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 maximum amount you can request for an unsolicited grant is $25,000. Though the maximum amount you can request is $25k, award amounts may differ from requested amounts. As a guide, in 2023, we awarded 31 total grants. 21 were for $5,000; five were for $10,000, one at $15,000, and four at $25,000. Funding levels are determined by a variety of factors.
For additional information on what types of grants have been awarded, click on the button below to learn about previous recipients.
We welcome you to submit a proposal for our current open cycle:
Cycle 1 – 2025: Open
Proposals for this cycle are due no later than 5 pm Pacific Time on Friday, January 31, 2025. No exceptions will be made for late submissions, and no extensions will be granted. Funding decisions will be made no later than April 4, 2025.
Cycle 2 – 2024: Closed
Proposals for this cycle were due no later than 5 pm Pacific Time on Friday, August 30, 2024. No exceptions will be made for late submissions, and no extensions will be granted. Funding decisions will be made no later than October 31, 2024.
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 above.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Proposal
Download the proposal template here. While the amount of time the proposal takes to complete is highly variable, based on grantee feedback, it is estimated that the proposal form will take two to four hours 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.
Please note that while we are open to accepting proposals for any geographic area, there are areas of special interest. These are California, particularly the San Francisco Bay Area, Fresno, Kern, Tulare, and Kings Counties, and the Chesapeake Bay region, especially Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, and Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset Counties in Maryland. These funding areas are not being publicized in the program pages of our website.
We encourage you to view our recent unsolicited grant recipients here to gain an understanding of the variety of organizations and projects we support with unsolicited grants.
*170(b)(1)(A)(ii)
** 170(c)(1)
About the Grants
Individual grants will vary in size, but will be no greater than $25,000. The maximum amount you can request for an unsolicited grant is $25,000.
Though the maximum amount you can request is $25k, award amounts may differ from requested amounts. As a guide, in 2023, we awarded 31 total grants. 21 were for $5,000; five were for $10,000, one at $15,000, and four at $25,000. Funding levels are determined by a variety of factors.
Apply for funding for the program or project that has the greatest need, rather than trying to align with Foundation priorities. While The Campbell Foundation has primarily funded work on the environment in the Chesapeake Bay region and California, we also are deeply interested in supporting nonprofit organizations that engage with and serve diverse populations and constituencies, and seek to dismantle systems that constrain the choices and opportunities of individuals. We have a particular interest in organizations that are helping to promote racial equity.
We encourage you to view our recent unsolicited grant recipients here to gain an understanding of the variety of organizations and projects we support with unsolicited grants
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. We also encourage you to view our recent unsolicited grant recipients here to gain an understanding of the variety of organizations and projects we support with unsolicited grants.
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. While The Campbell Foundation has primarily funded work on the environment in the Chesapeake Bay region and California, we also are deeply interested in supporting nonprofit organizations that engage with and serve diverse populations and constituencies, and seek to dismantle systems that constrain the choices and opportunities of individuals. We have a particular interest in organizations that are helping to promote racial equity.
We encourage you to view our recent unsolicited grant recipients here to gain an understanding of the variety of organizations and projects we support with unsolicited grants.
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 minimum two–year waiting period between applications. As an example, if you applied in Cycle 1 2024 and were declined, you will be eligible to reapply in Cycle 1 2026.
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 applicants. 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 majority of grants that are awarded through this unsolicited cycle are one-time grants.