[Crwt-undergrad-info] Fwd: Coalition Launches Historic $50 Million Initiative to Bolster Nonprofit Literary Arts

[Allison Hedge Coke]

Date: Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Subject: Fwd: Coalition Launches Historic $50 Million Initiative to Bolster
Nonprofit Literary Arts
To: Allison Hedge Coke <allisonh at ucr.edu>




---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Poetry Foundation* <media at poetryfoundation.org>
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Subject: Coalition Launches Historic $50 Million Initiative to Bolster
Nonprofit Literary Arts
To: HEDGECOKEAA at gmail.com


Poetry Foundation Press Release

*New York, NY, October 28, 2025* – Today, a coalition of seven charitable
foundations—the Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Lannan Foundation,
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Poetry
Foundation, and an anonymous foundation—announced the launch of the *Literary
Arts Fund*
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=3340e1a8b3&e=a3c3e092cd>,
an unprecedented effort to dramatically boost the essential yet critically
underfunded nonprofit literary arts field in the United States. The fund,
initiated by Mellon as a collaborative effort in service of the field’s
needs and promise, will distribute at least $50 million over the next five
years, with continued fundraising planned.

“Art does not find its way forward in a search for commercial success.
Without nonprofit publishers American letters would have stalled long ago,”
said *Percival Everett, poet and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
**James*. “This initiative demonstrates the kind of spirit that we hope our
writers exhibit. This is the kind of support that will reinvigorate the
entire artistic landscape of our culture.”

The nonprofit literary field comprises hundreds of charitable organizations
and publishers that serve writers and readers in ways that are distinct
from commercial publishing. These organizations champion established
writers, critical first-time and historically underrepresented authors, and
provide a home for the intellectually rigorous and artistically adventurous
voices whose work deepens and challenges our culture. They bring literature
to communities nationwide—hosting book festivals and events that connect
authors and readers across the country; broaden the reach of writers by
publishing works in translation; mentor and encourage authors through
retreats and residencies; and celebrate artistic achievement through
literary awards and fellowships. Together, these efforts sustain the
vitality and independence of American literature and ensure that a wide
spectrum of voices and ideas continues to shape our collective imagination.

Literature is the least-supported artistic discipline in the U.S.,
receiving only 1.9% of the $5 billion in arts grants awarded in 2023 per
data collected from Candid
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=d46821d4d6&e=a3c3e092cd>.
This disparity, which is persistent, coupled with other ongoing challenges,
including shrinking public funding and rising operating and publishing
costs, underscores the underfunding in the nonprofit literary arts field
and the urgent need for the Literary Arts Fund’s support.

*Ann Patchett, international best-selling author of **Bel Canto** and *
*Commonwealth** notes, *“I am so grateful to the Literary Arts Fund for
making a commitment to writers, to writing, to reading, to the bond we make
with books and how those books help us forge bonds with one another. The
support of the future of literature is a cause for celebration.”

Each of the initiative’s seven founding funders made a one-time gift to
establish the fund along with the Literary Arts Funders Collaborative, a
new affinity group for charitable foundation leaders interested in learning
more about the literary arts field and championing literature. Since its
inception, additional pledges and contributions have been provided by new
members Houston Endowment, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and the
Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
Interested charitable foundations can learn more about the nonprofit
literary arts field, join the Literary Arts Funders Collaborative, and
contribute to the fund
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=48980ce26e&e=a3c3e092cd>
.

“As a Midwest-based philanthropic institution, the Poetry Foundation views
the Literary Arts Fund as an excellent opportunity to leverage our
endowment and extend its influence in service to poetry and the literary
arts at large,” said *Poetry Foundation President and CEO, Michelle T.
Boone*. “The Poetry Foundation is honored to be among this cohort of
trusted, forward-thinking philanthropic organizations, and looks forward to
the new opportunities this fund presents for strengthening the literary
arts in the U.S.”

The coalition has tapped veteran literary leader Jennifer Benka to direct
the fund, which is fiscally sponsored through the National Center for Civic
Innovation. For the past 20 years, Benka has helmed organizations such as
the Academy of American Poets and Poets & Writers that have supported
hundreds of literary arts nonprofits, and poets, fiction writers, and
creative nonfiction writers across the U.S. Benka’s professional expertise
includes creating and administering new grantmaking, residency, fellowship,
and capacity-building programs supporting writers and nonprofits across the
U.S.

