With a belief in the power of art, storytelling, and working together for the common good, we make grants and co-create projects that help build a shared democracy, tell an honest and generative narrative about this country, and foster a culture of accompaniment.

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Our Mission

Like art, philanthropy begins with ideas. For us, philanthropy is a process and practice—one that requires time, effort, learning, partnership, intention, and invention to spark moral imagination and create new possibilities.

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Our Approach

We support, generate, and test ideas and efforts that help build:

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Our Strategy & Grantees

Across all of America, our grantees are hard at work. Building a culture of connection, care, and kinship. Organizing multiracial movements that demand prosperity and equity for all. Fighting to not just safeguard, but expand the right to vote. Working at the intersection of art, storytelling, and justice.

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A Story of this Moment

Founded by journalists David Bornstein, Courtney Martin, and Tina Rosenberg in 2013, Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) teaches and spreads the practice of Solutions Journalism—that is, reporting that focuses on solutions, not just challenges. SJN launched a new initiative called “Complicating the Narrative” in 2019 to help journalists apply strategies developed by conflict mediators that lead to more constructive news coverage of polarizing issues. SJN has developed a set of skills and tools journalists use to source, report, and produce stories in ways that reduce rather than inflame divisions and divides, foster empathy, and illuminate pathways forward.

Solutions Journalism Network

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Solutions Journalism Network 1

Beyond the headlines.

One America Movement (OAM) envisions an America where social cohesion is strong and groups work together constructively across differences to confront pressing issues like race relations, poverty, opioids, immigration, and more. The nonprofit organizes and facilitates politically, racially, and religiously diverse groups made up of unlikely partners that work together, talk together, volunteer together, visit one another’s houses of worship, and join forces to improve their communities through joint action.

One America Movement

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Beyond the separation.

Project: One Small StepSince its founding in 2003, StoryCorps has brought more than 600,000 people together to record conversations about their lives, pass wisdom from one generation to the next, create human connection, and leave a legacy for the future at the Library of Congress. From these interviews, StoryCorps creates award-winning audio and visual content that is shared with a national audience of tens of millions through digital and public media. Seeing an opportunity to use the power of conversation to help heal America’s political divides, StoryCorps piloted One Small Step in 2018. Built on contact theory, One Small Step brings strangers together across political divides to record conversations about their lives. In 2020, the initiative expanded to include public awareness campaigns and local, on-the-ground programming in select cities. One Small Step’s overarching goal: to convince the country that it's our patriotic duty to see the humanity in those with whom we disagree.

StoryCorps

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Beyond the vitriol.

Founded in 2007, the National Domestic Workers Alliance lifts up and makes visible the more than 2.5 million individuals who make up the care industry in this country. With more than 70 affiliate organizations and local chapters, NDWA advocates for specific labor protections for domestic workers while also serving as a powerful voice for racial and economic justice more broadly. It has helped inject the idea of a “care economy” into the national dialogue, and build coalitions to lead other important projects and initiatives like the Families Belong Together coalition.

National Domestic Workers Alliance

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There you will find a new culture of care.

Founded in 2019, the American Exchange Project is a domestic exchange program that combats polarization by inviting graduated high school seniors to spend a week in a U.S. city or town that differs from their own. Itineraries focus on culture, politics, work, and fun. All AEP trips are free, facilitated by local educators trained in advance by AEP staff, and designed to connect young people to each other and to their country.

American Exchange Project

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More in Common

There you will find Americans willing to bridge difference.

Led by civil rights leader and lawyer Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative provides legal representation and assistance to individuals in need. EJI’s work includes challenging wrongful convictions and sentences, dangerous and inhumane prison conditions, and abusive treatment of children in the adult criminal justice system. In April 2018, EJI opened the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, to educate the public about our country’s history of racial injustice and to memorialize African American victims of racial-terror lynchings.

Equal Justice Initiative

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There you will find a deeper reckoning.

One Fair Wage is a coalition of more than 240,000 service workers, more than 800 restaurant employers, and dozens of organizations working to improve wages and working conditions in the service sector nationwide. Its work to lift tipped workers out of poverty includes policy advocacy, voter engagement, worker and employer organizing, and culture-change initiatives.

One Fair Wage

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Where human dignity is honored. 

Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute is dedicated to expanding Black voter engagement and increasing power through movement-building and engagement. Working with grassroots organizations, specifically in key states in the South, BVM seeks to increase civic engagement, protect and expand the freedom to vote, and develop infrastructure where little or none exists to support a power-building movement that keeps Black voters and their issues at the forefront of our election process.

Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute

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Black Voters Matter

Where everyone has access to the vote.

Rural Democracy Initiative (RDI) is a funder collaborative supporting long-term progressive organizing infrastructure and narrative work in small towns, small cities, and rural communities across the country. Its Heartland Fund supports more than 100 organizations across the country, nearly half of which are led by or primarily serve people of color. RDI brings together organizations from rural communities across the country to establish collective policy goals, share best practices, and develop powerful narratives that can change the story about what is possible in rural America.

