Templeton Grants 2026: John Templeton Foundation Guide

Templeton grants open now: 0 open inquiry windows

Grantsights checked the John Templeton Foundation's 3 grantmaking pages on November 10, 2026 and found 0 open inquiry windows and 0 funding competitions listed.

The honest read: nobody new can start a John Templeton Foundation request until the 2027 window opens. The 2026 window closed in mid-July, but this guide doesn't guess the 2027 dates.

How the two-stage process works

According to the how-to-apply page, the process has 2 required stages, and the full proposal is by invitation only.

1. Online Funding Inquiry. A brief form in the Templeton Portal asking for a project title, the amount requested, dates, why the project matters, a short activity description, and the people and organizations involved. Staff review each one for fit with the funding areas. The page is blunt: "We simply cannot fund every good project idea."
2. Full Proposal, by invitation. The page says review "typically takes up to four and a half months," ending in approval, decline or conditional approval.

The FAQ adds rules that shape a request:

• Indirect costs: capped at "no more than fifteen percent (15%) of the total direct expenses," counted inside the total request.
• Length: grants often run up to 3 years, rarely up to 5, and the foundation "will not fund any project for more than five years."
• Several inquiries allowed: you may submit more than one OFI, and the window "may close early" depending on volume.
• No feedback: declined OFIs get none, "given the large number of project proposal submissions."
• Renewals: prior support under $234,800 (or $260,000 for grants starting after January 1, 2022) carries no renewal limits; above that, a renewal needs a 7-year gap or a plan to cover more than 50% of costs from other sources.
• Co-funding: not required of first-time applicants, but substantial co-funding is prioritized.

What it funds and won't fund

The how-to-apply page lists 6 funding areas: Character Virtue Development; Individual Freedom and Free Markets; Life Sciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Public Engagement; and Religion, Science, and Society, plus a Templeton Futures venture on the "Future of Intelligence." Grants go to charitable organizations inside and outside the U.S., and the page says individuals and for-profit companies "should not apply."

The FAQ says the foundation generally doesn't fund buildings, capital campaigns, direct-service programs, college or graduate scholarships, general operating support or disaster relief. It funds "discrete projects."

Common mistake: pitching a program that already runs. Templeton wants a defined project with a question and an end date; an inquiry asking for operating or program support falls outside the process on the how-to-apply page.

Who Templeton grants actually fund

According to Grantsights analysis of the 2024 return, 417 grants worth $132.2 million went to 280 differently named recipients. The median was $228,093, and the middle half ran from $62,919 to $418,804. U.S. organizations received 330 grants worth $105.4 million (79.7%), and 87 grants worth $26.8 million went to 26 other countries, led by the United Kingdom ($11.1 million) and France ($4.8 million). Colleges and universities took 240 grants and 60.5% of the dollars.

California led with 44 grants and $15.1 million, followed by New York ($12.9 million), Massachusetts ($11.5 million), the United Kingdom ($11.1 million), Washington, D.C. ($10.4 million) and Illinois ($7.5 million).

Top recipients on the 2024 return

What it pays for, with named examples

According to the 2024 return data, most lines are research project titles. For example, Baylor received $2,001,684 in 2024 for the Global Flourishing Study's pilot and waves 1 to 5. The University of California, Riverside received $1,776,010 for research on how religious cognition develops, and Georgia State University received $1,213,125 to run a request for proposals on applied research into intellectual humility. The largest single line, $3,399,545 to the Centre pour la Recherche sur l'Espace in France, funds Enrico Fermi Fellowships in theoretical and experimental science.

Each funding area shows up on the list. In Life Sciences, the University of Texas at San Antonio received $1,500,000 for cell culture models of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. In Mathematical and Physical Sciences, LSST Inc in Tucson received $1,054,740 to set up a Templeton LSST early-career research fellowship. In Individual Freedom and Free Markets, the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids received $1,018,000 for its PovertyCure Center and the Human Rights Foundation received $1,000,000 for work defending individual freedoms globally.

Nonprofits outside academia win too, mostly in the Individual Freedom and Public Engagement areas. For example, Atlas Economic Research Foundation received $2,176,681 for work on "ease of employment, livelihood, and formality," Interfaith America received $1,619,530 to build interfaith skills into health professions training, World Science Foundation received $1,365,877 for the World Science Festival's Big Ideas series, and Constructive Dialogue Institute received $1,307,172 to scale character tools.

Small grants exist. Grantsights counted 87 lines under $50,000, including $23,480 to the Center for Christianity and Scholarship in Durham for course development at Duke and $20,420 to iThemba Projects in South Africa. Several small lines are "for general support" to philanthropy networks, such as $50,000 to the Council on Foundations, so the true count of small research grants is lower.

The list also carries the 2024 Templeton Prize: $1,514,578 paid to Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela of South Africa. It's an award to a person chosen by the foundation, not a grant anyone applies for, so it's left out of the figures above.

