The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive, and satisfying lives. The Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within culture, education, health, and social service, primarily serving large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. They prioritize organizations achieving truly differentiated results, with an emphasis on sustainability beyond their support.
The Hearst Foundations’ Education Grant aims to support educational institutions that demonstrate uncommon success in preparing students to thrive in a global society. The focus is largely on higher education, but funding also goes to innovative models of early childhood, K-12 education, and professional development. The Foundations can fund only about 25% of all grant requests, with 80% of the awarded grants going to prior grantees and 20% to new grantees. Around 30% of total funding is allocated to education, favoring organizations with annual budgets over $10 million. Types of support include program, scholarship, capital, and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support. The minimum grant size is $100,000.