INSTITUTIONAL
GRANTS PROGRAM
The Foundation’s Institutional Grants program seeks to support changes to policy and practice that improve the lives of Latin Americans. The Foundation’s funding encompasses three program areas in which research, innovation, scaling of proven models, and exchange of ideas have the potential to make significant, positive impact.
If you are interested in learning about our current and past grantees, visit our grantee database to learn more.
OUR PROGRAM AREAS
Over the past three decades, the Tinker Foundation has supported Latin American organizations working to advance the rule of law as a foundational element of democratic societies. Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, Tinker provided funding to seminal efforts promoting judicial reform across the region. In the 2000s, we supported organizations across the Americas expanding access to pro bono legal services.
Today Tinker seeks to build on and deepen this commitment by prioritizing projects focused on justice and the rule of law. We will continue to review and consider other Democratic Governance projects on an ad hoc basis through our letter of inquiry process but anticipate focusing our resources on these core issues.
We invite projects that work toward creating and consolidating systems of justice that are independent, effective, reliable, equitable, and transparent. We will consider proposals focused at the national or sub-national level, including those with comparative or regional components. Projects may relate to what could be called the “unfinished work of judicial reform,” i.e., the challenges and opportunities involved with implementing and operating within more recently adopted structures and frameworks.
Areas of interest include:
Tinker will consider a range of project types and methodologies that match our overall grant-making parameters and capacity. These may include research and policy analysis, experimentation with new models and early scale-up of proven approaches, and exchange of knowledge across countries and contexts. We generally do not fund litigation efforts.
We will refine our interest areas and approaches as we learn, along with our grantees, from this work.
Updated January 8, 2024
Over the past decade, the Foundation has supported programs that improve educational access and quality throughout Latin America.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to education in the region, affecting over 140 million students. Learning poverty, the share of 10-year-olds with the inability to read and understand basic texts, may have increased from 50% to as much as 80%. Recent evidence indicates substantial learning loss, with a risk of increased dropout rates, particularly among historically disadvantaged students, such as those living in rural and/or marginalized contexts, from low-income families, and migrants. The Tinker Foundation is committed to prioritizing students from vulnerable backgrounds and addressing the persistent learning gaps that widened because of the pandemic. In addition, the Foundation seeks to support longer-term strategies that lead to more effective, inclusive, and resilient educational systems in the region.
Funding priorities
Tinker welcomes promising projects from across the region that:
- Promote foundational learning recovery and acceleration. After extended school closures and inconsistent access to remote learning, many students have fallen well below grade-level standards. We welcome projects that seek to address these gaps.
- Evolve curricula and teaching approaches. We invite projects that involve work with school systems, educational leaders, and families to promote basic learning and implement evidence-based pedagogical approaches that increase educational equity and quality.
The education program will provide grants to civil society organizations in Latin America aiming to achieve these objectives. Some examples of interventions to be prioritized may include:
- Diagnostics and accelerated learning plans
- Teacher training and coaching
- Tutoring and complementary activities
We welcome projects at different stages of implementation, ranging from experiments and pilots of new models to impact evaluations for promising projects to strategies for scaling up proven interventions.
Applications to the Education program for this cycle should reflect the following criteria. You may also refer to Tinker’s general grantmaking guidelines for all other considerations.
- Funding and Project Duration. From $20,000 to $100,000 per year and up to two years of support, depending on the scope and scale of the project. We will consider projects of up to three years in extraordinary cases where projects focus on securing longer-term changes.
- Educational Level. Tinker will prioritize projects focused on primary school education where early evidence suggests learning gaps are most significant. Promising secondary education programs may be considered in exceptional cases.
- Type of Organization. Civil society organizations founded and based in Latin America will be prioritized. However, regional and international organizations with substantial on-the-ground presence and a proven track record of collaboration with local stakeholders may apply.
- School System. We anticipate many projects will involve working directly with school systems and educational communities. The Foundation generally encourages projects that engage public school systems and students, especially those that serve marginalized or vulnerable populations. The Foundation typically does not fund individual schools.
- Populations Reached. Given longstanding inequities in access to education in the region, the Foundation will prioritize projects that engage students with the following characteristics: residents of rural and low-income urban communities, Indigenous and/or Afro-descendant students, girls, migrants, and internally displaced people.
The Tinker Foundation’s work on the environment is focused on efforts that support sustainable management of habitat and resources and incorporate social and economic dimensions affecting the well-being of local communities. Projects will address these challenges at multiple levels ranging from engaging with policy makers, to capacity building, and standards development and implementation. Funding is available for projects that address one of the following key themes:
2025 INSTITUTIONAL
Grant Cycle
The Tinker Foundation’s Institutional Grants program provides project funding to organizations working to improve the lives of Latin Americans, with an emphasis on support for organizations in the region.
If you would like to apply for funding, visit our application page to learn more.
Cycle 1
Opens January 9
Democratic Governance, Education, and Sustainable Resource Management
Important Note
Tinker will open one grantmaking cycle in 2025
For more information please read this update.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For additional information, please reach out to:
Democratic Governance
Education
Sustainable Resource Management