Sunflower Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Sunflower Foundation supports criminal justice and human rights initiatives in the United States and abroad. It supports civic engagement and voting rights issues—particularly for women, minorities, and the formerly incarcerated—as part of its human rights and criminal justice reform grantmaking in the United States. It also supports gender equality and economic justice initiatives for women—particularly formerly incarcerated women and their families.

IP TAKE: This funder does not maintain a website, which limits transparency about its grantmaking guidelines and priorities. It is not easy to locate or contact, and its grants are modest. Overall, it’s not an accessible or approachable funder making it a tough nut to crack. However, a number is listed below, which you can use to contact them with general questions, but keep in mind that it’s a very small foundation so it may not be as responsive as bigger outfits with a large staff.

PROFILE: Established in 1969, the Sunflower Foundation, based in Santa Barbara, California, is not to be confused with The Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansas, based in Topeka. While it does not have a public website, tax filings indicate that it primarily supports programs and organizations that address human rights, criminal justice, and education.

Grants for Criminal Justice, Civic Engagement and Democracy

The Sunflower Foundation’s grantmaking related to democracy and civic engagement typically centers on voting rights for felons and the formerly incarcerated, but also include civic engagement efforts for women and minorities. Past grantees in this space include the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to help “restore voting rights to ex-felons through use of lawsuits, ballot initiatives, and organizing public education and leadership development programs;” Voice of the Ex-Offender, which works to “develop civic engagement, community education and leadership development among those formerly incarcerated in Louisiana”; and New Georgia Project, which is dedicated to “registering and engaging Georgia’s voting-eligible, but unregistered, population of color, while also addressing voter intimidation and suppression.”

The Sunflower Foundation’s past grantees also include organizing public education and leadership development programs,” Families for Justice as Healing, which “organizes incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their families across the country to lead efforts to create more fair and humane incarceration and prison policies,” and Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children, which supports “advocacy for children entrapped in a brutal and ineffective criminal justice system.”

Grants for Women and Girls

The Sunflower Foundation’s grantmaking concerning women and girls includes grants to Gender Avenger to “ensure women’s voices and perspectives are heard in public dialogues” in spaces such as “on-line, media, finance, art and technology,” Families for Justice as Healing, which “organizes incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their families across the country to lead efforts to create more fair and human incarceration and prison policies,” and the Center for Health and Gender Equity.

Important Grant Details:

Grants generally range from $1,000 to $5,000; $3,000 is the most common amount. According to tax records, the Sunflower Foundation is self-selecting and does not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for funding.

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

CONTACT:

Robin Wright

535 Quincy Mail Center

Cambridge, MA 02138

(805) 563-1049