Hearst Foundations Grants 2026: Rules and How to Apply

Hearst Foundations grants open now: 4 routes checked

Grantsights checked 4 Hearst routes on November 9, 2026. One is open to organizations, and it's open all year.

Our honest read: for an organization, there's one door. It's always open, but only for groups that clear the audited-expense bar of $2,000,000 and haven't had a Hearst grant in the past three years.

How the Hearst Foundations' 2 foundations work as one

The Hearst Foundations' About page explains the setup in 3 facts. William Randolph Hearst founded The Hearst Foundation, Inc. in 1946, and in 1949 he set up the California Charities Foundations, later renamed the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The two are "managed as one entity, sharing the same funding guidelines, leadership and staff." And where you're located decides who reviews you: staff in New York City review proposals from organizations east of the Mississippi River, and staff in San Francisco review those west of it.

You don't choose a foundation. You submit one application, and the Hearst staff decide which foundation pays. That's why it makes sense to read the two returns together.

According to the About page, the foundations have made more than 23,500 grants to 6,600 organizations since inception, nearly $1.7 billion in all, and hold about $1.5 billion in assets. The foundations separated from the Hearst Corporation after the Tax Reform Act of 1969, and the FAQ calls them independent private philanthropies.

Who qualifies for Hearst Foundations grants: 14 limits

According to the Funding Limitations page, checked November 9, 2026, the foundations don't fund 4 types of organizations:

• groups based outside the United States;
• groups with audited expenses under $2,000,000;
• groups going through a leadership transition, or with new leadership in place for less than a year;
• groups that aren't 501(c)(3) organizations (an IRS determination letter is required to receive funding).

It also rules out 10 kinds of requests: festivals, tours, conferences, workshops or seminars; radio, film or television production; publications, books, magazines or newspapers; advocacy or public policy research; special events, tickets, tables or ads for fundraisers; seed money or pilot programs; established programs without demonstrable long-term impact; program-related investments; scholarships for students studying or living outside the U.S.; and capital projects that are less than 50% of the way to their fundraising goal.

A few things are possible only "in limited cases": endowment grants, faith-based organizations whose services are inclusive and fit the guidelines, groups without other regional or national support of $100,000 or more, and local chapters of national organizations (Hearst usually funds the national headquarters).

If you're still getting your exemption in order, IRS Publication 557 (opens in a new tab) explains how an organization requests the determination letter that Hearst asks for, and the IRS page on 501(c)(3) exemption requirements (opens in a new tab) sets out the organizational and operational tests.

What each of the 4 funding areas pays for

Each area page lists its share of recent funding and how much went to large organizations. The minimum grant in every area is $100,000.

The share columns are Hearst's own figures, not Grantsights estimates. They answer the size question better than the $2 million floor does: in culture, education and health, most of the money goes to organizations several times bigger than the minimum.

Who Hearst Foundations grants actually fund

According to our analysis of the 2024 returns, the two foundations paid 288 grants worth $50,545,000 to organizations in 37 states and Washington, D.C. after the exclusions in the data note. The median was $150,000, and the middle half ran from $100,000 to $200,000. That's a tight band: 237 of the 288 grants fell between $100,000 and $249,999.

The most common amounts were $100,000 (84 grants), $150,000 (70), $125,000 (39) and $200,000 (35). The 4 grants under $100,000 were 3 Hurricane Helene relief grants of $75,000 and one $75,000 general operating grant to The Atlanta Music Project.

For comparison, the 2023 returns list $17,550,000 paid by The Hearst Foundation and $36,856,583 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

Where the money went

New York led by far with 78 grants worth $16.7 million, a third of the analyzed dollars, followed by California (45 grants, $8.1 million), Texas ($2.95 million), Massachusetts ($2.4 million), Florida ($2.3 million), Washington, D.C. ($1.4 million), Illinois and North Carolina ($1.25 million each). Recipients in states that lie mostly west of the Mississippi received 95 grants worth $16.8 million, about a third of the total, so west-side applicants aren't an afterthought.

