Description
The Joyce Foundation's program areas are Education, Employment, Environment, Gun Violence, Money and Politics, and Culture. Grant making focuses on initiatives that promise to have an impact on the Great Lakes region, specifically the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A limited number of environment grants are made to organizations in Canada. Education grant making in K-12 focuses on Chicago, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis.
The Employment Program primarily focuses on federal and state policy grants, but will make some grants to support targeted metro-level progress in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Culture grants are primarily focused on the Chicago metropolitan area, except for the Joyce Awards, which extend to other Midwest cities. The Foundation does not generally support capital proposals, endowment campaigns, religious activities, commercial ventures, direct-service programs, or scholarships.
The Joyce Foundation is committed to improving public policy through its grant program. Accordingly, the Foundation welcomes grant requests from organizations that engage in public policy advocacy. Federal tax law prohibits private foundations from funding lobbying activities. The Foundation may support organizations engaged in public policy advocacy by either providing general operating support or by funding educational advocacy such as nonpartisan research, technical assistance, or examinations of broad social issues. The Foundation encourages grant applicants to describe the nature of advocacy activities in their grant applications and reports, so the Foundation can ensure that it is in compliance with federal tax laws. For further information on the relevant federal tax laws, grant applicants should consult their tax advisors.
Eligibility
The overarching goal of the Employment Program is to establish the Midwest as the leader of the most innovative and effective employment education and training strategies in the country. Grant making specifically supports efforts to increase skill and credential attainment by low-income adult workers in three primary program areas:
Basic Foundational Skills: In order to provide underprepared adults in the region with the basic foundational skills needed to be successful in 21st century work and technical training, the Foundation supports the evaluation and scaling efforts of promising adult education programs that build basic foundational skills, particularly in the context of work and occupations.
Industry Training Partnerships: In order to ensure that occupational education and training for underprepared adults is valuable in the labor market, the Foundation supports efforts to:
- Expand partnerships between industry associations and educational organizations to create certifications, promote them within the industry, and build them into educational programs;
- Research return on investment from employer policies promoting employee education and skill development, particularly among entry-level and low-wage workers;
- Reform federal and state policy around enabling and incentivizing such policies ; and
- Align economic and workforce development and make workforce programs demand-driven through planning and coordination.
Deadlines
Grant proposals are considered at meetings of the Foundation's Board of Directors in April, July, and December. Deadline dates are:
| Proposed Deadline |
Board Meeting |
| August 15, 2012 |
December,2012 |
| December 14, 2012 |
April, 2013 |
| April 8, 2013 |
July, 2013 |
| August 14, 2013 |
December, 2013 |
Applicants are strongly encouraged to plan their application and proposal submission process for the April or July meetings, since most grant funds will be distributed at those times.
Contact
The Joyce Foundation
70 West Madison Street, Suite 2750
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Phone: (312) 782-2464 | Fax: (312) 782-4160
Link
http://www.joycefdn.org/contact/
Summary Prepared by
KB 6/38/12
