OVERVIEW: The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is a global grantmaker that supports a range of social justice causes, including racial equity, economic justice, gender justice, democracy, human rights and LGBTQ causes. The U.S., Africa, and Central and South America are geographic priorities.
IP TAKE: Wellspring is one of the largest grantmakers within the U.S. that prioritizes social justice and progressive grantmaking. Importantly, Wellspring plans to wind down its grantmaking by 2028. As reported at Inside Philanthropy, Wellspring’s largest donor, hedge funder C. Frederick Taylor, is shifting the bulk of his funding to a new philanthropy, the Sequoia Climate Foundation. The latter began as a “spinoff” from Wellspring. For now, Wellspring’s grantmaking continues to be thematically and geographically expansive. The fund’s website refers mainly to the thematic underpinnings of its giving, with a focus on racial, gender, and economic justice, as opposed to more specific funding priorities and strategies, making it somewhat opaque. Wellspring does not accept unsolicited proposals, and it appears to fund many of the same organizations year after year, making this a difficult funder to approach. That said, detailed information about Wellspring’s grantmaking can be found at is annual 990 federal tax filings. Some of the fund’s grantmaking may eventually be subsumed by the Sequoia Climate Foundation. An open letter at Wellspring’s website states that “Wellspring remains committed to supporting our grantees through this transition.”
PROFILE: The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was established in New York City in 2001. According to its website, it “is supported by donors who share a common belief in and respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is one part of a larger philanthropic project, Wellspring Philanthropies. While the Fund’s grantmaking is somewhat transparent—grantees are listed in the Fund’s annual tax filings—other projects of Wellspring Philanthropies are more opaque, with some funding filtering through LLCs and DAFs and supported projects not publicly shared. Wellspring’s primary funder is the hedge fund billionaire C. Frederick Taylor, who co-founded TSG Management. While public-facing material about Wellspring references multiple donors, it’s unclear who the other donors are and the extent of their involvement.
The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund’s three trustees are C. Frederick Taylor and his two brothers, John R. Taylor and W. Myles Taylor. John R. Taylor is the Fund’s president. The fund’s mission is to support “the realization of human rights and social and economic justice for all people.” Wellspring’s grantmaking is organized by “approaches” and “motifs.”
- Its approaches to grantmaking involve strengthening enabling conditions, opportunistic or responsive giving, and curated/thematic support for “key social change outcomes.”
- The fund’s “motifs” are racial justice, gender justice and economic justice.
- Wellspring’s grantmaking is global in scope, prioritizing organizations in the U.S., Africa, and Central and South America.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Wellspring names racial justice as one of three motifs that run through all of its giving.
- Grantmaking for racial justice focuses on efforts to eliminate structural racism and empower communities of color in the U.S.
- Past racial justice grantees include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and the Alliance for Youth Organizing, among others.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
Wellspring’s economic justice motif overlaps with its racial justice work to address problems related to economic inequality and “systemic drivers” of inequity.
- The fund does not name specific areas of focus for this giving, but grants appear to support policy development and advocacy at the national level, as well as regranting organizations.
- Grantees include the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which has received support in the millions, the New Venture Fund, Accelerate Change and the Center for American Progress.
- A smaller portion of this giving supports organizations working at local and regional levels. Recipients include Project South: The Institution for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, Arch City Defenders of St. Louis and San Francisco’s Praxis Project.
Grants for Women, Girls, LGBTQ Causes
A third motif, gender justice, centers on U.S. and global efforts to advance the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ populations.
- A significant portion of recent funding has addressed reproductive rights and health in the U.S. Grantees include the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice.
- Other grants for women’s and girls have gone to the Global Fund for Women, South Africa’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative, the Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism and the Frida Young Feminist Fund.
- LGBTQ funding has supported the Astraea Foundation, the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Gender and Sexualities Alliance Network of Oakland.
Grants for Democracy and Civic Engagement
Across all areas of giving, Wellspring prioritizes “encouraging vibrant, responsive participatory democracy.” Grants support a broad range of progressive policy, organizing and voter engagement initiatives.
- Large, national organizations like State Voice and the Common Cause Education Fund, have received grants of up to $2 million in recent years.
- Other grantees include Tennessee’s Highlander Research and Education Center, New York’s Center for Constitutional Rights and the Project on Government Oversight.
Grants for Global Development and Human Rights
Wellspring’s grantmaking for racial, economic and gender justice extends around the world. The fund supports global progressive causes via U.S. and foreign organizations. Africa and Central and South America emerge as areas of priority.
- Wellspring gave more than $11 million to the Jewish World Service in a recent year. Other recipients of large sums include the Fund for Global Human Rights and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- Grantmaking for Africa appears to prioritize women’s and children’s causes. The fund has supported the California-based Firelight Foundation, which supports children’s well-being in the southern region of Africa. Other grantees include South Africa’s Sexual Violence Research Initiative, the African Child Policy Forum and the AfriChild Centre in Uganda.
- Grantees in Central and South America are typically involved in democracy, rights and economic opportunity. Grantees include the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; the Center for Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Peru; Fundacion Fondo de Mujeres Del Sur in Argentina; and Mexico’s Insituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir.
- Other global grantees include the Africa Transitional Legacy Fund, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Mexico’s Fondo Semillias and Mama Cash, an organization based in the Netherlands that works to protect the rights of women, girls and LGBTQ people around the world.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
Wellspring has made grants to U.S. organizations involved in criminal justice reform, as this area overlaps with its social, racial and economic justice focus areas. Grantees include the Sentencing Project and Los Angeles’s New Way of Life Reentry Project.
Important Grant Details:
Wellspring’s grants vary in size considerably ranging from $100 to over $11 million. Most grants stay under the $500,000 mark.
- This funder works broadly to support a range of social justice causes around the world.
- Wellspring supports organizations of all sizes.
- Global grantmaking mainly targets Africa and Central and South America.
- The fund plans to complete all grantmaking by 2028.
- Wellspring does not accept unsolicited proposals.
- Grantseekers may reach out to the foundation through (212) 609-2622.
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