Named examples from the 2024 returns

The largest grants went to big institutions with capital plans. New York-Presbyterian Hospital received $2,000,000 toward a new cancer building, and the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach received $1,000,000 for its expansion and renovation. Other 2024 grants of $500,000 included the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's capital campaign, Covenant House's anti-trafficking program, Harvard University's Phoebe Apperson Hearst Scholarship, Columbia University's journalism scholarship, the Children's Museum of Manhattan's move into a restored landmark building, and Save the Children's early learning work in rural areas.

Most grants look like this instead. For example, Juilliard received $500,000 in 2024 for performing arts scholarships, but the typical grant was far smaller and tied to one program:

• Rubicon Programs, California: $175,000 for reentry services
• Family Gateway, Texas: $200,000 for its family shelter and overflow hotel program
• Kanbe's Markets, Missouri: $125,000 to expand healthy corner stores
• Community Servings, Massachusetts: $150,000 for its Food is Medicine meals program
• Project HOME, Philadelphia: $100,000 for health care for low-income and homeless patients
• Spectrum Youth & Family Services, Vermont: $100,000 for a drop-in center for youth

Smaller places get funded too. A food bank in Hawaii, The Food Basket, received $100,000 for its emergency food program in 2024, and Auburn University Foundation received $125,000 for the Alabama Prison Arts Education Project.

How to apply for a Hearst Foundations grant, step by step

The 2026 application instructions and the How to Apply page lay out 7 steps.

1. Check the waiting periods first. You can't apply within 3 years of your last Hearst award date or within 1 year of a decline. The portal won't even show the eligibility questions if you're inside either window.
2. Read the limits and your area page. Confirm audited expenses of $2 million or more, a leader in place for at least a year, and a request type the Funding Limitations page allows.
3. Coordinate inside your institution. Universities and medical centers must send one proposal through the central development office.
4. Create a portal account. Register on the Hearst Foundations Grants Portal with a named work email (no shared inbox) and your organization's EIN. If you used the portal before August 2025, reset your password instead of making a new account.
5. Take the eligibility quiz. Ineligible organizations are declined. Then enter the purpose, type of support and amount requested (at least $100,000).
6. Complete every section. The instructions say a submittable application needs all required fields, reviewed narratives, three measurable benchmarks and every requested attachment. Drafts stay in the system for 3 months, then they're removed.
7. Submit once and track it. Watch the portal dashboard. If you've heard nothing after 6 weeks, the instructions say to email support.ny@hearstfdn.org (east of the Mississippi) or support.sf@hearstfdn.org (west of it).

After that, the evaluation process page says program staff review each request on their own, then discuss it as a team, with a financial analysis and impact review. Requests that move forward get a site visit, the board meets quarterly, and the average time from submission to award is 6 months. Grantees report through the Hearst online reporting portal until funds are spent.

Common mistake: sending two applications, one for each foundation or one per department. The FAQ asks for a single application to the Hearst Foundations, and the second one won't double your chances.

What the Hearst Foundations' Pages Don't Tell You

Grantsights checked the Hearst pages against the two foundations' 2023 and 2024 returns, and 5 things stood out.

The "80% to past grantees" rule cuts both ways. The evaluation page says about 80% of annual funding goes to past grantees and 20% to new partners. Yet only 14 of 2024's 288 recipients also appear on the 2023 returns, because the 3-year wait spaces out repeat grants. A new applicant is competing for roughly a fifth of the money, against a pool of former grantees cycling back in every few years. Don't underestimate how much a past Hearst grant helps.

The $2 million floor isn't the real floor. Hearst's own area pages say organizations with budgets over $10 million received 60% to 80% of culture, education and health funding. A $2.5 million museum is eligible, but it's competing with LACMA and the Norton.

Capital requests have a hidden gate. Capital projects must already be 50% of the way to their fundraising goal. Grantsights counted 42 grants worth $10.85 million in 2024 whose purpose mentions capital, construction, renovation or expansion, so capital money is real, but only for campaigns already well underway.

