The Wallace Foundation

The Wallace Foundation operates almost entirely as an invitation-only funder that designs its own multi-year initiatives and then recruits nonprofits, school districts, and research organizations best positioned to execute them. The foundation's own language makes this explicit: it does not accept over-the-transom requests, and instead 'determines which nonprofits or governmental bodies might be able to help carry out efforts' before extending invitations. This distinguishes Wallace sharply from most private foundations and has significant implications for how grant seekers should position themselves.

Wallace's grantmaking is organized into three discrete pillars — Arts, Education Leadership, and Youth Development — with each pillar driven by a specific knowledge-gap hypothesis. The foundation first identifies what the field does not yet know (the 'Understand' phase), designs an initiative to generate that knowledge while supporting grantees (the 'Generate' phase), and then disseminates findings sector-wide (the 'Catalyze' phase). This means every grantee is expected to contribute to a body of evidence, not just operate their programs.

Organizations that succeed with Wallace share several traits: they operate at scale sufficient to contribute to cross-site learning, they have robust evaluation infrastructure, and they demonstrate a credible equity framework. The grantee roster confirms this pattern — top recipients include RAND Corporation ($9.1M across 16 grants for research and evaluation), Education Development Center ($8.0M across 18 grants), and The Leadership Academy ($8.0M across 18 grants). School districts are also major grantees, with Fresno Unified, Columbus City Schools, San Antonio ISD, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County each receiving approximately $7.9M for the principal pipeline initiative.

The foundation recently extended a meaningful opening to smaller organizations through the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative, which issues annual open calls targeting arts organizations rooted in communities of color. Grants in this track run $200,000–$500,000 — smaller than Wallace's flagship education grants — and the process begins with a competitive application rather than an invitation. For arts organizations that do not yet have a Wallace relationship, this track is the most accessible entry point in the foundation's portfolio.

Across 1,505 recorded grants totaling approximately $325.7 million, the average Wallace grant is $216,403 — though this figure reflects the full historical universe including small pass-through awards and stipends. Wallace's own published benchmark is approximately $400,000 per grant over 2.8 years, which more accurately reflects active multi-year initiative grants.

Grant size varies dramatically by grantee type. Research organizations and technical assistance providers — RAND ($9.1M total), Education Development Center ($8.0M), Family Health International ($12.6M for summer learning research) — receive the largest cumulative amounts across multi-year relationships. School districts participating in the principal pipeline initiative received single tranches of approximately $7.9M each (Fresno USD, Columbus City Schools, San Antonio ISD, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County). Arts research grants under the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative are smaller, typically $200,000–$500,000 per award. Pass-through and technical assistance grants can fall well below $100,000.

Annual giving has declined sharply from its 2022 peak: $112.7M in 2022, $89.6M in 2023, and $54.3M in 2024 — a 52% reduction. This contraction tracks the wind-down of the large principal pipeline initiative ($102M across 10+ districts) and the foundation's transition to new priority areas. Prospective grantees should note that the current available funding envelope is roughly half of what it was two years ago, compressing competition for remaining open slots.

Geographically, New York State dominates with 457 grants (30% of all recorded grants), followed by Washington DC at 215 (14%) and California at 132 (9%). Virginia accounts for 89 grants and Texas 64, largely through summer learning work routed through Communities Foundation of Texas ($27.1M across 9 grants). This concentration in coastal metros and national capitals reflects Wallace's focus on large urban school systems and national-scale arts infrastructure, not rural or mid-size market organizations.

Foundation assets stood at $1.76 billion in 2024, generating $98.3 million in net investment income. The asset base is stable but declining slightly from the $2.04 billion peak in 2021.

The Wallace Foundation sits in a cohort of similarly-sized private foundations in the $1.6–$1.8 billion asset range, but its grantmaking character differs substantially from peers despite comparable endowment size.

