Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
/OVERVIEW: The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports arts and culture, children, education, healthcare and medical research, older adults and religious organizations in Phoenix, Arizona, and the surrounding Maricopa County.
IP TAKE: The Virginia Piper Charitable Trust is a major grantmaker in its giving area. While its geographic range is limited, serving only the city of Phoenix and surrounding Maricopa County, this funder’s grants are substantial, frequently ranging in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for select grantees. While the trust’s focus areas are not comprehensive, it funds a broad range of issues, from education, to health, to arts and culture, so there are many opportunities for small and medium-sized regional nonprofits, as well as large, national organizations that have branches operating in Maricopa County. This is an accessible grantmaker for solution-oriented nonprofits that are working in and serving Maricopa County, Arizona. The funder considers grant requests in terms of impact, effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability.
The Piper Trust is a very transparent grantmaker whose website boasts a comprehensive, searchable grants database dating back to the year 2000, as well as annual reports and publications. The fact that it accepts letters of inquiry for all of its grant programs year round also make it a highly accessible funder. Previous grantees report Piper as being highly approachable and transparent, as well as a positive experience to work with as a grantee, however the application process appears to be very demanding. It is highly recommended that you be able to present a very clear, concrete, and detailed description of the needs and expectations of your project before even submitting an LOI, and subsequently be able to answer any questions or requests for information they may have at a moments notice. While strong applications are handsomely rewarded, the trust appears to have little patience for applicants who don’t put in the effort to cross all t’s and dot all i’s.
PROFILE: Established in 1995, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust is a place-based funder with a focus on Maricopa County, Arizona. Virginia was the wife of Motorola founder, Paul V. Galvin. She moved from Chicago to Paradise Valley, Arizona with her second husband, Kenneth M. Piper and committed her philanthropic efforts to Phoenix-area nonprofits for over 30 years. She established the trust and appointed four lifetime trustees to handle grantmaking after her death. After she passed away in 1999, over $600 million was transferred from her estate to the trust. The foundation “supports organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County, Arizona.” The trust focuses grantmaking on six areas: Arts and Culture, Children, Education, Healthcare and Medical Research, Older Adults, and Religious Organizations.
Grants for Education and Youth
The Piper Trust’s Education grantmaking aims to promote educational systems that “create economic opportunities, promote national competitiveness, and encourage active citizenship.” It has three main priorities in this area:
Improved Early Learning Environments: grants to support programs that improve “early learning practices, training and curricula,” including “standardized orientation for new teachers and accreditation for community-based preschools.”
Academic Enhancements for Youth: grants to support efforts to “help school-age children overcome educational challenges and advance in school” through tutoring, outreach, academic enrichment, remedial programs, and assistive learning aids for students with disabilities.
Engagement of Older Adults in Learning: grants to support programs that help the elderly and disabled find employment or second careers by building marketable skills.
Piper also supports Arizona youth through its Children program. These grants work to ensure that all children in Arizona’s Maricopa County can have “a happy, healthy, and safe childhoo.” It supports nonprofits that make parents and caregivers more effective in child-rearing and that assist children without resources or with special needs. It has four main priorities in this area:
Improved Parent and Caregiver Child-Rearing Know-How: grants to support parent education, including parenting classes, child safety classes, parenting hotlines, resources for teen mothers, and other forms of assistance for parents in need.
Assistance for Children without Resources or with Special Needs: grants to support families in need through “food banks, crisis nurseries, domestic violence shelters, behavioral health programs, and transitional housing,” as well as resources and funding for parents of children with special needs.
Enhanced Child Care Practices and Afterschool Care: grants to fund afterschool activities, extracurriculars, mentorship programs, and homeless youth centers.
Integrated Early Childhood Policies and Practices: a special investment in the BUILD Initiative to “guide state efforts to prepare children for success.”
