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Our Approach

The Monarch Foundation is a private family foundation based in New York City working boldly to scale simple & inclusive solutions to some of our society’s toughest problems.

Who We Are

We aim to disrupt cycles of poverty & advance climate change solutions by uplifting, amplifying, and scaling.

1

Uplift

We uplift individuals and communities by trusting, listening, and acting accordingly. We co-create inclusive solutions that approach problems in a simple way, transferring decision-making power to those who have been marginalized, excluded, or forced to be voiceless. We welcome tough conversations and different perspectives.

2

Amplify

We amplify the voices of others - of individuals who have been forced to be voiceless, of those working on the ground for and with the communities they serve, of solutions, tools, and models proved to maximize impact, and of the next generation of changemakers and thought-partners.

3

Scale

We scale solutions that work, aiming high and thinking without bounds. We set the groundwork for others to join us on our journey. 

How We Show Up

Bold

We want to be bold in our endeavors, pushing boundaries and embracing cutting-edge solutions to age-old problems. We want our aspirations to push the bounds of what is expected and accepted. Where others see risk, we see opportunity.

Curious

As we take on new and bold solutions, we believe that there is always more for us to learn. We strive to enter rooms curious, hoping to surface diverse voices, ideas, and perspectives.

Trusting

We trust in others to know what is best for them - whether that is our partners, our grantees, or our beneficiaries. We believe in the agency of the individual - it is not up to us to decide what the right answer is for you, but we will always be available as an anchor, a thought partner, and a supporter.

Proximate

We aim to understand how things work on the ground, to never be too far out of touch from the people and communities that we serve, and to always put our actions and our intentions into the context of the direct impact it has on the lives of others.

Action-Oriented

We translate theory and evidence into action, pushing ourselves with an iterative cycle of learning through doing. We strongly believe that in order to scale up and out, we need to start working towards the right answer today. We understand that we are working against a ticking clock. 

What we look for

Asset 1

Grassroots Solutions

We want to support changemakers closest to the issues.

In service of collaborating with and trusting others, we strive to uplift the voices, opinions, and solutions of others, knowing they will always understand their own situations better than we ever can. Working alongside us means working with us, as equal partners.

Asset 2

Preventative Approach

We believe deeply in preventing versus undoing.

We believe the best solutions are ones that aim to address the issue and injustice at its root. Rather than placing band-aids on cuts, we want to make sure they never happen in the first place. We focus on upstream solutions that have both lasting and far-reaching positive impacts.

Asset 3

Potential for Scale

With a lot of our society's problems, we are working against a clock and small solutions, although impactful at times, just won't do. 

We aim to always translate theory and evidence into action, test and learn through doing, and repeat. We strongly believe that in order to be successful, solutions need to be able to scale up and out. 

Asset 4

High Impact, High Reward

We want each of our dollars to have the highest possible return in the form of impact.

We dedicate our resources to programs, organizations, projects, and partnerships that are able to have an outsized impact with each additional dollar of funding. We are willing to undertake early risk for opportunities that have the potential for high impact.

Asset 5

Bureaucracy Elimination

We strongly believe that sometimes the simplest solution can be the most effective.

Our goal is to make solutions more accessible, easier to implement, and easier to comprehend. Although effectiveness trumps simplicity, we invest in removing the spans and layers that currently exist in our social structures and in philanthropy at large. 

By the Numbers

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The majority of our funding goes to women-led or BIPOC-led organizations

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Nearly all of our grants provide organizations with unrestricted, general funding

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Around 90% of our funding in 2023 went directly into the hands of individuals

If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, there is probably not an opportunity there.

George Kaiser, philanthropist for equal opportunity for young children

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