The Campbell Foundation is pleased to accept proposals for unsolicited grants. Please carefully review the following criteria to see if your organization is eligible to apply for an unsolicited grant.
Eligibility and Apply for a Grant
To apply for a grant, complete each of the three steps below.
We only accept unsolicited proposal requests from US-registered 501(c)3 public charitable organizations, including educational institutions* and government agencies**.
The Foundation is now accepting proposals for fiscally sponsored projects.
*170(b)(1)(A)(ii)
** 170(c)(1)
Step 1: Confirm that your organization is not or has not already been a grantee
This opportunity is only open to new grantees, not organizations that are current or previous grantees of The Campbell Foundation. Don’t know if the organization was a grantee? Search our grantees to ensure eligibility. Please note that grant recipients of the Land-Sea Connection Fund, managed by Resources Legacy Fund and sponsored by The Campbell Foundation, are Campbell Foundation grantees and are therefore not eligible to apply.
Step 2: Check if your organization or fiscal sponsor is already registered
Your organization or fiscal sponsor may already be registered in our grants management system. You can check here. If you or your fiscal sponsor are already registered, please contact Tech Support to determine eligibility and receive a link to start a proposal.
Step 3: Complete the Eligibility Checklist
If eligible, the organization will receive instructions on how to start a proposal in the grantee portal. We suggest bookmarking the grantee portal for easy access, should you want to save the proposal and complete it at a later time.
Grant Cycles
We offer two unsolicited grant cycles per year. The budget for each of our cycles is $50,000. Individual grants will vary in size, but will be no greater than $25,000. We accept proposals for any type of program in any geography. For more details on our previous unsolicited cycle recipients, as well as information on the competitiveness of each cycle, please check our list of previous recipients. The maximum amount you can request is $25,000.
We welcome you to submit a proposal for our current open cycle:
Cycle 1 – 2024: Open
Proposals for this cycle are due no later than 5 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. No exceptions will be made for late submissions, and no extensions will be granted. Funding decisions will be made no later than June 28, 2024.
Cycle 2 – 2023: Closed
Proposals for this cycle were due no later than 5 pm Pacific Time on Thursday, August 31, 2023. No exceptions will be made for late submissions, and no extensions will be granted. Funding decisions will be made no later than October 31, 2023.
Once the proposal has been submitted, you will receive an email confirmation that it has been received by the Foundation. Funding decisions will be made as noted in the cycle deadlines below.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Proposal
Download the proposal template here. It is estimated that the proposal form will take 60-90 minutes to complete. Please carefully consider your own capacity in deciding whether to submit a proposal.
Geographic Areas
No. We are open to funding work in any part of the United States or in the world; however, please be advised that the applying organization must be a US-registered 501(c)3 public charitable organization, including educational institutions* and government agencies**. The Foundation is now accepting proposals for fiscally sponsored projects.
*170(b)(1)(A)(ii)
** 170(c)(1)
About the Grants
The budget for each of our cycles is $50,000. Individual grants will vary in size, but will be no greater than $25,000. The Foundation does make grants for larger amounts, but those are by invitation only. Grant proposals for larger amounts are invited based on a number of factors at the discretion of the Foundation. The maximum amount you can request is $25,000.
Apply for funding for the program or project that has the greatest need, rather than trying to align with Foundation priorities.
Programs can be ongoing, but the expectation is that the funds would be expended within 12 months of receipt of the grant.
Yes, these grants are intended to cover future, rather than past, expenses and activities.
We regret that we are not able to provide information about the probability of funding until we have reviewed your complete proposal. Please review the What We Fund section of our website for more information on the Foundation’s Chesapeake and Pacific initiatives, and the searchable Grantees database to view previous grant recipients.
Yes! We are looking for good organizations doing good work, even if they don’t fit into our usual programmatic “boxes”. We are accepting proposals for all subject areas and types of programs.
Yes! We welcome these types of requests.
One request per organization only.
Contacting the Foundation
Unfortunately, it is not possible for staff to meet with all applicants. If your proposal is being considered for a grant, a request for a meeting may be made by Foundation staff.
Yes, please contact Sara Almaraz via email with questions. However, due to anticipated volume, we are not able to schedule phone calls with prospective unsolicited grantees.
No. The Foundation will only respond to full and complete proposals submitted through our grants management system.
No. We prefer not to be included on your mailing list unless we request to opt-in. We also appreciate your support of our effort to help reduce paper consumption; please do not mail any hard copy materials.
Grant Decisions
No. Decisions about grants will not be made any sooner than the decision date listed above, regardless of when the proposal is submitted. Grants are reviewed both as individual requests and in comparison to other requests in the same cycle.
Information about how many applications we received per cycle, and how many and which ones received awards can be viewed here.
Proposals are reviewed on a number of factors, including, but not limited, to:
- Completeness of proposal
- Organizational financial health and sustainability
- Ability to adhere to cycle guidelines
Due to volume, we are not able to provide feedback to individual organizations if declined.
Yes, but there is a waiting period. Organizations are eligible to apply for an unsolicited grant every other year. In other words, if you applied in August 2021 and were declined in September 2021, you will be eligible to reapply in October 2023.
The Foundation sets the two-year waiting period for applications to allow organizations adequate time to evolve between applications and to reduce the burden on grantees. Allowing organizations to submit a proposal every year would not necessarily improve the odds of being approved for a grant. We also strive for a diverse pool of applicants so that a wide variety of organizations can apply.
Grant Renewals
Renewals will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The vast majority of grants that are awarded through this unsolicited cycle are one-time grants, and fewer than 5% are renewed.