Wallace is distinctive in this peer group for three reasons. First, it is the only funder in this asset tier that functions simultaneously as a knowledge producer — publishing hundreds of research reports, evaluation studies, and practitioner guides that are freely available, and treating every grant as a contribution to field-wide learning. Second, its grants are larger and longer than peer foundations: the 2.8-year average duration and ~$400,000 average size exceed what most comparable funders deploy per grant. Third, Wallace is the only peer here with a formal, occasional open RFP process — creating at least a narrow entry point for organizations without existing relationships, unlike Wyss, S&G, or Dalio, which are fully invitation-only. For organizations in arts, education leadership, or youth development, Wallace's combination of scale, learning focus, and limited open access makes it unlike any other funder in its asset class.

The dominant story at Wallace in 2025 was a leadership transition. Jean S. Desravines, former CEO of New Leaders — itself a long-time Wallace grantee focused on developing urban school principals — was announced as the foundation's new president on April 24, 2025, and began his tenure September 1, 2025. The hire signals strong continuity in education leadership programming and may indicate deepened investment in principal pipeline and urban district reform as Desravines brings direct practitioner knowledge to the role.

In October 2025, Wallace announced the Positive Youth Development initiative, its largest new commitment in years: up to $120 million over six years supporting seven communities. Named sites include Adams County and Broomfield County, Colorado; Akron, Ohio; Hamilton County, Tennessee; Poughkeepsie, New York; Monterey County, California; South Salt Lake City and Millcreek, Utah; and Wayne County, New York. This represents the formal elevation of Youth Development to co-equal status with Arts and Education Leadership, and will likely generate new grantee relationships with afterschool providers, workforce organizations, and youth-serving nonprofits in these specific geographies.

On the arts side, the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts research program continued its annual grant cycle: eight grants totaling $2.72 million in January 2025, and four grants totaling $1.95 million in January 2026, bringing cumulative research investment to more than $14 million and 50+ studies since the initiative launched. As of February 2026, there are no active open RFPs on the foundation's website, and Wallace released guidance for grantees navigating federal funding uncertainty — a practical acknowledgment of the political environment affecting the nonprofit sector.

1. Understand this is a relationship funder, not a proposal-review funder. Wallace builds its grantee roster through proactive outreach by program staff, not by reading submissions. The most effective long-term strategy is to become visible and credible in the sectors Wallace cares about — publish findings, present at national conferences (Americans for the Arts, NASSP, Forum for Youth Investment), and get known within the networks Wallace already funds.

2. The RFP page is your only formal open door. Bookmark wallacefoundation.org/requests-proposals and check it weekly. As of early 2026, no active RFPs exist, but the Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative has issued calls roughly once per year since 2022. The next call is likely in late 2026 or early 2027. Subscribe to the Wallace monthly email newsletter to receive early notice.

3. Pick your lane and own it. Wallace organizes everything into three pillars — Arts, Education Leadership, Youth Development. Organizations that blur across multiple areas or that don't clearly fit one initiative are harder for program staff to champion. Know exactly which pillar and which current initiative your work maps to before any conversation.

4. Lead with evidence, not vision. Wallace's grant process explicitly requires formal research participation, external evaluation, and progress reporting. Every interaction — formal proposal or informal conversation — should reference existing outcomes data and evaluation infrastructure. 'Our 2024 evaluation showed a 15% improvement in student attendance' is compelling. 'We believe our model works' is not.

5. Articulate equity structurally, not rhetorically. Wallace defines equity as 'fairness in social structures so that all people have the opportunity and supports they need to reach their full potential.' Vague references to 'diverse communities' or 'underserved populations' are insufficient. Name the structural barrier your work addresses and how your theory of change dismantles it.

6. Frame your work as field-wide learning, not program delivery. Wallace funds grantees to generate insights the entire sector can use. Every proposal should answer: What will the broader field learn from your work, and how will Wallace help share it?

7. For arts organizations specifically: The Advancing Well-Being in the Arts track targets organizations rooted in communities of color, with individual grants in the $200,000–$500,000 range. If your organization works on cultural sustainability, community-based youth arts, or alternative economic models for artists of color, this is the highest-probability entry point in Wallace's current portfolio.