About Nathan Cummings Foundation
A defining feature of The Nathan Cummings Foundation Inc is its support for place-based systems-change work in Israel-Palestine and the U.S. South, paired with national racial, economic, and environmental justice grantmaking. Across the recent grants list, that shows up in repeated support for New Israel Fund, which received $900,000 in 2023, $896,400 in 2024, and $800,000 in 2025 for general support. The foundation also backs Jewish justice and coalition infrastructure through Social Good Fund’s Rise Up: Nourishing the Soul of Jewish Justice, funded at $400,000 in 2023, $350,000 in 2024, and $250,000 in 2025. Its portfolio includes general support, project grants, fellowships, and targeted place-based initiatives, with grantmaking that reaches grassroots organizers, advocacy groups, and intermediaries. The pattern suggests a funder that uses sustained, multi-year relationships to support movement infrastructure, policy work, and community-led organizing rather than one-off project bets alone. Individual fellowships are also part of the strategy, alongside organizational grants that can be unrestricted or project-specific.
What Nathan Cummings Foundation Funds
In Jewish social-justice and coalition work, the foundation funded Bend the Arc - a Jewish Partnership for Justice with $300,000 in 2023 and $250,000 in 2024 for general support. Media and narrative work appears through Allied Media Projects Inc, which received $300,000 in 2023 and $250,000 in 2024 for Critical Minded. For climate and community control in the Gulf South, Project South Institution for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide was awarded $250,000 in both 2023 and 2024 for Gulf South for a Green New Deal Community Controlled Fund. In economic opportunity and inclusive entrepreneurship, Panorama Global received $250,000 in 2025 for Hyphen Partnerships' Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship. The foundation also supports public-interest policy and accountability through grants to Center for Political Accountability and Open Markets Institute.
How Nathan Cummings Foundation Gives
Recent grants cluster around the $250,000 level, with a typical grant size profile of $5,000 at the 25th percentile, $25,000 at the median, and $100,000 at the 75th percentile. The recent list shows repeat awards to the same organizations across multiple years, including New Israel Fund, Social Good Fund, Project South Institution for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide, Allied Media Projects Inc, Majority Action, Auburn Theological Seminary, and Bend the Arc - a Jewish Partnership for Justice. The foundation is a regular funder and also funds individuals through a fellowship program. Unsolicited applications are accepted for the fellowship, general support, venture grants, and the Israel-Palestine place-based initiative; enterprise grants are not unsolicited.
