Grantmaking Process
The Building Bridges Program identifies organizations advancing work in its area of focus: media and the arts.
The program’s grants are primarily awarded to organizations that are invited by the foundation’s staff to submit proposals, or through competitive (request-for-proposal) processes. Grants are limited to 501(c)(3) organizations operating in the United States.
The foundation's staff continually researches opportunities for the program and reviews unsolicited letters of inquiry. However, given limited funding, only a small percentage of grants may be awarded as a result of such inquiries. Letters of inquiry should be submitted electronically using the form linked below.
Start a New Letter of Inquiry
Staff will respond to letters of inquiry within two months and will notify the writer if additional information is desired. Prior to submitting a letter of inquiry, interested applicants are strongly encouraged to review the grant criteria detailed below.
Grant Criteria
The Building Bridges Program awards grants to support initiatives that use arts and media to educate Americans about Muslim societies. The program uses the following criteria when considering grant requests (see Grants Awarded for examples of projects that have received funding):
- Contemporary Focus: The program supports projects that focus primarily on contemporary Muslim societies using media and the arts.
- Educational Outreach: The program supports projects that incorporate educational programming or curricula to extend the experience of exhibitions, festivals, performances and/or films to a broader audience.
- Target Audiences: The program supports projects that define a target audience, and favors initiatives that have broad geographic reach and engage new audiences.
- Defined Indicators of Success: The program prioritizes initiatives that define how they will enhance Americans' understanding of Muslim societies.
- Management Capacity: The program supports organizations with the capacity to manage substantial, multi-year grants and that can successfully build and maintain relatively large-scale programs.
Areas Not Funded
As noted above, grants are limited to 501(c)(3) organizations operating in the United States. At this time, DDFIA does not directly support individual artists and filmmakers.