Bloomberg Philanthropies
/OVERVIEW: Bloomberg Philanthropies was started by Michael Bloomberg, the founder of media and financial company Bloomberg LP, former New York City mayor, and one of the richest men in the world. The foundation funds public health, environment, education, government innovation, and arts & culture. Bloomberg’s education program focuses on education reform advocacy, leadership building, and increasing low-income high school students’ chances of getting into top-tier colleges.
IP TAKE: Grants are by invitation only, but Bloomberg seeks new projects and ideas. While it’s not the most accessible funder, Bloomberg entertains letters of inquiry through its online form. Grantmaking is competitive and they choose their grantseekers, but don’t hesitate to reach out to get on their radar. Grants here are generous, if your work can wade through the thousands of inquiries. To stand out, your work must be innovative, science-based and able to scale up, so smaller organizations will not be a fit here.
PROFILE: Bloomberg Philanthropies was founded in 2006 by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg is the founder of financial services, software, and media company Bloomberg LP, and is one of the ten wealthiest people in the United States, according to Forbes. Since signing the Giving Pledge, Bloomberg has given away over $8 billion of his fortune and has indicated that he intends to leave his company to a trust that will finance Bloomberg Philanthropies in perpetuity. According to a recent annual report, the Philanthropies encompass “all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including corporate, foundation, and personal philanthropy.”
The mission of Bloomberg Philanthropies is “to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people.” This funder takes a “data-driven approach to global change,” basing its grantmaking on the principles of leadership, effective solutions, big data, advocacy, collaboration, and cities. Grantmaking focuses on five key areas: Public Health, Environment, Education, Government Innovation and Arts & Culture. Bloomberg also funds a range of Founder’s Projects that are of special interest to the Philanthropies, and supports mayors of cities around the world with pro bono consulting services through Bloomberg Associates. Finally, Bloomberg’s Corporate Philanthropy program “looks to address unmet needs in the communities around the world in which Bloomberg L.P. employees live and work” through the “the time and talents of employees.”
Grants for Civic and Democracy, Cities and Community Development
Bloomberg has a number of initiatives in its Government Innovation program area, which works to “promote public sector innovation capacity and spread proven and promising solutions among cities worldwide.”
The Mayors Challenge is a competition that promotes “next-generation solutions that have the potential to transform the way city halls work and improve the lives of citizens.”
Cities of Service is a network of local governments that “leverages citizen service as a tool to drive public sector innovation and achieve measurable impact on pressing local challenges.” The program works to provide a “mechanism for citizen participation in local governance.”
What Works Cities provides cities and mayors with “robust technical support, access to expertise, and peer-to-peer learning” in order to “better use data and evidence to engage the public,” “improve services,” and “evaluate progress.”
The Mayors Challenge is a competition that “identifies and elevates next-generation solutions that have the potential to transform the way city halls work and improve the lives of citizens.”
The Harvard City Leadership Initiative is an “ambitious executive education program” in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School. And in 2021, Bloomberg committed $150 million to establish the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University to further develop this initiative.
CityLab is an annual conference in partnership with the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, where “mayors, city innovators, artists, funders, academics and urbanists gather to explore how to improve cities and spread urban strategies that work.”
Financial Empowerment Centers aim to help local governments “increase the quality and consistency of local financial services to help residents increase assets and free themselves from consumer debt.”
Grants for Education
Bloomberg’s Education program breaks down into three key areas.
Policy grants support comprehensive education reform for K-12 grades in order to “strengthen America’s educational system by supporting effective policies aimed at improving student outcomes.”
College Access and Success grants aim to “aim to directly help students apply to, enroll in and graduate from top institutions by providing support and guidance.” This program has two featured initiatives: CollegePoint, which provides guidance on college application, financial aid, and test-taking, and American Talent Initiative, which works to expand college access for low- and moderate-income students.
Career and Technical Education grants are aimed at students who choose not to pursue university education by helping them “obtain credentials or certifications and work experience during high school in order to secure jobs after graduation.”
Colleges and universities sometimes receive grants across Bloomberg’s other focus areas. In Government Innovation, for example, New York University received a grant of more than $850,000 to support an urban planning course at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Public Policy. The foundation also supports Arts & Culture in part through giving to the University of Maryland’s DeVos Institute of Arts Management, which “provides training, consultation, and implementation support for arts managers and their boards.” Furthermore, the foundation also supports Bloomberg’s alma maters, Harvard and Johns Hopkins. At the former, Bloomberg Philanthropies has supported the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Climate Change
Bloomberg’s Environment program area partners with “cities, businesses, public health and environmental advocates, and citizen’s groups” to address pressing issues concerning climate change, conservation, and environmental justice.