Disaster grants break the pattern. Eleven 2024 grants worth $1.1 million went for Hurricane Helene relief, including 3 grants of $75,000, below the stated minimum. Those weren't listed as an open program on the site, so treat them as Hearst-initiated responses, not a route to apply for.

The student programs inflate the count. The William Randolph Hearst Foundation's return lists 264 payments, but 87 of them are small student awards paid through colleges. Anyone sizing Hearst from a grant count alone will see more, smaller grants than organizations actually get. It's a red flag if a database shows Hearst making $2,500 grants to colleges: those are scholarship payouts, not grants a college applied for.

A 4-question fit check

Answer these in order; a "no" to either of the first 2 means don't apply yet.

1. Do your audited expenses top $2 million, with a leader in place for a year?
2. Has it been 3 years since your last Hearst award, or 1 year since a decline?
3. Is the request a proven program, capital campaign past 50%, or general support (offered in social service, and only on a limited basis in culture and education)? Pilots and seed money are out.
4. Do peers your size show up on the returns? Search the foundations' Grant Recipients Database (opens in a new tab) or the 990-PF lists for groups like yours in your region.

Plausible fit, for example: a regional food bank with $8 million in audited expenses asking for $150,000 toward produce purchasing. Poor fit: a $900,000 community theater asking for $100,000 to launch a new summer festival, which fails both the budget test and the festival rule.

Where to apply if Hearst isn't a fit yet

Hearst's rules leave out most small nonprofits, so these routes matter for groups under the $2 million bar or inside a waiting period.

Arts and culture groups: according to NEA guidelines on its Grants for Arts Projects page (opens in a new tab), organizations with at least 5 years of arts programming and $20,000 in operating expenses can request $10,000 to $100,000, with a 1:1 cost share. Its two 2026 deadlines (February 12 and July 9) have passed, so plan for the next cycle. For private funders, see grants for arts organizations, best grants for arts nonprofits, the museum grants guide and the Mellon Foundation grants guide.

Health and social service groups: the hospital foundation grants guide and the food bank grants guide list funders with different size rules. Groups hunting for general support can compare funders in grants for nonprofit operating costs.

New York and California groups: these two states took nearly half the 2024 money, and both have deep local funding; see New York nonprofit grants and California nonprofit grants.

Other private foundations: foundation grants for nonprofits and the family foundation grants guide cover funders with lower floors, and the letter of inquiry guide helps where a funder wants a short first approach.

Grantsights tools: the funder pages for The Hearst Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation summarize each foundation's 990-PF filings. Grantsights' education funder lists sort private foundations by cause and state from their own 990-PF grant records, with a free look at your state. The Grantsights grant database lists open programs.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights checked 12 Hearst pages and documents and 4 returns on November 9, 2026. ProPublica's records show EIN 13-6161746 for The Hearst Foundation, Inc. and EIN 13-6019226 for the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, both in New York.

Both Hearst grant lists are public because of the federal filing rule. According to IRS guidance on the Form 990-PF annual return (opens in a new tab), every private foundation files one each year, whether or not it had activity. If you want to scan the lists for peers, the 990-PF reading guide shows where Part XV's grant list sits.

Related Guides

• Grants for arts organizations
• Foundation grants for nonprofits
• Grants for nonprofit operating costs
• New York nonprofit grants

Sources

• Hearst Foundations: About (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: FAQ (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Funding Limitations (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Grant Request Evaluation Process (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: How to Apply (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Funding Priorities in Culture (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Funding Priorities in Education (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Funding Priorities in Health (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Funding Priorities in Social Service (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Application Instructions 2026 (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Foundations: Grant Recipients Database (opens in a new tab)
• United States Senate Youth Program (opens in a new tab)
• Hearst Journalism Awards Program (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: The Hearst Foundation, Inc. filings (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: William Randolph Hearst Foundation filings (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Private Foundation Annual Return (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Exemption Requirements, 501(c)(3) Organizations (opens in a new tab)
• National Endowment for the Arts: Grants for Arts Projects (opens in a new tab)