With the 2020 election and census on the horizon, the Grants Committee decided to allocate an additional $150,000 to support nonpartisan civic engagement organizations working to increase voter participation and ensure a full and accurate census count — a recognition…
Owe Aku (Norman grantee 2013–2023) was founded in 2012 to engage Native American tribes, Canadian First Nations, and non-Native allies in intergenerational organizing campaigns to preserve Native culture and protect sacred water and land. Through their Moccasins on the Ground program,…
The foundation established a discretionary fund, giving the Grants Committee additional flexibility to respond to emerging needs and opportunities outside the regular grantmaking cycles.
In Detroit and Milwaukee — two majority-Black cities where political disinvestment and economic inequality had long suppressed civic participation — two organizations were building something different: year-round, membership-based civic engagement programs rooted in community relationships rather than election-cycle mobilization. Founded…
Since its founding in 1997, Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT, Norman grantee 2008–2019) has engaged Native Alaskan communities in advocacy efforts for local, state, national and international policies to protect air, water, and food from industrial and military contamination.…
The Jolt Initiative (Norman grantee 2016–2019) was founded in 2016 by Cristina Tzintzun — the co-founder of Norman grantee Workers Defense Project — to build the civic power of the nearly 11 million Latinos who call Texas home. They engage…
The foundation completed and shared with the family a comprehensive fifteen-year report documenting the history, strategy, and impact of Norman’s grantmaking since G4 members assumed leadership in 2000.
In 2002, homeless and unemployed residents of Baltimore founded United Workers Association (UWA, Norman grantee 2010–2021) as a human rights organization focused on ending poverty. They built a grassroots base of over 3,000 members that won increased wages for homeless…
To grow Norman’s assets without disrupting its current share structure, the foundation created a Grants Endowment Fund — a mechanism to receive contributions from individuals, bequests, and transfers from affiliated family funds. Norman’s bylaws were amended so that members can…
The Norman Foundation’s relationship with the NAACP stretches back to the 1950s — one of the longest and most consequential partnerships in the Foundation’s history. Founded in 1942, the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP (NC NAACP, Norman grantee…