Workforce Grants

AmericanTrucks’ Positive Payload Program

Help A Worthy Charity Get A $2,000 Donation

AmericanTrucks recognizes that pickups are the backbone of the American workforce, from job sites to disaster relief and everything in between, which is why we’re proud to launch the Positive Payload Program.

The Positive Payload Program is designed to benefit non-profit charitable organizations who use and rely on pickup trucks and pickup truck accessories to better their community. Anyone who works with or volunteers for a charity that uses Ford F-150s, Chevrolet Silverados, GMC Sierras, or Dodge Rams is welcome to apply for a $200 donation to the charity they are involved with. Finally, each year one of the previous winners of the $200 donation will be eligible for an annual award of an additional $2,000!

What is Awarded and When?

Charities, and organizations, will be selected from the applications on a rolling (ongoing) basis, and will receive one check for $200. The winners in a calendar year (Jan. 1 through Dec. 31) will be automatically entered into a drawing that makes them eligible for the annual, one-time, $2,000 grant. The annual award winners will be notified by December 30th

Philanthropy

In 1906, when Leo Samuel founded the company that would become The Standard, he had two radical — at least for the time — ideas for business: it should provide local services for customers and it should contribute to the well-being of the community. Our company has grown considerably since those early days — we have customers and offices around the country. Our dual focus on exceptional customer service and supporting the places we live and work continues to guide The Standard today

Corporate Giving

At The Standard, our business purpose is to help people achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. This focus means that our company exists to help people. Our more than 3,000 employees are a huge part of that culture of caring. Not surprisingly, our corporate giving reflects that culture of caring. We work with employees to find ways to make a difference and support our communities through corporate giving and grants. The philosophy behind our charitable giving is shaped by the same attributes that help make us a leading provider of financial services: integrity, commitment and doing things differently. Through our corporate giving program, we support organizations that align with our four focus areas: Healthy Communities, Disability and Empowerment, Cultural Development, and Education and Advancement.

The Standard Charitable Foundation

In 2006 we celebrated our 100th anniversary, and to mark the occasion — and properly honor our rich legacy of philanthropy — we launched The Standard Charitable Foundation.

The mission of The Standard Charitable Foundation is to make a positive difference in the communities we serve by supporting community development, education and disability organizations. While the foundation has a broad goal of making a positive difference in our communities, we place special emphasis on helping individuals and families who have experienced a major disability or the loss of a loved one.

Organizations We Support

Healthy Communities

Strong, vibrant communities are a critical source of security for all residents. We fund organizations that provide support, training and rehabilitation to individuals and families facing significant challenges. We also fund programs that help individuals and families develop capabilities to increase self-sufficiency.

Disability and Empowerment

Our business is about helping people overcome hardships and empowering success. We support organizations that help people with disabilities thrive independently and overcome barriers to social and economic success. We also support programs that provide relief during transitions to independent living.

Cultural Development

Arts and cultural organizations play a major role in vibrant communities. We support organizations that offer multicultural art programs and provide enhanced access for the under-served. Specifically, we encourage programs that build audiences and promote the arts through education, interactive media and artistic excellence.

Education and Advancement

The future health and well-being of our communities is in the hands of children, who are the workers, innovators, leaders and artists of the future. We fund organizations that foster strategic learning initiatives to better prepare children for success. We emphasize programs that strengthen the quality of education, early childhood education and workforce development.

Funding Guidelines for The Standard's Corporate Giving Program

Types of Support

• General operating support
• Program support
• Capital support
• Event sponsorship
• Exhibitions
• Performance/Productions

Range of Support: $500 to $25,000. The average gift is $3,000.

Focus Areas 

• Healthy Communities
• Disability and Empowerment
• Cultural Development
• Education and Advancement

Funding Guidelines for The Standard Charitable Foundation

Types of Support 

• General operating support
• Program support
• Capital support

Range of Support: $5,000 to $25,000. The average gift is $10,000.

Focus Areas

• Healthy Communities
• Disability and Empowerment
• Education and Advancement

Note: Check that your organization is located within 15 miles of a TJX store, distribution center or office to be eligible. 

