Blog : Opportunity Fund

OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $1,112,500 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $1,112,500 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

PITTSBURGH, PA, June 8, 2021 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $1,112,500 in its seventh year of grantmaking. The increased amount awarded is a result of the Board of Directors’ decision to release funds at rate of 6% of its net assets annually, rather than the minimum of 5% that private foundations are required to payout.

The Board, along with two community panels, funded 70 out of 114 requests that were seeking a total of $1,807,926. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.

Including this current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 667 grants totaling over $8.7 million since its inception in 2015. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and July 15 each year. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.

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OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $783,686 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $783,686 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

PITTSBURGH, PA, December 14, 2020 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $783,686 in its tenth cycle of funding. The Board of Directors, along with two community panels, funded 61 out of 114 requests that were seeking a total of $1,683,849. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.

Including this current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 593 grants totaling over $7.6 million since its inception in 2015. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and July 15. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.

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ARTS | EQUITY | REIMAGINED FUND LAUNCHED

Arts Equity Reimagined Logo

The Covid-19 Arts Working Group (CAWG), a collaboration of 15 foundations and a private donor in the Pittsburgh metro area, announces the Arts | Equity | Reimagined Fund, in response to the unprecedented and ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region’s arts and cultural sector. The fund is intended to foster collective action and identify creative solutions to operating challenges as nonprofit arts organizations navigate these uncertain times. While the fund is open to all arts and cultural organizations, in recognition of long-standing disparities in funding, it will prioritize small to medium-sized arts organizations and those that serve or are led by historically marginalized communities in southwestern Pennsylvania, whether they be urban or rural in location.

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We Are Letting This Moment Change Us

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, ED of the Highlander Center often says, "Fund us like you want us to win."

To Our Community,

The thing about a moment is that it comes and goes. We have seen moments when the hope of racial justice seemed within reach and, every time, we have seen them go.

We are now in a precious moment of potential. The racism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness that is baked and caked in/onto American life—and that results in an ever-evolving but systemic devaluation of Black life, meant to protect and grow the standing of white people—is, for growing masses of us, exposed. And vulnerable.

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OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $638,500 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $638,500 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, 917-613-1509, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

PITTSBURGH, PA, June 12, 2020 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $638,500 in its ninth cycle of funding. The Board of Directors, along with two community panels and a panel of advisors, funded 53 out of 103 requests that were seeking a total of $1,512,418. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.

Including the current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 524 grants totaling over $6.5 million since its inception in 2015. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are around January 15 and July 15 each year. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.

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Honoring Our Commitments to You

Honoring Our Commitments to You

To Our Community,

Just as we were beginning to get a sense of how profoundly COVID-19 would disrupt our lives, we wrote to you. We said, “This is a time for foundations to listen, to remove barriers, to increase support, and to act quickly.” We said we were accountable to you. We made commitments to you.

A month has passed. What have we done to honor our commitments?

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2020 COVID-19 RESPONSE GRANTS

2020 COVID-19 RESPONSE GRANTS

CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, 412-362-1300, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

PITTSBURGH, PA; APRIL 30, 2020 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $515,300 to-date as part of its strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March, the Opportunity Fund signed a national pledge, publicized its commitments, and created a $500,000 COVID-19 Response Fund to provide (1) general operating support for small and mid-sized arts organizations and (2) flexible funds for grassroots entities organizing toward social/economic justice and emergency response.

“This is a time for foundations to step deeper into our roles as community partners by removing barriers, increasing support, and acting quickly,” said Jake Goodman, Executive Director of the Opportunity Fund.

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Our Commitments to You

To Our Community,

COVID-19 is already affecting all of our lives, some more profoundly than others.  This is a time for foundations to listen, to remove barriers, to increase support, and to act quickly.

Along with hundreds of other funders across the nation, we have made our general commitments public. But more specifically, the Opportunity Fund is accountable to you. While we are still actively determining much of our COVID-19 strategy, we want to share with you some of the preliminary commitments we are making:

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COVID-19 Message to Grantees

TO ALL ACTIVE GRANTEES: as we all work to determine the precautionary measures we wish to take to guard against COVID-19 (the coronavirus), we wanted to make sure you saw our message to you:

The work you do is vital. It is life-saving, life-giving, visionary. We are proud to be actively supporting a portion of the work you currently do.

We are also aware–as you surely are, yourselves–that COVID-19 is quickly spreading across the world. We take the sober view that COVID-19 will soon make its way to Pittsburgh or wherever else you live and do your work, if it has not already.

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