“I’m grateful to the foundations that founded the Literary Arts Fund for
the critical leadership role they’ve played for years in supporting
literature and writers and to those that have recently joined in this
effort. I hope their combined generosity will inspire other foundation
leaders who appreciate writers, books, and reading to help sustain our
literary culture well into the future,” said *Jennifer Benka, Executive
Director of the Literary Arts Fund.*

The Literary Arts Fund will award grants to U.S.-based nonprofit or
fiscally sponsored literary organizations and publishers that support
contemporary writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid
literary forms through an annual open call beginning *November 10*. Access
guidelines and eligibility details
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=5f3e0b10e3&e=a3c3e092cd>
.

To learn more about the Literary Arts Fund, subscribe to their newsletter
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=8fbb39fe79&e=a3c3e092cd>.


*About the Literary Arts Fund*

The Literary Arts Fund
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=be76e68daa&e=a3c3e092cd>,
a fiscally sponsored project of the National Center for Civic Innovation,
is a national effort to support the nonprofit literary arts field in the
United States, which includes publishers, presenters, and other
organizations that directly support creative writers and strengthen their
relationship to readers. Launched in 2025, the fund will distribute at
least $50 million over the next five years, concluding in 2031. It will
also further the development of the Literary Arts Funders Collaborative, a
new affinity group for charitable foundation leaders interested in learning
more about the literary arts field and championing literature. The
initiative was founded and launched by the Ford Foundation, Hawthornden
Foundation, Lannan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Poetry Foundation, and an anonymous
foundation.

*Ford Foundation*

The Ford Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=0cb105ffee&e=a3c3e092cd>
is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a
future grounded in justice. For nearly 90 years, it has supported
visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its
mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice,
promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today,
with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New
York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the
Middle East.

*Hawthornden Foundation*

Hawthornden Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=bd30f6ecbf&e=a3c3e092cd>
is a private charitable foundation supporting contemporary writers and the
literary arts. Established by Drue Heinz, the noted philanthropist and
patron of the arts, the Foundation is named after Hawthornden Castle in
Midlothian, Scotland, where an international residential residency program
provides month-long retreats for creative writers from all disciplines to
work in peaceful surroundings. Hawthornden also supports a residential
program at Casa Ecco, on Lake Como in Italy, the site of “Conversazioni,”
attended by many celebrated writers and others in the literary arts, and a
retreat for invited authors to complete a literary work in progress. The
Foundation operates a third non-residential retreat – Hawthornden Brooklyn
– in New York. In addition, the Foundation sponsors the annual Hawthornden
Prize, one of Britain’s oldest and foremost literary awards, and provides
grant support to literary arts organizations internationally.

*Lannan Foundation*

Lannan Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=de5107e542&e=a3c3e092cd>
is dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity, and creativity through its
support of exceptional contemporary visual artists and writers, as well as
Native organizers in rural Indigenous communities. The Foundation
recognizes the profound and often unquantifiable value of the creative
process and embraces the risks inherent in ambitious and experimental
thinking. For more than forty years, Lannan’s Literary Program has
supported hundreds of writers and literary organizations through awards,
fellowships, residencies, public readings and events, a free media archive,
and grants to publishers, libraries, and university humanities and writing
programs. Founded in Chicago in 1960, the Foundation will conclude its work
by 2032, ensuring that its remaining resources are used boldly to achieve
their greatest impact in this moment.

*John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation*

The MacArthur Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=a5377661b7&e=a3c3e092cd>
boldly invests in creative solutions to urgent challenges, sparking hope
for our future. We work on a few big bets that strive toward transformative
change in areas of profound concern, including the existential threats of
climate change, the challenges of criminal justice reform, revitalizing
local news in the U.S., and corruption in Nigeria. In addition, we maintain
enduring commitments in our hometown Chicago, where we invest in people,
places, and partnerships to build a more inclusive Chicago and in
journalism and media, where we invest in more just and inclusive news and
narratives. We also make awards to extraordinarily creative individuals
through the MacArthur Fellows program and for solutions to critical
problems of our time through *100&Change*.

*The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation*

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=c14c10833c&e=a3c3e092cd>
is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969,
the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and
arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the
arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that
everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found
there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by
meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can
thrive.

*Poetry Foundation*

The Poetry Foundation
<https://poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&id=b4b7552b31&e=a3c3e092cd>
transforms lives through the power of words. Our work aims to amplify
poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create,
experience, and share poetry.

*Media Contact*
Liz O’Connell-Thompson, Media Manager,
eoconnellthompson at poetryfoundation.org
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-- 

In the end, our actions and inactions are our measure and our grace –

*Weird Times, Be Kind*

*Allison*
*She/her*
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
<https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/allisonh>
Writers Week <http://writersweek.ucr.edu/>
Look at This Blue
<https://coffeehousepress.org/collections/shop/products/look-at-this-blue>
www.allisonhedgecoke.com
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