Beyond Carbon is a large-scale, coordinated, national advocacy campaign to “get the country on the path to a 100 percent clean energy economy.”
America’s Pledge is an initiative to bring together public and private sector organizations to “compile and quantify the actions of states, cities and businesses in the United States to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
The American Cities Climate Challenge is a program working with twenty-five American cities to “deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents.”
Global Coal and Air Pollution grants support international efforts to transition away from coal power by implementing stricter air quality regulations and developing cleaner, sustainable energy sources.
The Sustainable Cities program consists of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international network of city leaders chaired by Michael Bloomberg.
Vibrant Oceans is a two-phase initiative that partners with nonprofit organizations, local governments, and academic researchers in coastal communities to “advance evidence-based conservation practices and implement data-driven fisheries management policies around the world.”
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Bloomberg’s Public Health program area funds a wide range of initiatives dedicated to reducing the preventable causes of death throughout the world. It works with nonprofit organizations and governments to “scale up proven interventions, and rigorously analyze data to create significant results.”
Bloomberg’s response to COVID-19 consists of the Local Response Initiative, which works with U.S. cities to “combat the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing of residents and local economies,” and the Global Response Initiative, which works to prevent the spread of the disease in developing countries, with a strong focus on Africa.
The Drowning Prevention program funds efforts in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Uganda to fund programs such as swimming instruction for children, day care supervision, and data collection to develop a “cost-effective set of approaches to drowning prevention interventions.”
The Maternal and Reproductive Health program supports efforts to reduce maternal mortality rates in developing countries such as Tanzania by “providing access to quality maternal and reproductive health services, and advocating for the provision of these services by the national government in the countries where we work.”
Tobacco Control aims to reduce global tobacco use through a “comprehensive, proven approach that combines policy change with increased public awareness.”
Fighting Flavored E-Cigarettes is an initiative to combat the youth vaping “epidemic” by promoting the banning of flavored e-cigarettes.
The Global Road Safety Initiative works with ten cities in five countries to implement “evidence-based interventions” to reduce traffic fatalities.
Obesity Prevention grants support public health policies that “reduce consumer demand for unhealthy foods and beverages, improve the food environment, and make healthier choices easier” in the United States and internationally.
The Combatting Opioids initiative supports “high-impact, state-based interventions” in select U.S. states to combat the growing opioid crisis.
The Resolve to Save Lives cardiovascular health initiative aims to “reduce the number of people dying from heart disease and stroke in low- and middle-income countries” through high-impact interventions such as improved high blood pressure treatment, elimination of artificial trans-fat, and sodium reduction.
Data for Health is an initiative to partner with governments in select countries to “strengthen their public health data and improve the way they use this information to make policy decisions.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts and Culture grantmaking works to address the issue of “diminished support for cultural institutions” around the world by promoting “innovative partnerships and bold approaches to place arts at the center of economic growth and empower artists and cultural organizations.”
Bloomberg Connects, formerly the Digital Engagement Initiative, supports cultural institutions in developing innovative technological tools that “transform the visitor experience, encouraging interaction and exploration on and offsite.” The recently launched Bloomberg Connects app serves as a “free digital guide to cultural organizations around the world.”
The Public Art Challenge awards $1 million prizes to select cities to “develop innovative public art projects that address critical issues in their communities.”
The Arts Innovation and Management program provides capacity-building grants to nonprofit arts organizations and institutions in seven select U.S. cities.
Bloomberg is a supporter of ArtPlace, a national initiative to revitalize cities through an innovative community development model that will “stimulate job growth and economic development, revitalize diverse neighborhoods, bring new and sustained development opportunities to rural and urban communities, strengthen transit corridors, tackle urban challenges through design, and build distinctive identities for communities.”
The Bloomberg Arts Internship is a program operating in four U.S. cities that provides high school students with internship experience at prestigious cultural institutions along with career readiness and college preparation training.
The Asphalt Art Initiative funds projects that aim to use art and design interventions to “improve street safety, revitalize public spaces, and engage their communities” with installations on “roadways, pedestrian spaces, and public infrastructure.”
Important Grant Details:
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ grants rate in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. It does not have a searchable grants database, but does publish its Annual Reports online.
Bloomberg prefers to work with established partners and does not accept unsolicited proposals, but it does invite interested grantseekers to submit a letter of inquiry through its Online Form.
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