Freedom Together Foundation

Freedom Together Foundation operates as a strictly invitation-only funder — one of the most influential progressive grantmakers in the United States with $3.36 billion in assets and $469.97 million in annual giving as of FY2024. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals under any circumstances; all grantees are preselected by program staff, and the application instructions on file explicitly state "none."

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on the conviction that democracy is built from the bottom up, not conferred from above. President Deepak Bhargava, who assumed leadership in February 2024, has articulated a movement-building framework that consistently prioritizes organizations led by and accountable to working-class communities of color. This is not a funder interested in isolated service delivery or discrete deliverables — the ideal grantee can articulate how their work shifts power at scale and connects to a broader ecosystem of social change.

The historical grantee roster reveals a clear preference for specific organizational types. Top recipients — Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors ($55.15M across 25 grants), New Venture Fund ($38.75M across 41 grants), and Blue Meridian Partners ($47.88M across 3 grants) — reflect the foundation's comfort with large fiscal sponsors, collaborative funds, and field intermediaries. Alongside these infrastructure grantees sit direct-service advocacy organizations like Planned Parenthood Federation ($19.5M across 6 grants), Equal Justice Initiative ($17M across 3 grants), and Community Change ($16M across 7 grants). First-time applicants have the strongest pathway in through aligned field networks, collaborative funding tables the foundation seeds, or direct relationship with program staff.

A significant structural shift since 2024 has been the pivot toward general operating support, which grew from 15% to 37% of total grants in 2025. For organizations with strong organizational health and demonstrated field impact, general operating support is now the preferred grant type. New grantees made up 42% of the 530+ grants issued in 2025, signaling genuine portfolio expansion — but the pathway in remains relationship-driven, not application-driven.

The relationship cycle typically begins at the field level: presenting at convenings where foundation staff are active, being recommended by a current grantee, or surfacing through collaborative funding tables like the Families and Workers Fund, Voter Engagement Fund, or Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, all of which Freedom Together has seeded with multimillion-dollar investments. Prospective applicants should prioritize being visible and credible in these fields before expecting any outreach.

Freedom Together Foundation's grantmaking has grown dramatically over its 13-year history. Total giving in FY2024 reached $469.97 million — a 31% increase from FY2023's $424 million, a 79% increase from FY2022's $359.35 million, and a 213% increase from FY2019's $261.9 million. The FY2015 payout was $149.2 million, meaning the foundation's annual grantmaking has more than tripled in a decade. Across 428 grants with complete data, the median grant is $500,000, the average is $743,783, and the range spans from $1,000 to $15,961,350. Total documented giving across 1,879 tracked grants reaches $1.507 billion.

The largest individual recipient relationships are transformative in scale. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has received $55.15 million across 25 grants, funding collaborative vehicles including the Just Transition Fund, Pop Culture Collaborative, Climate Legal Defense Fund, and CARE Fund. Blue Meridian Partners received $47.88 million across just 3 grants, illustrating the foundation's willingness to make very large bets on high-leverage intermediaries. New Venture Fund has received $38.75 million across 41 grants funding voter engagement, census equity, redistricting, clean energy equity, and housing funds. These top relationships suggest grant cycles of 2-5 years with substantial multi-year commitments.

Geographic concentration skews heavily toward national advocacy hubs. New York organizations received the largest documented share (549 grants), followed by Washington D.C. (438), California (284), Massachusetts (131), Illinois (60), and Virginia (38). This distribution reflects a preference for national policy infrastructure and city-level organizing rather than rural or small-state field operations — though specific grants to Heartland Fund, NY Renews, and Four Freedoms Fund Texas network signal intentional geographic reach-out.

By program area, democracy and civic infrastructure dominates: redistricting, voter engagement, election security, immigrant civic engagement, and anti-poverty policy absorb the largest share. Environmental justice and climate equity form a clear second pillar — Windward Fund ($28.5M+), Movement Strategy Center ($25.95M+), Grid Alternatives ($9M), and Earthjustice ($7.5M). Reproductive health and medical research anchor a consistent third through Planned Parenthood ($19.5M+), Harvard ($17.69M), MIT ($20.67M), and Columbia ($8.3M). Community and worker power — Center for Community Change ($19.8M) and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($10.35M) — complete the portfolio.

