Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship Program

Posted by on August 13, 2012

Nathan Cummings Foundation Launches New Fellowship Program
Deadline: September 14, 2012

The Nathan Cummings Foundation, a New York City-based grantmaking organization which seeks to build a socially and economically just society that values nature and protects the ecological balance for future generations, promotes humane health care, and fosters arts and culture that enriches communities, has announced the Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship.

The new program will award three visionaries $100,000 each for one year along with the office space needed to turn “an inspired idea into a game-changing reality.”

Successful applicants will be proven risk-takers who are ready to build on the Nathan Cummings Foundation’s strengths, question its assumptions, and be open to new approaches. Fellows’ projects will be expected to build on NCF’s current portfolio by pushing beyond its boundaries and opening productive new lines of inquiry, asking provocative questions, challenging conventional wisdom, and developing new ideas, approaches, and strategies.

Applicants must be United States citizens, able to work from the foundation’s office in New York City, and have a track record of risk-taking, out-of-the-box thinking, and a proven ability to turn ideas into action.

Proposed projects must demonstrate exceptional vision and relate to the foundation’s mission or core program areas — arts and culture, contemplative practice, ecological innovation, health, and Jewish life and values. (The fellowship committee will review proposals that relate to NCF’s mission and approach to grantmaking even if they do not directly relate to the core programs.)

The fellow’s work for the year can include the creation of a product such as a book or report, white paper, blog, video, public hearing, presentation, the launch of an initiative, campaign, or nonprofit organization, or other creative work product. While the products may be as diverse as the problems that applicants seek to remedy, the projects should be clear, concrete, actionable, and inspiring.

A complete description of the fellowship, application information, and an introductory video are available at the Cummings Foundation Web site.

http://www.nathancummings.org/grant-programs/cummings-fellowship