For more than four decades, delivering great value to our customers has been at the core of our business. In fact, providing value and caring for others have helped define our culture over the years and these principles extend beyond the walls of our stores and into our local communities around the world. As we considered where our community initiatives could have the most impact, it was important to us to focus on the intersection of these principles and areas of need for vulnerable families. Our global community mission is simple:

Deliver great value to our communities by helping vulnerable families and children access the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future.

Our U.S. Foundation

Our Global Community Mission is to provide value to our communities by helping vulnerable families and children access the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future.

In addition to our support for current national and local non-profit partners, we are accepting letters of inquiry from non-profits seeking grant support in the following areas only:

• Basic needs for those in need (food, clothing, and shelter)
• Access to opportunities outside of school that enable school success for at-risk youth (pre-kindergarten to grade 12)
• Workforce readiness training for at-risk youth (ages 16-24)
• Safety from domestic violence (shelter, prevention, and services)

OUR TOWN: Grant Program Description

• Bring new attention to or elevate key community assets and issues, voices of residents, local history, or cultural infrastructure.
• Inject new or additional energy, resources, activity, people, or enthusiasm into a place, community issue, or local economy.
• Envision new possibilities for a community or place - a new future, a new way of overcoming a challenge, or approaching problem-solving.
• Connect communities, people, places, and economic opportunity via physical spaces or new relationships.

The National Endowment for the Arts plans to support a variety of projects across the country in urban, rural, and tribal communities of all sizes.

Project Types

Our Town projects must integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Projects may include activities such as:

Arts Engagement

Artist residency: A program designed to strategically connect artists with the opportunity to bring their creative skill sets to non-arts institutions, including residencies in government offices, businesses, or other institutions.

Arts festivals: Public events that gather people, often in public space or otherwise unexpected places, to showcase talent and exchange culture.

Community co-creation of art: The process of engaging stakeholders to participate or collaborate alongside artists/designers in conceiving, designing, or fabricating a work or works of art.

Performances: Presentations of a live art work (e.g., music, theater, dance, media).

Public art: A work of art that is conceived for a particular place or community, with the intention of being broadly accessible, and often involving community members in the process of developing, selecting, or executing the work.

Temporary public art: A work of art that is conceived for a particular place or community and meant for display over a finite period of time, with the intention of being broadly accessible and often involving community members in developing, selecting, or executing the work.

Cultural Planning

Cultural planning: The process of identifying and leveraging a community's cultural resources and decision-making (e.g., creating a cultural plan, or integrating plans and policies around arts and culture as part of a city master planning process).

Cultural district planning: The process of convening stakeholders to identify a specific geography with unique potential for community and/or economic development based on cultural assets (e.g., through designation, branding, policy, plans, or other means).

Creative asset mapping: The process of identifying the people, places, physical infrastructure, institutions, and customs that hold meaningful aesthetics, historical, and/or economic value that make a place unique.

Public art planning: The process of developing community-wide strategies and/or policies that guide and support commissioning, installing, and maintaining works of public art and/or temporary public art.

Design

Artist/designer-facilitated community planning: Artists/designers leading or partnering in the creative processes of visioning, and for solutions to community issues.

Design of artist space: Design processes to support the creation of dedicated spaces for artists to live and/or to produce, exhibit, or sell their work.

Design of cultural facilities: Design processes to support the creation of a dedicated building or space for creating and/or showcasing arts and culture.

Public space design: The process of designing elements of public infrastructure, or spaces where people congregate (e.g., parks, plazas, landscapes, neighborhoods, districts, infrastructure, and artist-produced elements of streetscapes).

Artist and Creative Industry Support

Creative business development: Programs or services that support entrepreneurs and businesses in the creative industries, or help cultivate strong infrastructure for establishing and developing creative businesses.

Professional artist development: Programs or services that support artists professionally, such as through skill development or accessing markets and capital.

Strengthening Communities

Through Our Town projects, the National Endowment for the Arts Endowment intends to achieve the following objective: Strengthening Communities: Provide opportunities for the arts to be integrated into the fabric of community life.

