Grantmaking Guidelines
2026 Multiyear Grant Guidelines
Our Grantmaking Goals
In 2024, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation implemented a new grant approach intended to help nonprofits working in the Arts, Arts Education, and Student Academic Success build their organizational capacity and effectiveness in ways that lead to long-term sustainability.
Because our interest in sustainability, we want to understand nonprofit organizations' operating goals and strategies aimed at building and strengthening capacity. Our funding decisions center on an organization's internal operating goals, strategies, and implementation plans. Of particular interest in our review process are the relevance of the operating goals on organizational effectiveness and long-term sustainability and the "why now" question: Why is this particular moment the time to focus on these operating goal(s)?
To support organizations' ability to build and strengthen capacity, we make operating support grants that provide flexible funding.
While our focus is on supporting long-term organizational sustainability, we do take programming strength into consideration to ensure alignment with our three focus areas: the Arts, Arts Education, and Student Academic Success. Please review Our Grantmaking Approach and the Arts, Arts Education, and Student Academic Success focus areas to learn more about specific goals and eligibility requirements.
The Arts
- Support arts organizations that demonstrate artistic excellence and elevate the profile of the Triangle's art scenes, both locally and nationally.
- Support arts-focused organizations that work directly with artists to deepen and expand talent, create new works, promote visibility and sales for artists, and/or develop artists' professional and business skills.
Arts Education
- Support organizations that provide opportunities for PreK-12 students to engage directly in high-quality arts instruction in which students actively participate in making art.
Student Academic Success
- Early Learning Programs: We support PreK organizations whose primary purpose is kindergarten readiness. Evidence-based programs are a plus.
- Academic Achievement: We support organizations whose primary purpose is to support K-12 students' academic achievement. These include organizations that build academic skills through structured academic learning opportunities and/or structured tutoring and professional training for teachers and tutors that align with the standard NC curriculum. Evidence-based programs are a plus.
Across both Arts Education and Student Academic Success interest areas, MDBF seeks to address and challenge inequities that limit student success, learning, and arts experiences.
Information about MDBF's one-year grant program will be shared in Summer 2026.
3-Year Grants
Each year, we will award 5 multiyear general operating support grants to nonprofit organizations that further our grantmaking goals. Grant amounts range from $20,000-$50,000 a year for each organization. MDBF has a finite budget and may not be able to fund the full amount requested. If your application moves forward, MDBF staff will work with your organization to determine the actual requested amount. Please know that there is no penalty for requesting the maximum amount at the LOI stage.
Multiyear grants are only available to organizations that MDBF has funded in the previous five years. Both developing nonprofits and established organizations are eligible for these grants. All organizations must have a primary focus on the Arts, Arts Education, or Student Academic Success. Organizations must be located in and main programming must take place in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and/or Wake Counties, NC.
Assessment Criteria
Applications are assessed on the following criteria for advancement in the review process:
- Relevance of the organization's operating goal(s) on organizational effectiveness and long-term sustainability.
- Significance and immediacy of the organization's pivotal moment. Why now? Why is this particular moment the time to focus on the operating goal(s)?
- The organization's capacity to achieve its goal and feasibility for implementation.
- The organization's distinct approach and role in the Arts, Arts Education or Student Academic Success landscape in its county of the Triangle region.
- The organization's strength of programming and alignment with the foundation's focus areas in the Arts, Arts Education or Student Academic Success.
- Consideration of the organization's current life stage in the nonprofit life cycle.
For information regarding an organization's pivotal moment and life cycle stage, please review Our Grantmaking Approach.
General Eligibility Requirements
- 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or be sponsored by a qualified fiscal agent. If this organization or initiative has a fiscal sponsorship, it must have an advisory board working with the founder.
- A mission, goals, and programming directly related to at least one of MDBF’s grantmaking goals (see above) and programming must be currently offered.
- Multiyear grants are only available to organizations that MDBF has funded in the previous five years.
- A demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in its governance, staffing, and participants (students or artists).
- A current or expected expenses budget under $2,000,000 (fiscal sponsors are exempt from this stipulation).
Grant Restrictions
- Organizations that have an interim or new executive director (hired within the past 6 months) are not eligible.
- Public schools and charter schools are not eligible.
- We do not make project-based grants.
- Organizations whose primary mission and focus is on the humanities or history are not eligible.
- University affiliated-organization are not eligible to apply.
Please refer to Arts, Arts Education, and Student Academic Success focus areas for additional grant eligibility requirements and restrictions.
Multiyear Grantmaking Timeline
January 15, 2026 - Virtual Information Session about the 2026 Multiyear Grant. Register for the session here. A recording of the webinar will be shared on our website.
January 16, 2026 - Begin accepting open-submission letters of inquiry (LOI) from organizations that meet all or our eligibility criteria via an online form in our grant portal. Information requested in the LOI form may be previewed here.
January 20 - February 6, 2026 - 30 minute Pre-LOI advisory meetings with MDBF staff are available. A link to schedule these calls will be made available on our website on January 15.
February 15, 2026 - Deadline for the Multiyear Grant LOI
March 2026 - Follow-up conversations with ~10 selected organizations. All applicants will be notified about the status of their application.
June 2026 - All approved Multiyear grants will be awarded.
Grantmaking Considerations
In our selection process for both grant cycles, we seek diversity and representation so that our grant portfolio mirrors the richness of our community. Some of the criteria we use to prioritize and weigh grant applications to reflect this aspiration include:
- Programming in all four counties in our geographic focus—Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake
- Organizations that are led by people of color and leaders with lived experience (on staff and/or board leadership)
- Organizations that advance the well-being of rural communities and that acknowledge their unique challenges and contributions
- Organizations at different life stages: developing and established organizations