here aims to “to uplift and provide resources for systems-change efforts that are community-led — especially work led by people who are Black, low-income, have a disability, are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated.” This is an “emergent” area for the Pittsburgh Foundation, which plans to “convene organizations that have received grants to understand the ecosystem of organizations working on this issue, share learnings and develop recommendations for future investments” over the coming years.
- Finally, grants for Youth Justice are guided by “local community-guided research and the Foundation’s on-going collaboration with community, nonprofit leaders and Allegheny County.”
- The foundation accepts applications for its Equity and Social Justice Grants twice annually, with due dates falling in February and July. Detailed guidelines are linked to each subprogram page.
- Related grants have supported organizations including Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Law Center, the Equity Impact Center, the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.
- The Social Justice Fund was established in 2017 and was “was co-designed by Foundation staff and social justice leaders who urged the Foundation to increase its support for social change efforts that are led by those who are closest to the community issues it seeks to address.” The fund also makes grants through its General Support Program, which provides “operating support for organizations engaged in advocacy, mobilization and healing work.”
- Grantseekers may use the form on the program page to introduce their organizations for grant consideration.
- Grantees of the fund include Black Dream Escape, the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration, the Council for Cultural Equity and Emancipated Education and the Abolitionist Law Center, which received funding to expand its work in Allegheny County.
Grants for the Environment, Climate Change and Clean Energy
The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Environmental Action giving focus area seeks “to protect the health of our communities and the preservation of our environment by advancing environmental justice.” The foundation acknowledges the intersectionality of this work with regard to community health and justice. The program also recognizes the propensity for environmental issues to effect people and places “beyond geographic borders” and therefore will consider “on a case-by-case basis projects that work across the southwest Pennsylvania 12-county region.” All environmental grantmaking centers on “initiatives and collaborations that center communities in environmental decision-making.”
- Grants for Equitable Access to Land, Water and Air supports “community-centered conservation and stewardship of natural resources.” Specific strategies include increasing access to public greenspaces, climate change mitigation, clean water initiatives, air quality initiatives and projects that “[a]ddress health disparities attributed to environmental pollution and risk exposures.”
- The Learning and Action subprogram conducts its grantmaking through the lens of “environmental racism, which disproportionately impacts and harms low-income, working class and Black, Indigenous and people of color.” The program aims to “translate research into action to protect the health of communities and their environments and build agency within communities to advance environmental justice.”
- The foundation accepts applications for its environmental grants twice a year, with application due dates in February and July. Detailed guidelines are linked to each subprogram page.
- Past grantees include the Allegheny Land Trust, Women for a Healthy Environment, the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse and the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project.
Environmental grantmaking also stems from the foundation’s Environmental Mitigation Community Fund, which was created 2023 on the heels of a legal settlement with the Shell Oil Company to compensate communities affected by environmental violations at the company’s plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Grants will focus on projects providing benefit to the local environment, related health outcomes and quality of life in Beaver County. Applications were accepted in early 2024 for a first round of grants, and it is unclear if this program will run another grantmaking cycle.
Grants for Arts and Culture
While the Pittsburgh Foundation has always made grants for local arts and culture organizations, it only recently named Arts and Culture as one of its main giving areas. This new program aims “to strengthen small-to-mid-sized arts organizations and support individual artists by fostering a diverse, healthy and just arts ecosystem.”
- Grants for Small- to Mid-Sized Arts Organizations prioritize organizations with budgets under $2 million across all disciplines of visual and performing arts, as well as cultural activities “that enhance, celebrate and elevate narratives represented in the community member’s lives, work and varied cultures, including activities led by cultural workers/bearers.”
- Grants for Individual Artists provide flexible support to artists of all disciplines, with the goal of recognizing “the artist as a whole person, and not as a commodity.” These grants prioritize “artists working at the intersections of equity, racial and social justice” and those who are “explicitly considering and responding to the unique needs, challenges, and strengths of low-income and/or Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.” Individual artists must apply for funding with a fiscal sponsor.
- Applications to both subprograms are accepted for the foundation’s two annual grantmaking cycles, with due dates that fall in February and July. Detailed guidelines are linked to each program page.
- Past grantees include the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, the Daisy Wilson Artists Community and the Afro-American Music Institute.
The foundation also supports the arts through its Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards, which recognizes one Established Artist and one Emerging Artist each year with grants of $50,000. Artists who reside in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland counties are eligible for the awards but must be nominated during an open call that usually falls in October. Nominees are then selected by a panel of “staff and/or arts professionals” and required to submit “a brief statement, CV and work samples.” Profiles of past awardees are available here.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Pittsburgh Foundation also makes grants through hundreds of donor-advised funds that name specific thematic or geographic areas of interest. The foundation provides information about all of these funds via a searchable Donor-Directed Grants Database.
Important Grant Details:
A majority of Pittsburgh’s grants are awarded in amounts of up to $100,000, but organizations with which the foundation maintains ongoing relationships may receive much larger sums or ongoing support.
- Education, health and human services have traditionally been the foundation’s largest giving areas.
- This funder has recently reorganized its grantmaking and shifted the focus of much of its giving to social justice and racial equity.
- Grantmaking is mainly limited to Allegheny County and the greater Pittsburgh region.
- This funder runs two annual grantmaking cycles for its foundation grants, with due dates in February and July.
- Contact information for relevant staff is available at each program and subprogram page.
- The Pittsburgh Foundation provides searchable databases of its foundation and donor-advised grants.
Direct general questions to the staff at 412-391-5122 or via online form.
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