The Scherman Foundation Awards $5.85 Million in 2025 Fall Grantmaking
The Scherman Foundation is pleased to announce $5.85 million in 2025 fall grants across our core program areas and through our Response and Future Fund. With the completion of the fall grantmaking cycle, the Foundation has made 162 grants totaling $11.68 million in 2025.
This December, the Scherman Foundation made 55 core grants totaling $4.58 million across the Foundation’s program areas of Arts, Democracy, Environmental and Climate Justice, Reproductive Justice, and Strengthening New York Communities. These multi-year general operating and project grants reflect our ongoing commitment to organizations working at the intersection of racial justice and systemic change. Scherman’s grantees use organizing and movement-building to strengthen the power of communities to drive political, economic, and cultural transformation.
Earlier this year, the Foundation launched a Response and Future Fund in addition to its core grantmaking. This new Fund provides rapid, flexible support to organizations on the frontlines working to weather the current political climate and defend civil society and communities under attack. The Fund also supports a small number of organizations driving innovation in movement-building. The Foundation is funding this additional grantmaking by increasing its annual payout to 10%—up from its regular 6%—resulting in an additional $10 million in grants over the next two years. To date, the Foundation has awarded $4.7 million through the Response and Future Fund, with $1.27 million distributed in this fall cycle.
The Foundation's December grantmaking reflects its belief that this moment demands both immediate support and long-term investment in movement infrastructure. By providing critical funding to organizations facing harsh realities—from federal cuts to heightened security needs—while simultaneously investing in creative solutions and organizational resilience, the Foundation aims to resource both urgent needs and future wins.
The full list of grantees in the 2025 fall cycle is as follows:
Core Grantmaking
651 Arts
Advocates for Youth
ANHD Preservation Campaign
Appalachian Voices
BAAD
BRIC
Caribbean Equality Project
Center for Community Alternatives
City Lore
Climate & Clean Energy Equity Fund
Community Voices Heard
Dance/NYC
DRUM
Good Old Lower East Side
HERE
If/When/How
In Our Own Voice
Invest in Our NY
Labor Network for Sustainability
Laundry Workers' Center
Let us Breathe Fund
Long Island Unity Fund
Movement Theatre
New York Communities Organizing Fund, Inc.
New Yorkers United for Child Care
North Star Fund
Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
Ohio Women's Alliance
Pennsylvania Voice
Pregnancy Justice
ProGeorgia
Progressive Multiplier Fund: RJ Cohort
Public Policy and Education Fund
Push Buffalo
Rewire
Right to Counsel
RJ Collab+
TakeRoot Justice
The Flea
The WOW Project
Treeage
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
UPROSE
VOCAL
We Testify
We the People NJ Coalition
WeAct
Weeksville
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice
Response Fund
BRIC
City Lore
HERE
Long Island Unity Fund
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
New York Community Organizing Fund, Inc
Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
Physicians for Reproductive Health
ProGeorgia
Push Buffalo
Right to Counsel
Take Root
URGE
Weeksville
Youth Ministries of Peace and Justice
Future Fund
Progressive Multiplier Fund
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The Scherman Foundation invests in the economic, political, and cultural transformation necessary for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to reclaim and build power. Learn more about our vision and current grantmaking priorities.
While our Response and Future Fund grants are by invitation only, the LOI process for our Core Grantmaking will open in February 2026. More information will be posted to our website. We invite funding partners and press to contact us with questions at info@scherman.org.