Irvine makes grants in three program areas: Arts, California Democracy and Youth. Within each program, we have identified priorities for our grantmaking. Our staff consults with practitioners, researchers, policymakers and a wide range of nonprofits to determine how best to advance these priorities.

When we identify organizations whose work fits well with our program priorities, we may invite them to submit a grant proposal. In addition, Irvine places a premium on long-term partnership with organizations whose priorities align with ours and who have demonstrated a capacity to have positive impact.

As a result of this approach, the majority of our grantees are identified and contacted by our program staff. While we accept unsolicited inquiries from grantseekers, we are able to fund relatively few of them.

In our Arts program, we receive between 250 and 300 inquiries from grantseekers each year. We accept inquiries for arts funding only through our Creative Connections Fund, a competitive, open-application grants program. Please click here for additional information about the Creative Connections Fund.

In our California Democracy and Youth programs, we receive approximately 600 inquiries each year. While we accept unsolicited inquiries for these programs, we are able to fund less than one percent of them. This is because of the more targeted nature of these grantmaking programs. Please click here to submit an inquiry for California Democracy or Youth funding.

We respect the time and effort that goes into submitting a grant inquiry, and we are committed to responding within three months of the date of your submission.

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