Past grantees for education and youth include A New Leaf, Arizona Helping Hands, Arizonans for Children, AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute, New Pathways for Youth, Family Promise - Greater Phoenix, Junior Achievement of Arizona, Make Way for Books, Association for Supportive Child Care, and Neighbors Who Care.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
The Piper Trust’s Healthcare and Medical Research grantmaking supports “quality, accessible healthcare and disease prevention,” as well as “Personalized medicine, biosignatures and the promise of cost-effective healthcare.” It has four main priorities in this area:
Improve Facilities for Children, Adolescents, and Older Adults: grants and capital investments to improve facilities such as NICUs, children’s hospital emergency rooms, and geriatric facilities.
Better Trained Healthcare Workforce: grants to promote the integration of innovative principles and practices to both early childhood development and end-of-life care.
Increased Access to Basic Healthcare: grants for programs to improve healthcare access for the uninsured and underinsured, such as community clinics, mobile medical vans, and free dental clinics.
Centers for Advancement in Personalized Medicine: special support for medical institutions such as the Center for Sustainable Health, Piper Center for Personal Diagnostics, and Translational Genomics Research Institute, with the purpose of “building regional distinction in biosciences, particularly personalized medicine.”
Piper also makes health-related grants through its Older Adults focus area. Grants for older adults support programs that help older adults “remain healthy, independent, and productive,” with a focus on exercise, nutrition, appropriate medications, and early screenings. It has three main priorities in this area:
Disease and Disability Prevention: grants for prevention programs focusing on “proper nutrition, exercise, early screening for diseases, and appropriate medications.”
Assistance for Older Adults to Remain Independent: grants for programs such as regular wellness checks, “intergenerational day care,” and volunteer aid to “help older adults remain at home and give respite to caregivers.”
Volunteerism, “Recareering,” and Community Engagement: grants for programs that promote “civic engagement and nontraditional work” in order to keep older adults independent, self-sufficient, and engaged with their community.
Past grantees for health and medicine include Valleywise Health Foundation, Wickenburg Community Hospital, Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, Adelante Healthcare, HonorHealth Foundation, Arizona Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, About Care, Hospice of the Valley, Grantmakers in Aging, and Diana Gregory Outreach Services.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Piper Trust’s Arts and Culture program works to “create a vibrant Maricopa County” by supporting “literature, performance, visual arts, and other cultural experiences” that stimulate the economy and include children’s participation. It strongly prioritizes making grants to improve the business operations of arts organizations. It supports projects that improve “organizational planning in business, marketing, and fundraising,” encourage “collaborative projects to build a distinctive arts and culture community in Maricopa County,” and restructure business models to “increase revenues and reduce costs.” Past grantees for arts and culture include Greasepaint Youtheatre, Southwest Shakespeare Company, Phoenix Conservatory of Music, Mesa Arts Center, Phoenix Corale, Jazz in Arizona, ArtLink, Fountain Hills Theater, East Valley Children’s Theater, and Musical Theater of Anthem.
IMPORTANT GRANT DETAILS
The Piper Trust’s grants generally range from $50,000 to $500,000, with select grantees receiving $1 million to $2 million a year. Grantees may review the trust’s online grants database to learn more about past grantees.
The Piper Trust’s grantmaking almost exclusively centers around Maricopa County, Arizona, including the city of Phoenix. The trust sometimes makes grants outside of this giving area by invitation only.
The trust accepts accepts letters of inquiry throughout the year. After an initial review, the foundation will request a full proposal from selected applicants. Deadlines for the final proposal depend on the board’s yearly meeting schedule.
The Piper Trust will consider multi-year funding for projects that will take more than one year to complete.
Grantseekers may not submit more than one request per year. Applicants whose requests are denied may apply again one year after the date of submission. Those who receive grants must wait one year from the ending of the grant term unless invited to reapply sooner.
Interested grantseekers are encouraged to attend a Piper 101 Information Session, an online workshop about priorities, guidelines, and the review process held on Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month. Grantseekers may also contact the fund’s program directors by email or phone to discuss proposed projects in detail.
Direct general questions to the staff at 480-948-5853 or info@pipertrust.org.
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