OAK Foundation makes grants to not-for-profit organizations across the globe that aim to make the world a safer, fairer, and more sustainable place to live. We partner with organizations that work to advance the foundation’s overall mission and strategic goals within programs. Each program has its own funding criteria, geographic scope, and requirements.

In all of our work, we are committed to social justice. To this end, we pursue rights-based approaches, gender equality, and partnership with the organizations we fund. We seek to support innovation, visionary leaders, and organizations. We seek to be inclusive, and flexible, and to learn from different points of view. We believe that the best grant-making reflects both careful due diligence and the willingness to take risks.

We encourage our partners to work together – we believe that together we are stronger. We fund initiatives that:

• target the root causes of problems;

• are replicable either within a sector or across geographical locations;

• include plans for long-term sustainability, such as co-funding;

• strive to collaborate with like-minded organizations;

• demonstrate good financial and organizational management; and

• value the participation of people (including children) and communities.

Our programs:

• Environment

• Housing and Homelessness

• International Human Rights

• Issues Affecting Women

• Learning Differences

• Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

• Special Interest

• Oak Foundation Denmark

• Brazil

• India

• Zimbabwe

Letter of inquiry:

Not-for-profit organizations who have not been invited to apply by a program officer can submit unsolicited requests for funding through our letter of the inquiry process. If an organization believes that strong alignment exists with Oak Foundation’s funding priorities, we encourage it to submit an unsolicited letter of inquiry. We will then invite applications for a grant only if we also find alignment with our funding priorities and if there is an available budget.