Why the Marguerite Casey Foundation is leveraging its endowment

Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF) recently announced a bold $130 million  investment to ensure leaders and organizations that best align with our mission have the resources needed to continue critical education efforts, services, and community organizing across the country.  This financial commitment—unprecedented in our foundation’s history—comes as the nonprofit sector faces ever-growing and unprecedented challenges.  

We’re giving beyond our standard grantmaking commitment because we know that giving now is more important than ever. Our board’s unanimous decision to tap into our endowment to make this investment isn’t business as usual. It’s a deliberate response to mounting challenges against nonprofits and the fundamental freedoms they work to protect and represent: the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press.  

We keep hearing from scholars, community organizers, neighborhood leaders, and families that civil society as we know it is at stake. We take the words of scholars, community organizers, neighborhood leaders, and families seriously and are meeting the moment by resourcing them to hold the line, fight back, and plant seeds for a future where people can support positions and hold commitments without fear of retribution. Where everybody sleeps in a safe and decent home and has access to the care they need for their children, elders, and themselves. Where every working person earns enough money to meet all of their needs.   

Our increased grantmaking is aimed at supporting organizing efforts and protecting the ability of nonprofits to serve their communities. 

Investing more in the organizing that matters most  

MCF is proud to support nonprofits like the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), which has been organizing across divisions to protect the most vulnerable among us.  The coalition brought together thousands of people to defeat a Tennessee bill that would have denied public education to the kids of immigrants.  

Consider 80-year-old grandma Lynn McFarland, arrested and carried out of a Tennessee state senate hearing room defending children’s rights to an education. 10-year-old Emmie Wilkins kneeling in front of lawmakers, demanding justice for classmates.  These two snapshots are simply examples of people using the power of organizing to come together. It is actions like these—rooted in solidarity with vulnerable communities—that are building momentum across the country, and our increased grantmaking is designed to not only fuel this work but sustain it.

Responding to threats against nonprofits 

The freedom to give and to serve are core features of the nonprofit sector, supported by long-standing constitutional protections of free speech and assembly. These rights enable nonprofits to focus on community well-being, regardless of political affiliation or ideology, per the IRS exemption requirements for charitable organizations. 

From food banks to disaster relief providers, nonprofits are often the first to respond in times of crisis. By providing accurate information, direct services, and vital community support, these organizations show up for all of us—and now, it’s time for foundations like ours to show up for them. 

In a typical year, MCF distributes around $25 million in grants. This year, our board-approved $130 million grantmaking commitment represents a more than fivefold increase. Of that, $50 million has already been distributed to organizations across issue areas and geographies.  

Funding across the sector  

Our increased grantmaking spans a wide range of issues, including: 

• The National Trust for Local News, which is acquiring 10 newspapers in Texas to preserve independent journalism. 

• More Perfect Union, whose public-interest reporting reached nearly 400 million views in 2024. 

• The National Tenant Union Federation, which is helping families stay in their homes and advocating for renters’ rights. 

• The National Council of Nonprofits, which is working to defend nonprofit access to critical federal resources and investments. 

All in for the freedom to give 

We’re seeing increased attempts to limit or delegitimize the work of nonprofits—especially those involved in civic engagement, a free press, legal aid, and social services.  In some cases, threats of investigation are being used to silence or discredit long-standing institutions. The most powerful people in our country are doxing people who provide community health care, know your rights trainings, and housing.  

We know that many of these organizations are deeply trusted by their communities. With MCF’s increased funding, we aim to help them remain resilient, responsive, and able to continue their missions without disruption. 

But this is only one part of our broader shift toward mission alignment. Over the past four years, we’ve aligned our endowment with our values, screening out harmful investments like weapons manufacturers, predatory loan companies, and imprisonment infrastructure. Our returns are showing that values-aligned investing is both necessary and effective. We’re reimagining what’s possible and continuing to move beyond traditional boundaries, not just with our endowment but in every aspect of our work.  

Why this matters  

We know that if the nonprofit sector falters, so do the communities that rely on it for support. This isn’t just about money; it’s about making sure nonprofits—regardless of where they are or who they serve—can continue to meet the needs of everyday people.  

Many organizations that offer safe spaces for kids after school while their parents work or deliver clean clothes and food after a fire or flood are now at risk. We decided that our moral imperative as a foundation is to serve our grant recipients, especially the ones under explicit attack.  

Tapping our endowment to increase annual grantmaking fivefold is one way we at MCF have decided to show up for our partners. How is your organization thinking about showing up in this moment? 

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