Rural Democracy Initiative's Heartland Fund

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Rural Democracy Initiative

Where no community is overlooked.

Firelight Media&nbsp;is a premier destination for nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color. Firelight Media produces documentary films, supports filmmakers of color, and cultivates audiences for their work. Firelight Media’s programs include the Documentary Lab, an 18-month fellowship that supports emerging filmmakers of color; Groundwork Regional Lab, which supports filmmakers in the American South, Midwest, and U.S.-controlled territories; and the William Greaves Fund for mid-career nonfiction filmmakers from racially and ethnically underrepresented communities.&nbsp;

Firelight Media

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Where narratives of America include us all.

The Deep Canvass Institute (DCI) trains volunteers and organizations to listen without judgment, share heartfelt stories that bind us together, and process conflicts in ways that result in cultural, social, and political shifts. A joint project of People’s Action Institute and the New Conversation Institute, DCI helps others build empathy and change hearts and minds through the practice of deep canvassing – an approach that research shows to be uniquely effective. Since launching in 2021, DCI has trained thousands of volunteers and partnered with organizations across the country to build out deep canvass programs and campaigns on divisive political issues like immigration, public safety, and climate.

Deep Canvass Institute

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Deep Canvassing Institute

Where people listen deeply.

MASS Design Group’s mission is to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. MASS—which stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society—collaborates with nonprofits, activists, artists, and communities on projects that reimagine the built world around us to foster environmental, physical, and social health. Through projects in affordable housing, hospitals, schools, memorials, and public planning, MASS donates more than a million and a half dollars a year to organizations&nbsp;without access to the spatial services they need. Current projects in the United States include affordable housing developments for Indigenous communities, a memorial for victims of gun violence on display in Washington, D.C.,&nbsp;rethinking public infrastructure in America's fringe dities, and a new memorial—in partnership with artist Hank Willis Thomas—honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King on the Boston Common.

MASS Design Group

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MASS Design

Where art and design are in service to justice. 

Young Storytellers puts young people at the center of their own narratives by teaching them that their stories matter and celebrating their unique voices as storytellers. The nonprofit runs creative writing and self-expression programs that invite students to tell their stories and see them brought to life by professional actors in more than 50 schools nationwide. Young Storytellers also recently launched STORY TIME, a free online tool that guides students through the storytelling process from wherever they are.

Young Storytellers Foundation

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Young Storytellers

Where youth are giving voice to a shared future. 

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Bears Ears

Where the land and its people are honored. 

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Home

Where everyone feels at home. 

A Story of This Moment

With the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation approaching in 2026, where do you see possibility taking shape and what do you dream for this country?

Whether we recognize it or not, our lives are filled with boundless possibilities – from hobbies that become passions to coworkers that grow into lifelong friends. Possibility awaits around every corner, and America is filled with corners.


Whether we recognize it or not, our lives are filled with boundless possibilities – from hobbies that become passions to coworkers that grow into lifelong friends. Possibility awaits around every corner, and America is filled with corners.

I see promise in the art that this generation's creators are making. I see it in the food that this generation's chefs are cooking. I see it in the stories that this generation is telling.

It's tempting to say that possibility lies in the next generation, or the next administration, or the next technology, but I see the most opportunity in our capacity to forgive. To acknowledge the need for forgiveness is to admit the existence of pain; it is not something weak. It is not something powerless. It doesn't gloss over the harm done or dismiss the history passed. Instead, the practice of forgiveness is a crucible that bonds us together and opens the space where our future comes into bloom. Where there is healing, there is possibility. Where there is forgiveness, there is a future.

It's tempting to say that possibility lies in the next generation, or the next administration, or the next technology, but I see the most opportunity in our capacity to forgive. To acknowledge the need for forgiveness is to admit the existence of pain; it is not something weak. It is not something powerless. It doesn't&nbsp;gloss over the harm done or dismiss the history passed. Instead, the practice of forgiveness is a crucible that bonds us together and opens the space where our future comes into bloom. Where there is healing, there is possibility. Where there is forgiveness, there is a future.

I see possibility in my two-year-old nephew, who is a daily reminder of the importance of dancing, singing, calling your loved ones, following your dreams (in his case, meeting a firefighter), appreciating small joys (riding the ferry, packages, trees) and most of all, the ability to fall down, get back up, take a deep breath, and try again.

I see possibility in my 2-year-old nephew, who is a daily reminder of the importance of dancing, singing, calling your loved ones, following your dreams (in his case, meeting a firefighter), appreciating small joys (riding the ferry, packages, trees) and most of all, the ability to fall down, get back up, take a deep breath, and try again.

I see opportunity in my beautiful friends actively working to make the world a better, fairer place.

I see opportunity in my beautiful friends actively working to make the world a better, fairer place.

