Kendeda Fund
/OVERVIEW: Kendeda’s human rights related grantmaking centers on combating child marriage in South Asia and increasing the global dialogue and awareness about the negative impact of child marriage. Kendeda’s take on the environment and conservation involves a mix of justice and sustainable living, while building populist support for the movement. The foundation is also dedicated to preventing gun violence at the local, state, and national levels.
IP TAKE: This is not an accessible or approachable funder, though it is open-minded. It’s not, however, planning to exist in perpetuity and plans to spend down by 2024.
Kendeda ultimately seeks organizations that identify and fill critical gaps within the fund’s top grantmaking priorities. While Kendeda gives generously to larger national programs, it is a community-centric funder that seeks out organizations that make change at a local level.
OVERVIEW: Established in 1993, the Kendeda Fund broadly invests in “transformative leaders and ideas.” Though it has become one of the most active and influential mid-level environmental funders, for more than 20 years, it operated with almost no public profile. Donor Diana Blank values her privacy, living a quiet lifestyle between Atlanta and Montana. Kendeda seeks to support “community leaders and underrepresented voices, emphasizing the connection between equity and the environment,” and in doing so, invests in Veterans, Atlanta Equity, Girls’ Rights, Gun Violence Prevention, Montana, People, Place and Planet, and Southeast Sustainability.
Grants for Women and Girls and Human Rights
Kendeda’s Girls’ Rights program focuses on combatting child marriage in South Asia, a region of the world in which the practice is “particularly common,” according to the fund. Through its grantmaking, Kendeda supports community level organizations to influence “[a]ttitudinal and behavioral change” in the communities in which the fund serves. Kendeda also works to raise global awareness of child marriage by changing how culture views girls, emphasizing the many negative impacts of child marriage, and engaging policymakers to advocate for more effective advocacy. Past grantees include the Global Fund for Women, which received support for its Girls’ Rights Roundtable planning project and Human Rights Watch, which received funding for its project to end child marriage in South Asia.
Grants for Violence Prevention, Racial Justice, and Criminal Justice
Kendeda’s Gun Violence Prevention program “seeks to unite unexpected partners around replicable strategies for long-term change, building on creative community-led efforts to find new, productive pathways toward a less violent society.” Specific areas of focus include testing new violence prevention strategies, promoting behavioral change, policy reform, creative solutions to violence prevention, and supporting emerging leaders “working at the intersection of gun violence prevention, criminal justice reform, racial equity, and poverty.” Past grantees in this space include the Center for American Progress, which received support for its policy development and advocacy at the federal and state levels; and Arms with Ethics, which received a Kendeda grant for its work stopping the flow of illegal guns and illegal gun use.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
Kendeda is driven by a passion for sustainability and builds its appeal and popularity among different stakeholders including workers, faith groups, youth and local governments. Much of that involves projects that directly or indirectly address climate change. It conducts environmental and conservation grantmaking through its Montana, People, Place and Planet and Southeast Sustainability programs. Each program aims to protect the environment, create sustainability, and educate the public. In addition, each reflects separate grant guidelines and goals. It supports both small and large organizations; however, it prioritizes established ones. In addition, each of the programs reflects different geographic restraints, the Montana program obviously restricting grantmaking to Montana. It currently gives between $40 million and $50 million annually, having given more than $500 million in total; however, it seeks to mostly spend down by 2024. Past grantees include Green For All, MIT’s Community Innovators Lab, UMass Lowell’s Center for Sustainable Production, the Tides Center, and Georgia Tech, which has received $30 million to create a groundbreaking facility on campus.
Important Grant Details
Kendeda Fund grants typically range from $50,000 to $200,000, though some grants reach well into the millions of dollars. To learn more about various Kendeda grantees, explore its Grantees in Grantees in Focus page.
The Kendeda Fund does not accept or respond to unsolicited requests for funding and plans to spend down its assets by the end of 2023.
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