Civis Foundation

Civis Foundation operates as a quintessentially trustee-directed private foundation, with Eric Galloway serving as the sole uncompensated trustee across multiple years of IRS filings. Every major funding decision flows from a single decision-maker — a structural fact that shapes every aspect of how organizations should approach this funder.

The foundation's published mission — invest in arts and letters, cultural preservation, and community initiatives that inspire awareness of 'the other' — is explicitly rooted in James Baldwin's writing ('to encounter oneself is to encounter the other; each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other'). Proposals must engage this framework authentically. Civis is not looking for organizations that quote Baldwin; it is looking for organizations whose work structurally confronts otherness, builds empathy across divides, and advances civic responsibility.

The grantee portfolio reveals two parallel tracks. The first is a decades-long commitment to progressive social advocacy — drug policy reform (Drug Policy Alliance, $7.95M; Marijuana Policy Project Foundation, $2M), LGBTQ+ services and rights (Ali Forney Center, Callen-Lorde, Trevor Project, Williams Institute at UCLA), environmental protection (NRDC, $1.75M), and reproductive rights (Planned Parenthood Action Fund, $1.5M). This track appears to have been central through roughly 2023 and reflects Galloway's personal priorities rather than a formal program structure.

The second track, now dominant, is an arts-and-democracy model with two flagship programs: The Democracy Cycle (25 performing arts commissions over 2024-2026, managed through PAC NYC at $60K each) and the Civis Hope Commissions ($5M endowed fund at Fisher Center at Bard, launched April 2025). These programs favor established performing artists with at least two completed full-length works proposing new projects in theatre, opera, dance, or multidisciplinary performance.

For first-time applicants, the single most important insight is this: outside the Democracy Cycle open call, Civis does not accept unsolicited proposals. The foundation's 'preselected_only' designation confirms that virtually all other grantmaking occurs through relationships established by Galloway personally. Organizations seeking access to the foundation's broader social-justice portfolio should pursue institutional connections with PAC NYC, Fisher Center at Bard, and SOHO REP — Civis's program delivery partners — rather than approaching the foundation directly. There is no LOI process, no grant portal, and no published application deadlines for general grantmaking.

Civis Foundation's financial profile underwent dramatic transformation over the past decade. Assets stood at $14-23M annually from 2012 through 2020 before a $51 million contribution in fiscal year 2021 catapulted the endowment to $83.5M — and total assets have remained above $74M since. As of the fiscal year 2024 filing, total assets are $88.1M with annual revenue of $14.4M.

Annual grantmaking has averaged roughly $11-15M over the most recently reported years: FY2021 ($11.47M grants paid), FY2022 ($10.72M), and FY2023 ($14.62M). The FY2024 filing shows unusually low reported charitable disbursements of $231,500, which likely reflects a transition year in which major commitments — such as the $2.5M contribution to the Hope Commissions endowment announced April 2025 — had not yet been formally paid out within that fiscal period.

Across 98 documented grants totaling $40.47M, the median individual grant is $75,000 and the average is $234,105 (pulled upward by large outliers). The documented range runs from $15,000 at the low end to $4.95M at the high end. In practice, a clear majority of grants to social-sector organizations fall in the $50,000-$300,000 range, while multi-million-dollar transfers are reserved for Civis's affiliated Galvan entities: Galvan Initiatives Foundation ($7.64M across 3 grants) and Galvan Foundation Charitable Trust ($5.67M across 2 grants), which together represent 32.8% of all documented grantmaking.

By geography, New York-based organizations dominate at 74.5% of grants (73 of 98). Washington, D.C. accounts for 11.2% (11 grants), reflecting national policy organizations including NRDC, Marijuana Policy Project Foundation, and Media Matters for America. California accounts for 4 grants; Colorado for 3.

By program area (inferred from grantee names): drug policy and harm reduction organizations represent approximately 26% of total giving. LGBTQ+ organizations account for roughly 5-6%. Environmental and reproductive-rights organizations combined represent approximately 8%. Social services — housing, legal aid, food security, juvenile justice — account for roughly 6%. The Democracy Cycle commissions each carry a fixed award of $60,000. The Hope Commissions endowment will generate grants from a $5M corpus in perpetuity, with per-commission amounts not yet publicly specified.