Our Town project outcomes may include:

Economic Change: Economic improvements of individuals, institutions, or the community including local business growth, job creation/labor force participation, professional development/training, prevention of displacement, in-migration, and tourism.

Physical Change: Physical improvements that occur to the built and natural environment including beautification and/or enhancement of physical environment, new construction, and redevelopment (including arts, culture, and public space).

Social Change: Improvements to social relationships, civic engagement and community empowerment, and/or amplifying community identity including civic engagement, collective efficacy, social capital, social cohesion, and community attachment.

Systems Change: Improvements to community capacity to sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes including, for example: establishment of new and lasting cross-sector partnerships; shifts in institutional structure, practices or policies; replication or scaling of innovative project models; establishment of training programs; or dissemination of informational resources to support the creative placemaking field. 

Good Neighbor Citizenship Company Grants

We make it our business to be like a good neighbor, helping to build safer, stronger and smarter communities across the United States. Through our company grants, we focus on three areas: safety, education, and community development.

The State Farm Companies Foundation and State Farm value inclusiveness and diversity. Therefore, charitable funding is intended to advance access, equity, and inclusiveness while discouraging harmful discrimination based on age, political affiliation, race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, or religious beliefs.

Nationally, we support communities through social investments and countrywide relationships. At a local level, our company grants focus on three areas: safety, education, and community development.

Safety Grants

State Farm values the importance of keeping our neighbors safe.

Our national and local funding is directed toward:

• Auto and roadway safety.
• Teen driver education.
• Home safety and fire prevention.
• Disaster preparedness.
• Disaster recovery.

Community Development

Strong neighborhoods are the foundation of a strong society. We're committed to maintaining the vibrancy of our communities by assisting nonprofits that support: affordable housing, first time homeowners, neighborhood revitalization, financial literacy, job training, and small business development. Through community outreach and community development grants and investments, State Farm gives back to the neighborhoods it serves and helps develop stronger neighborhoods by reinvesting in the community.

Our national and local funding is directed toward:

• Affordable housing.
• Job training.
• Neighborhood revitalization.
• Small business development.
• First time homeownership.

Education Grants

Our education funding is directed toward initiatives that support: 

• Academic performance improvement programs that impact K-12 students.
• Education initiatives that more directly support underserved individuals (13 years and older), helping them enroll in post-secondary education and obtain the skills and credentials they need to be successful in today’s workforce.
• Service-learning programs that provide students opportunities to connect and apply learning skills from classroom to address unmet needs that exist in their community.
• Teacher development programs.
• Financial literacy.

NOTE: The Olive Tree Foundation begins accepting grant applications in the first quarter of each year. The increased number of applications we receive each continually exceeds expectations. To ensure our small staff can effectively and fairly review the requests, we decreased the number accepted in 2022 to 50.

About the Foundation

The Olive Tree Foundation, Inc., is an independent philanthropy established in the United States in 1997.

Our mission: The Olive Tree Foundation strives to support U.S.-based nonprofits that provide food, shelter, medical care and education for those in need; make arts and culture more accessible and equitable; invest in community and youth and adult development; and protect the environment.

Grantmaking

Organizations eligible to apply for grants from The Olive Tree Foundation focus on:

• Basic necessities: We support nonprofits that provide food for the hungry, shelter the indigent and infirm and provide medical (physical and emotional) care to those in need.
• Youth education and development: OTF support nonprofits that develop the academic skills of youth. Key objectives should include character-building; fostering ethics, teamwork, self-esteem and self-confidence; broadening horizons and aspirations; strengthening unique abilities and talents; developing community awareness and involvement; improving academic, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Adult education and development: We support nonprofits that promote literacy and workforce development through various programs that empower adults to become self-sufficient and self-sustaining.
• Community development: We support nonprofits involved in the protection of civil rights and the creation of environmental infrastructures that enhance quality of life in the communities they serve.
• Arts and Culture: We support nonprofits that improve the quality of life in communities through arts and cultural enrichment and/or renovate structures that preserve a historical heritage.