I see the most potential for our country in our immigrant population. They are full of new enthusiasm and drive. Especially the kids of immigrant families. They are our future.

Despite the divide in media rhetoric, almost all Americans are conservationists; everybody wants clean air, clean water, biodiversity, and access to public spaces where nature can flourish. My dream is to see political will aligned with our hearts so that we may better protect our natural resources and environment. It seems like we’re only a handshake away from the right level of investment in everything from the quarter-acre city park to the million-acre national forest; we just have to take the political toxicity out of the debate.


People are organizing to create structural changes that affect every person in this country—changes like cutting child poverty in half. And new visions are emerging for transformative change, like reimagining public safety and spreading recognition of the depth of white supremacy and the scale of efforts needed to address it—changes that were unimaginable only recently.

People are organizing to create structural changes that affect every person in this country—changes like cutting child poverty in half, which passed this year. And new visions are emerging for transformative change, like reimagining public safety, and spreading recognition of the depth of white supremacy and the scale of efforts needed to address it—changes that were unimaginable only recently.

If you look not at national politics but at local places—the towns and neighborhoods where people live and have a sense of community—you will see opportunity everywhere. I believe most Americans want to find a way to make things work for all Americans. We have to lead our leaders to start living that way.

If you look not at national politics but at local places—the towns and neighborhoods where people live and have a sense of community—you will see opportunity everywhere. I believe&nbsp;most&nbsp;Americans want to find a way to make things work for&nbsp;all&nbsp;Americans. We have to lead our leaders to start living that way.

I see possibility in resolution. In solving the division within its own borders, America can show the world what’s possible when we all come together.

Possibility is reflected in the very idea of America and its radical ideals of equality and liberty. Though we've never reached them, and have often embodied the very opposite, the act of organizing ourselves to close the gap is more than just a daring dream: it is a living practice. An emergent democracy—a multiracial democracy in which we each belong—glimmers hopefully in the limelight. It also grows quietly among ordinary people making different decisions that enable opportunity to be unlimited by the circumstances we were born into. 

An emergent democracy—a multiracial democracy in which we each belong—glimmers hopefully in the limelight. It also grows quietly among ordinary people making different decisions that enable opportunity to be unlimited by the circumstances we were born into.&nbsp;

I see optimism in the pages of my local newspapers.

I see optimism in the pages of my local newspapers.

America began as a struggle and the struggle continues, even as it evolves. Embracing the struggle is critical to our continued renewal. Democracy is impossible without political and economic struggle. Many things threaten our democracy. Nothing more so than silence and complicity. When we engage the struggle, alone and together, we create new possibilities.

America began as a struggle and the struggle continues, even as it evolves. Embracing the struggle is critical to our continued renewal. Democracy is impossible without political and economic struggle. Many things threaten our democracy. Nothing more so than silence and complicity. When we engage the struggle, alone and together, we create new possibilities.

I see possibility in fair working wages. I hope that one day we can all have a minimum standard of living so we don’t have to take things out on each other all the time.

Everywhere I go, from the Southside of Chicago to the US Capitol to rural Michigan, I see Americans who are profoundly worried about the future of their country—and also exhausted. They want something else. They are desperate for a better way to co-exist, even as they continue to disagree. This hunger for a more evolved form of conflict—in politics, in journalism, on social media—gives me hope. The demand is pent-up and growing; we have only to meet it.

Everywhere I go, from the Southside of Chicago to the US Capitol to rural Michigan, I see Americans who are profoundly worried about the future of their country--and also exhausted. They want something else. They are desperate for a better way to co-exist, even as they continue to disagree. This hunger for a more evolved form of conflict--in politics, in journalism, on social media--gives me hope. The demand is pent-up and growing; we have only to meet it.

I see possibility in the millions of Americans who every day tune out the dysfunction and the division and roll up their sleeves to make our country stronger and more united. The Americans who serve their neighbors, strengthen their communities, and build this country. They disagree about many things, but they share a common trait: a desire to build rather than tear down. A desire to be constructive and not destructive. Their spirit is too infrequently reflected in our politics or our culture, but it is the spirit of America's highest aspirations.

 

After the pandemic, I see possibility in the workforce. One that is less education-based and more experience-based. My dream for America is inclusion and peace amongst everyone, no matter their background.

I see the possibility of America becoming a global leader in literacy for young people in schools. I know we can achieve this, and it is happening NOW. 

In moments of uncertainty and possibility, we turn to artists to guide us. Activist and artist Jonathan Lykes shares a chant to summon those who preceded us and to inspire us to be ancestors to the America that we want to build.

Start With Poetry

Our Mission

Justice. Equity. Connection.

One creative act at a time.

Our Approach

Philanthropy as a creative act.

Our Strategy & Grantees

Building a shared America.

A Story of this Moment

The next America is being built.

Imagine with us.

The journey toward justice is long.

Nourishment for the road ahead.

The Hearthland Foundation

Start With Poetry