Freedom Together stands apart from its asset-class peers in two critical dimensions: payout rate and strategic coherence. While most foundations in the $3-4 billion range maintain a 5-6% annual payout, Freedom Together committed to a 10%+ payout in 2025 and signed the CHANGE Philanthropy Level Up pledge to maintain at least 8% going forward — making it one of the highest-payout foundations in the country at this asset level. James Irvine restricts all funding to California-based organizations, and Moody concentrates almost entirely on Texas. Freedom Together's national scope with explicit progressive movement infrastructure focus gives it a distinctly broader and more politically coherent footprint than either. Margaret A. Cargill Foundation operates comparably at scale but focuses on very different program areas (arts, environment, spiritual life). Among this peer set, Freedom Together is the most programmatically explicit in its mission and the most structurally aligned with the national social movement ecosystem.

The foundation's most consequential recent development is its December 2024 rebranding from the JPB Foundation — a name derived from co-founder Jeffry Picower — to Freedom Together Foundation. President Deepak Bhargava, who assumed leadership on February 15, 2024, framed the name change as a deliberate break from foundation-as-donor-legacy toward a movement-aligned identity that reflects the work rather than the funder.

In December 2025, the foundation announced Venus Phillips as its next Chief Investment Officer, succeeding Gerald C. McNamara, who had earned $1.7 million annually and managed the endowment's growth from $2.75 billion (FY2023) to $3.36 billion (FY2024). Phillips brings private sector and philanthropic investment expertise and is expected to continue the aggressive payout strategy.

The Courage Project launched in May 2025 as a new recognition initiative, with the fourth slate of 12 honorees announced in June 2025. Honorees included Arizona volunteer networks providing humanitarian assistance to migrants and a wildfire survivor running community meals — signaling an interest in frontline visibility that extends beyond financial grantmaking.

In December 2025, Freedom Together signed CHANGE Philanthropy's Level Up pledge, committing to a minimum 8% payout rate. Bhargava's President's Letters throughout 2025 and into early 2026 — including "How Do We Build a Super-Majority for Democracy?" (November 2025) and "Philanthropy's Role in a Time of Crisis" (February 20, 2026) — consistently telegraph urgency and resistance framing. Minnesota coalition-building was featured in two consecutive letters in January and February 2026, positioning the state as a model for the foundation's emerging rapid-response and multiracial organizing investments.

Since Freedom Together Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, conventional grant-writing advice is largely irrelevant. The following tips address the reality of a relationship-driven, invitation-only funder.

Embed yourself in the collaborative funds it seeds. Freedom Together has co-invested in over a dozen collaborative vehicles — the Voter Engagement Fund, Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, Four Freedoms Fund, Families and Workers Fund, Hive Fund, Heartland Fund, and others. Joining these as a member organization, applying through them, or being recognized at their convenings puts your organization inside the network where FTF program staff are active.

Current grantees are the fastest pathway in. Organizations like Community Change, New Venture Fund, Windward Fund, Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, and Tides Foundation all serve as intermediaries and fiscal sponsors for the foundation's work. Partnering with or receiving sub-grants through one of these organizations signals field alignment and credibility to FTF staff.

Use the foundation's vocabulary authentically. FTF's framing is specific: "building power," "multiracial democracy," "movement infrastructure," "working-class communities," "shifting power to BIPOC leaders." Use this language in public materials, annual reports, and field convenings where staff may observe your work — but only where it accurately reflects what your organization does.

Pursue general operating support positioning. The foundation's shift from 15% to 37% general operating support grants means it now prefers funding organizational capacity over project deliverables. Strong financials, transparent governance, a clear member/constituency base, and documented wins make your organization a credible general operating support candidate.

LGBTQ+ is a newly active track. The foundation explicitly stated LGBTQ+ rights as a newly prioritized funding area beginning in late 2024. Organizations doing LGBTQ+ work within democracy, immigrant rights, or reproductive health frames should make this intersection explicit in any outreach.

Contact is appropriate but not a shortcut. Send a brief, honest inquiry to info@freedomtogether.org or call (212) 935-9860. Name your work, your field position, organizational track record, and budget. The goal is to be remembered when program staff begin proactively identifying new grantees — not to force a proposal review.

When invited, expect only 8 application questions (down from 43 prior to the 2024-2025 reforms). Prioritize clarity, evidence, and directness over length. Grant approval timelines have been shortened by 40%, suggesting staff value efficiency.