OVERVIEW: The Templeton Foundation’s grants support research projects in science, philosophy, theology and economics at elite institutions of higher education. A grantmaking area for public engagement makes grants for the creation of content related to the foundation’s areas of interest across a range of media.
IP TAKE: This is an unusual funder in that its grantmaking, which totals about $100 million a year, largely funds research and writing projects that aim to answer a specific set of “Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.” Grants support elite universities in the U.S. and U.K., as well as faith-affiliated organizations around the world. Grantees tend to be very closely aligned with the foundation’s conservative, religious and philosophical interests. With over $2 billion in possible funding, this is a funder to know if your work aligns, but note that Templeton receives thousands of applications each year and gives out few in relation.
This funder is reasonably accessible, though bureaucratic. It invites prospective grantees to complete an online funding inquiry on its application portal. From these, the foundation selects applicants to submit full proposals. Due dates vary by grant size and program. It’s going to take some extra follow-up and patience here.
PROFILE: The Pennsylvania-based John Templeton Foundation was established in 1987 with a bequest from Sir John Templeton, an American investor who was awarded a Knight Bachelor title after establishing Templeton College, a business school at the University of Oxford. The foundation’s mission is to “support interdisciplinary research and catalyze conversations that inspire awe and wonder.” With an endowment of almost $3.5 billion, this funder makes grants for for higher education, humanities research and science through its six funding areas: Character Virtue Development, Individual Freedom & Free Markets, Life Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Public Engagement and Religion, Science and Society.
Grants for Religious Causes, Humanities and Social Science Research and Community Development
A significant portion of Templeton’s grantmaking supports research and other programs that center on religion and morality. This work, stemming from the Character Virtue Development and Religion, Science and Society giving areas, supports causes in overlapping areas of humanities research, social science research and community development causes.
The Character Virtue Development program funds research “to advance the science and practice of character, with a focus on moral, performance, civic, and intellectual virtues such as humility, gratitude, curiosity, diligence, and honesty.”
In addition to research, grants have supported community organizations to carry out and evaluate character and virtue programming. Specific areas of focus may change annually.
Grantees include research programs at Yale University, the Family and Youth Institute of Michigan and the University of California at Irvine, among others.
Via the Religion, Science and Society program, the foundation supports “the discovery of meaningful and practical insights into the religious, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of humanity.” Grantmaking prioritizes interdisciplinary inquiry and work that “draws from a range of intellectual, religious and spiritual traditions.” The foundation further organizes this grantmaking area into topics of interest including:
- Meaning-making in the Modern World;
- Health, Religion, and Spirituality;
- Understanding Religious and Cultural Change; and
- Timely topics of interest named annually.
Past grantees of the Religion, Science and Society program include research and other projects at Biola University, Interfaith America, the University of Leeds and Indiana University.
Grants for Science Research
Templeton supports scientific research via its Life Sciences and Mathematical and Physical Sciences funding areas, although it is worth mentioning that, with its religious and spiritual underpinnings, this is not a typical science research funder.
The Life Sciences program supports research that addresses fundamental questions about life including its origin and limits. The foundation is also interested the questions of “What processes led to the evolution of humanity, and can we predict future evolutionary outcomes?”
This is one of Templeton’s newer programs, and it has subsumed some of the work that the foundation formerly supported via its a new program, that has subsumed some of the work supported by its past Exceptional Cognitive Talent & Genius and Genetics funding areas.
Life Sciences grantees include Global Viral, which received funding for its research on “the origins, evolution and diversity of life on Earth and beyond,” and Harvard University’s Ancient DNA Atlas of Humanity.
The Mathematical and Physical Sciences funding area supports “research seeking to shed light on the fundamental concepts of physical reality” and “the interplay between these sciences and broader human experience.” Grantmaking targets projects that address one or more of three areas of interest: cosmology, quantum foundations and complexity and emergence. The foundation further organizes grantmaking into inquiries that bear on:
- Questions of human reasoning, including studies of objective realities and those involving artificial intelligence;
- Cultural and social perspectives on scientific practice and the interpretations of findings and discoveries; and
- Inspiring awe and wonder, especially programs that provide outreach to “those populations/demographics less engaged by conventional outreach methods.”
- Past grants have supported projects and programs at universities and institutes including Harvard University, France’s Centre pour la Rechereche sur l’Espace, le Temps and le Quantum, the University of Maryland and the University of California at Berkeley.
Grants for Work, Opportunity and Democracy
The Templeton Foundation’s Individual Freedom & Free Markets giving area “supports education, research, and outreach projects to promote individual freedom, free markets, free competition, and entrepreneurship.” According to the program’s web page, this work is based in theories of “classical liberal political economy” and the equality of all people. This program names three main areas of interest:
- Research projects in the “classical liberal tradition[s]” of politics, philosophy and economics;
- Projects that address basic political freedoms and “how those rights are effectively maintained in pluralist societies”; and
- Projects that address poverty in the U.S. and around the world through a the lens of “market- and enterprise-based solutions.”
Grants stemming from this program have supported researchers and research teams at the University of New Orleans, the State Policy Network, Justitia and the University of Pittsburgh.
Grants for Journalism, Media and Higher Education
Templeton’s final grantmaking area, Public Engagement, works broadly to support content creation for learning, leadership development and public outreach. Projects types include:
- Documentary and video projects;
- Radio programs and podcasts;
- Writing and publishing projects;
- In-person and online events;
- Thought leadership; and
- Programs for colleges and students.
Grants have supported the National Geographic Storytelling Project, New York Public Radio’s Radiolab program, the Templeton Film Fund at the Sundance Institute and a program at Northeaster University that helps scientists and philosophers with public communication strategies.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
Each year, the Templeton Foundation, in collaboration with the Templeton World Charity Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust, awards a $1.1 million (GBP) Templeton Prize to recognize “individuals whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton’s philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.” Past recipients include the health care advocate Edna Adan Ismail, Jane Goodall, King Abdullah II of Jordan, the Dalai Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu, among others.
Important Grant Details:
The Templeton Foundation’s grants range anywhere from $5,000 to $15 million. Most awards fall in the $15,000 to $800,000 range and the average grant amount is around $450,000. There a lot of untapped funding here, but with so many applicants, it will be harder for new grant seekers to get noticed.
More than half of its recipients are institutions of higher education, and while grantmaking is global in scope, the U.S. and the U.K. appear to be the foundation’s top geographic priorities.
While this funder supports organizations of all sizes, grantees tend to be very closely aligned with the foundation’s conservative, religious and philosophical interests.
For additional information about Templeton’s past grantmaking, see the foundation’s searchable grants database.
Application for Templeton grants begins with the foundation’s online funding inquiry, which can be accessed through the application portal. If selected, applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. Due dates vary by grant size and/or program; applicants should consult the foundation’s grant calendar and FAQ for further information.
- General inquiries may be directed to foundation staff via the organization’s contact page.
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