Civis Foundation occupies an unusual niche: it is smaller and more donor-directed than the large LGBTQ+ and criminal-justice funders with whom it shares significant grantee overlap, yet its new performing arts programs position it alongside literary and arts foundations such as Lannan. The clearest operational peer for arts applicants is the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation — also a NY-based private foundation combining arts and civic life with a relatively accessible application process — though Clark operates at roughly one-third of Civis's asset scale. Arcus Foundation shares the LGBTQ+ and social-justice priorities visible in Civis's historical grantee roster. For performing arts commissions specifically, the Democracy Cycle competes for the same artist pipeline as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's performing arts program and the Map Fund, both of which offer comparable commission-level funding for new live performance works in the $25K-$60K range.

The 2025-2026 period has been Civis Foundation's most publicly active in its history, marked by three major programmatic launches announced in rapid succession.

In April 2025, the foundation announced the Civis Hope Commissions, contributing $2.5 million to create a $5 million endowed fund (matched by Bard College) at Fisher Center at Bard College. The inaugural cohort of three commissions includes Jubilee, a new musical by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks inspired by Scott Joplin's Treemonisha (directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, with a semi-staged preview at SummerScape 2025); an operatic adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer (composed by Courtney Bryan, directed by Daniel Fish); and an adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (conceived by Barrie Kosky with music by Adam Benzwi). Productions will premiere and tour nationally and internationally over the next three years.

In May 2025, Civis acquired the historic Shakespeare's Head building in Providence, Rhode Island for $750,000 to establish the Center for Reflective History at Primus House, focused on uncovering social histories spanning two-and-a-half centuries.

In December 2025, the foundation launched The Hunger Cycle with SOHO REP — a new theatrical series publicly announced in American Theatre in March 2026. Also in June 2025, Savannah Performance Alliance received a $12,500 matching grant, indicating continued small-scale project support outside the flagship programs.

Eric Galloway remains the sole trustee; no leadership changes or new board appointments have been reported. Prior to these arts initiatives, Civis maintained a substantially lower public profile.

For the Democracy Cycle (deadline: April 28, 2026 — 16 days from today):

Applications are submitted through the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) website, not through civis.org. The $60,000 award is split as $30,000 commission plus $30,000 in development support. Two prior full-length publicly premiered live performance works are a hard eligibility floor — document these clearly with premiere dates and producing organizations. U.S. citizenship is not required but applicants must manage U.S. tax implications as if receiving U.S.-taxable income regardless of country of residence.

The content requirement is specific: works must examine 'themes relating to the nature, practice, and experience of democracy.' Generic civic language will not suffice. The strongest applications will treat democracy as explicit subject matter structurally embedded in the work — not merely as backdrop or inspiration. Study the inaugural Hope Commissions cohort (Parks/Joplin, Williams opera, Yentl) for the aesthetic register Civis finds compelling: historical American artifacts reinterpreted through contemporary artists.

Artists who applied in 2024 or 2025 and were not selected may reapply with the same project, provided they update the timeline and respond to any new questions. Lead artists may submit only one application per cycle.

For approaching Civis outside the Democracy Cycle:

The most reliable path to general funding is institutional affiliation with Civis's program partners — Fisher Center at Bard, PAC NYC, or SOHO REP. Organizations that develop commissioning, production, or residency relationships with these partners enter Civis's network organically. Cold outreach to the foundation is unlikely to yield results.

For social-justice organizations, Civis's historical grantee list shows consistent multi-year support at $50K-$300K annually for drug policy reform, harm reduction, and LGBTQ+ services — but these grants reflect Galloway's personal relationships, not a formal program. Access requires a warm introduction from a current grantee.

Always frame proposals using the interdependency framework: how does this work 'inspire awareness of the other' and 'foster responsibility for a shared and interdependent future'? Metrics-only proposals will be less compelling than those articulating transformative civic imagination.