

Building Bridges. Inspiring Minds. Impacting Futures.

Music Lessons in Kansas City's Urban Core



Empowering future leaders to care for our environment, contribute to our economy, and create healthy communities.


Sustainable Orchards, Sustainable Communities


Creating Sustainable Transportation Habits Through Education and Outreach


Anti-Poaching and Corridor Restoration Conservation Initiatives


Giving Students Deep-Level Experience with Real World Applications


Transforming Lives Through the Power of Music
The Shumaker Family Foundation supports endeavors in social justice, education, and environmental justice and thereby aims to create a more compassionate world, in which each person has opportunity to fully reach his or her potential.
2025 Grant Funds
The Shumaker Family Foundation will allocate 2025 Environmental Justice grant funds according to the regular grant process schedule. (See LOI and Application Deadlines in the Applying section of this site.)
The Foundation will also accept applications for Education grants in 2025, with LOIs likely due in mid-June; however we will not accept applications for Social Justice grants until 2026.
For the past few years, our board has increasingly prioritized nonprofits founded by those from within communities of color affected by the systemic social and economic inequities and challenges they are working to resolve. In order to address these inequities in access to funding, we awarded our 2022 Social Justice and Education grant funds as multi-year grants to 29 organizations that are BIPOC-led/founded, particularly those that have had less access to mainstream philanthropy. We have extended these Social Justice multiyear grants for an additional year in 2025-26, however, we will consider new applicants for Education grants during the summer/fall 2025 grants process.
We are mindful of the ongoing challenges that all nonprofits (large and small, old and new) are facing due to funding and social challenges, including the continuing effects we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish we could do more. We appreciate and thank all the many local nonprofit leaders and staff members, who are working so hard to make the Kansas City community–and beyond–a better, healthier, safer, and more just place to live.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
The Shumaker Family Foundation firmly stands against racial injustice. We grieve the loss of black lives to police violence. We believe such violence is one of countless repercussions of our country’s unwillingness to face our history of slavery and oppression and our society’s ongoing systemic racism. Black Lives Matter.
We understand that systemic racism underlies the persistent problems in each of our mission areas: education, social justice, and environmental justice. Our racially diverse board has renewed its commitment to funding efforts that address education inequities, societal violence, and environmental challenges that disproportionately affect communities of color. In so doing, we will seek out organizations that prioritize diverse leadership and those that generate solutions within the communities of color they serve.
Social Justice
We emphasize domestic violence and child abuse prevention and treatment, as well as leadership development programs for Black, Latino, and women leaders. We prefer to invest in efforts that lead to an equitable distribution of wealth, privilege, and opportunities.
Education
We favor projects that strengthen STEM, arts, and early childhood programs, and those that strengthen the education process, such as teacher leadership. We focus on children who might not otherwise receive exposure to such programs and on those grassroots organizations whose leadership reflects those communities they serve.
Environmental Justice
We prefer to invest in prevention-oriented efforts that lead to a more sustainable environment for people and animals. We focus on supporting projects that promote conservation, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.
We prefer innovative projects that have potential for long term systemic or cultural impact. We also fund organizational strengthening, including capacity-building or operating funds, when we are satisfied that the organization has prepared itself to attain the next level of effectiveness. We only fund organizations based in the United States.
We fund Social Justice and Education projects in the Greater Kansas City Region, where site visits can be made in a day. We fund Environmental Justice projects of organizations primarily based in the Kansas City area. Although we increasingly focus on local environmental organizations and programs, we may consider some national programs that are focused on solving systemic environmental challenges, particularly if there is work being done in MO or KS. The animal welfare projects we fund all tend to be in Kansas City.
Our goal is to make the biggest impact we can with the limited money we have to grant each year. We receive more requests for excellent projects than we have funds to support. If your project/organization is not asked to submit an application or does not receive funding, please do not conclude that it is an inferior project/organization. We simply do not have the funds to support all quality proposals. Thank you for the work you are doing!