Common Grants. Three-fifths of the grants budget is awarded by the trustees acting in common. These common funds go to three grant programs operating in three geographic areas. The three programs are:

• Environment;
• Historic preservation;
• Human migrations.

• New York City;
• North America;
• Worldwide.

Each of the three programs is undertaken in each of the three areas, though with different emphases and varied allocations. The trustees are particularly interested in proposals that involve more than one program or more than one area.

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM.

• NEW YORK CITY. Preserve and improve parks, public spaces, and the natural environment.
  
  The Fund supports work to enhance the common infrastructure of daily life in the five boroughs.
  • Parks. Projects to: advocate for all New Yorkers' access to well-maintained parks and greenery; maintain and improve heavily-used flagship parks; build organizational capacity, especially for community groups; assure waterfront open space.
  • Transportation. Projects to: advocate for more and better mass transit; regulate truck and auto traffic; enhance pedestrian mobility.

• NORTH AMERICA. Protect cross-border ecosystems.
  
  The Fund supports the conservation of important ecosystems that straddle national frontiers: The Gulf of Maine; the Northern Plains; the Chihuahuan Desert; and the Northwest Caribbean. The Fund is particularly interested in strategies that include both wilderness reserves and working landscapes.

• WORLDWIDE. Protect oceans and grasslands.
  
  The Fund supports legal protection of High Seas ecosystems that lie beyond national jurisdictions. It has also initiated a pilot project to link scientists and environmentalists working to protect key grasslands around the world.

Click to see list of 2005 Environment Grants

HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM.

• NEW YORK CITY. Protect the built environment and historic continuity of New York's neighborhoods.
  
  Beginning December 2006, the Fund will make a small number of grants to organizations working with neighborhood groups to preserve and revitalize buildings important to local histories

• NORTH AMERICA. Protect historic legacies in cross-border regions.
  
  The Fund supports local projects to preserve structures important to cross-border histories. It focuses on areas served by its Environment Program: Northern Plains (prairie churches); Chihuahuan Desert grasslands (cliff dwellings); and Northwest Caribbean (architecture of Miami and Havana).

• WORLDWIDE. Protect and revive outstanding structures anywhere.
  
  Each year the Fund works with the World Monuments Fund to compose a short list of international historic sites of special importance or under imminent threat. Kaplan recently became the initial funder of WMF's new program to protect sites imperilled by armed conflicts.

Click to see list of 2005 Historic Preservation Grants

MIGRATIONS PROGRAM.

• NEW YORK CITY. Improve social, economic, and cultural opportunities for immigrant communities.
  
  The Fund is currently reviewing its program of assistance to recent immigrants to New York. A new set of grant strategies is expected to be in place by the close of 2006

• NORTH AMERICA. Advocate reform of US immigration policies.
  
  The Fund supports bipartisan efforts on behalf of a national immigration policy that includes:
  • Scrupulous enforcement of laws and border regulations;
  • A generous annual quota of legal immigrants from around the world;
  • More resources for, and an upgrading of, the visa approval process;
  • A temporary worker program whose participants could, with equal ease, opt to pursue US citizenship or return to their home countries;
  • Policies to speed English fluency and civic involvement.

• WORLDWIDE. Document and analyze global migrations.
  
  The Fund initiated and supports MigrationInformation.com, the award-winning website of the Migration Policy Institute. The site features an interactive database on cross-boundary migrations as well as detailed investigations and analyses.

Click to see list of 2005 Migration Grants

In addition to these principal efforts, the Fund also sponsors Furthermore grants in publishing, a program directed by president emeritus Joan K. Davidson. Furthermore supports books on art, architecture, and design; conservation; cultural history; and public issues. More information about Furthermore can be obtained at the program's office (see below).

Application Procedures: Organizations interested in applying for a grant from the Environment, Historic Preservation, or Migrations programs should send a brief letter of inquiry to Angela Carabine, Grants Manager, J.M. Kaplan Fund, 261 Madison Ave, 19th floor, NY NY 10016. Applicants will be notified within thirty days if they are to submit a full proposal. Organizations interested in the Furthermore program should contact Ann Birckmayer, Program Associate, Furthermore grants in publishing, PO Box 667, Hudson NY 12534, telephone 518-828-8900.

Discretionary Grants. Approximately two-fifths of the Fund's annual grants budget is distributed to organizations selected by individual trustees on the basis of their own investigations. These discretionary grants support a wide variety of activities, including:

• art, architecture, publishing, and design;
• conservation of land and buildings;
• policy analysis and discussion of civic issues;
• human rights and social justice.

Most discretionary grants support groups or activities in New York City and New York State, the traditional focus of Kaplan Fund philanthropy. Discretionary grant proposals are by invitation only.

Click to see list of 2004 Discretionary Grants