2023 for comparison

According to the 2023 return data, the foundation listed 402 grant lines and $126,807,051 paid. The how-to-apply page says total giving reached $154 million in 2025 and that it received 3,037 grant inquiries in 2024, which gives a sense of the competition for a few hundred grants a year.

How to prepare for the 2027 cycle, step by step

These 7 steps come from the grant calendar, how-to-apply page and FAQ as checked November 10, 2026.

1. Watch the grant calendar. The foundation says it "will announce its 2027 Cycle Dates in the new year."
2. Pick one funding area and read its page. Staff screen each OFI for fit with a named area. A project that straddles 3 areas reads as unfocused.
3. Confirm your organization can receive the grant. Grants go to charitable entities. If you're an independent scholar, find a university or nonprofit host now.
4. Draft the OFI before the window opens. The form is short, so every line counts: a clear question, an amount, dates and the team.
5. Budget to the rules. Keep indirect costs at or under 15% of direct costs and the project at 3 years or less unless you can justify 5.
6. Line up co-funding if you can. It isn't required for first-time applicants, but the FAQ says substantial co-funding is prioritized.
7. Submit early. The FAQ warns the window may close early depending on volume and quality.

What Templeton's Grant Pages Don't Tell You

Grantsights checked the foundation's grant pages against its 2 most recent returns, and 5 things stood out.

The odds are long and opaque. The foundation reports 3,037 inquiries in 2024 but publishes no success rate, and declined inquiries get no feedback. Don't underestimate the cost of a full proposal when you can't learn why the last one failed.

Elite universities take the biggest share. Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Notre Dame and Yale each received 7 or more payments in 2024. Smaller schools do win (Eastern Illinois University received $100,463 for a project on meaning in post-religious America), but the pattern favors established research teams.

Money keeps flowing to repeat grantees. The 2024 return lists $52,271,141 in grants approved for future payment, and series such as the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project (phases VII and VIII, $2,065,250 in 2024) and St John's College Durham's science and Christian leadership project (phase 4, $1,648,297) show multi-phase funding. A red flag for a first-time applicant is a budget sized like those mature projects.

The renewal rule is stricter than it looks. Above the $234,800 or $260,000 threshold, a follow-up needs a 7-year gap or a plan to raise more than half the cost elsewhere. A team that wins a large first grant should plan its next funder early.

There are 3 Templetons. Templeton World Charity Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust are separate funders with their own processes. Templeton World Charity's home page points readers to RFPs announced through its newsletter, and Templeton Religion Trust's home page says it's a global charitable trust headquartered in Nassau, The Bahamas. Searchers often mix them up.

Where to look between Templeton cycles

The 2027 window isn't posted yet, so researchers need other routes.

Federal science funding: NSF's CAREER program page (opens in a new tab) lists the next deadline as July 28, 2027 and estimates 500 awards a year for early-career faculty; see the NSF CAREER award guide and the NSF grants complete guide. Search all federal opportunities on Grants.gov's search page (opens in a new tab).

Other private research funders: the Simons Foundation grants guide covers mathematics, physics and life sciences funding by request for applications, and the Dreyfus Foundation grants guide covers chemistry. The Spencer Foundation grants guide covers education research, and the Mellon Foundation grants guide suits humanities scholars. For religion projects run by congregations or ministries, see grants for faith-based organizations.

Grantsights tools: the John Templeton Foundation funder page summarizes the grants on its recent 990-PF filings, and the Grantsights grant search helps an institution check open federal and state programs it qualifies for. Grantsights' education funder lists group private foundations that gave for education by state.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights checked 5 Templeton pages and 2 John Templeton Foundation returns on November 10, 2026. ProPublica's record and the return header both show EIN 62-1322826 for the John Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Templeton's grant list is public because federal law requires it. According to IRS guidance on the private foundation annual return (opens in a new tab), every private foundation files Form 990-PF by the 15th day of the 5th month after its year ends, which is May 15 for a calendar-year foundation; the 2025 return wasn't on ProPublica when Grantsights checked. A nonprofit host needs charitable status, which the IRS page on 501(c)(3) exemption requirements (opens in a new tab) explains. To read the grant list yourself, see how to read a 990-PF.

Sources

• John Templeton Foundation: Grant Calendar (opens in a new tab)
• John Templeton Foundation: Apply for a Grant (opens in a new tab)
• John Templeton Foundation: Grant FAQ (opens in a new tab)
• Templeton World Charity Foundation: Home page (opens in a new tab)
• Templeton Religion Trust: Home page (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: John Templeton Foundation filings (opens in a new tab)
• National Science Foundation: Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: Search Grants (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Private Foundation Annual Return (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Exemption Requirements for 501(c)(3) Organizations (opens in a new tab)