OVERVIEW: The Burning Foundation supports environmental programs and teen pregnancy prevention in Washington and Oregon.
IP TAKE: While the foundation’s focus is two-pronged, the bulk of its grantmaking goes toward environmental work; its teen pregnancy prevention grants are fewer and smaller. Burning accepts letters of interest, and although it has a sparse website, this is an accessible funder with a strong interest the states of Washington and Oregon.
PROFILE: The Burning Foundation was established in 1998 by Microsoft veteran David Weise and family. Weise pioneered the development of Windows 3.0, Microsoft’s first commercially successful operating system. David Weise graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics. He cofounded software company Dynamical Systems Research (DSR) in Oakland, which sold to Microsoft. Weise went on to be the lead person responsible for Windows 3.0, which substantially strengthened Microsoft’s position in the software industry. Weise was also on the faculty of the electrical engineering department at Stanford University. His wife, Alisa, and a brother, Daniel, (who also worked at Microsoft) serve on the board. The foundation’s stated mission is to “protect our region’s rivers, forest, native fish and land” and “to develop pregnancy prevention strategies for teens.”
Grants for Environmental and Freshwater Conservation
The foundation’s environmental programs center around Washington and Oregon and promote “the preservation of habitat that supports biodiversity and quiet remote recreation.”
- The foundation articulates a preference for local and state-level initiatives as opposed to national organizations.
- Grantees include the Cascade Forest Conservancy, Conservation Northwest, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Oregon and the Oregon Natural Desert Association.
Grants for Women and Reproductive Health
The Burning Foundation’s teen pregnancy prevention focus area funds “evidence-based” programs to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy in Washington and Oregon.
- Funding has gone to school- and out-of-school sex education programs, as well as clinics that provide “information and services on birth control, choice, and sex education.”
- Past grants have supported Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette, Seattle’s Neighborcare Health and the Foundation for Youth Resiliency and Engagement in Omak, Washington.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $10,000 to $25,000. Giving is mainly limited to the states of Washington and Oregon.
- Well over half of this funder’s grants support environmental groups, with small, community-led outfits well represented among Burning’s grantees.
- Grants for teen pregnancy prevention are fewer, and tend to support well-established organizations with a strong record of success.
- This funder accepts letters of interest for its two annual grantmaking cycles. Due dates fall on the last Fridays in March and September. Full proposals are invited by the foundation. See instructions here.
- For information about past giving, see the foundation’s eview the foundation’s grants page or its past tax filings.
Contact the Burning Foundation via email at grant-management@burningfoundataion.org. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (206) 920-6252.
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