Find answers to frequently asked questions about the Literary Arts Fund, including information on the nonprofit literary arts field, grant opportunities, and contributing to the fund.
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the Literary Arts Fund, including information on the nonprofit literary arts field, grant opportunities, and contributing to the fund.
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, presses, and publications 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.
Literary arts nonprofits 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.
The seven founding funders are the Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Lannan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Poetry Foundation, and an anonymous foundation, each of which made a one-time lead gift to establish the fund.
Over more than two years, these seven foundations have collectively studied articles and research about the nonprofit literary arts field, and met with and heard from writers and leaders in the field. This work has underscored the little funding the nonprofit literary arts field has annually received and has in part informed the priorities and strategies of the Literary Arts Fund.
Literature continues to be the least-funded artistic discipline in the United States, receiving just 1.9% of the $5 billion in grants given to the arts, according to 2023 data collected from Candid, an organization that tracks information about nonprofits. Additional challenges to the literary arts field have included rising operational costs and the ongoing pressures of a shifting publishing and funding landscape.
The Literary Arts Fund aims to dramatically increase financial support for and the visibility of the nonprofit literary arts field toward ensuring a healthy and more robust U.S. literary culture in support of creative writers.
The Literary Arts Fund will award at least $50 million to the nonprofit literary arts field over the next five years (concluding in 2031), aligning with its mission and focusing on areas in which it might have the greatest impact; hold open calls for general operating and innovation project grant applicants; conduct peer-learning sessions with grantees; develop and release field scans and reports on the literary arts field; and continue fostering the development of the Literary Arts Funders Collaborative, an affinity group.
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Literary arts nonprofits (including fiscally sponsored literary arts organizations and publishers) based in the U.S. that directly serve creative writers, including organizations that present, publish, and/or otherwise support creative writers’ artistic work, are eligible to apply. Please see the Literary Arts Fund’s list of eligibility requirements.
To be eligible, literary arts nonprofits must have a primary mission of presenting, publishing, or otherwise supporting contemporary creative writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid literary forms.
Yes. Literary arts organizations and publishers with a 501(c)(3) granted by the IRS, as well as organizations and publishers fiscally sponsored by those with the same designation, are eligible to apply.
No. The Literary Arts Fund awards nonprofits.
Yes. Having received funding from foundations that support the Literary Arts Fund does not disqualify a literary arts nonprofit from applying for a grant from the Literary Arts Fund.
The first application window for general operating grants opens November 10, 2025. Literary arts nonprofits applying for a general operating grant must complete and submit their application online, via Submittable, by December 19, 2025. An open call for innovation project grant applications is expected to be posted in June 2026 (TBD). Please sign up for the Literary Arts Fund’s newsletter to stay apprised of open calls and announcements.
No.
Yes.
No.
Literary arts nonprofits applying for a general operating grant need not request an amount. General operating grant awards will range from $37,500 to $500,000 and may be based on the nonprofit’s annual operating budget.
Literary arts nonprofits applying for innovation project grants may request between $25,000 and $100,000 as determined by the project budget. These grant awards may also be informed by the literary arts nonprofit’s annual operating budget(s).
Only as part of a collaborative project. A literary arts nonprofit that has received a general operating grant from the Literary Arts Fund will not be eligible to apply independently for an innovation project grant until a year after the general operating grant was awarded.
Applications will be screened for eligibility by Literary Arts Fund staff; reviewed by a team of readers; and finally assessed by a panel of published creative writers and experts in the literary arts field.
Applicants will be notified about general operating grants by May 30, 2026 and innovation project grants in November 2026 (TBD), via their Submittable account and email. Please sign up for the Literary Arts Fund’s newsletter to stay apprised of open calls and announcements.
For questions about the Literary Arts Fund’s general operating and innovation project grants, please email grants@literaryartsfund.org.
The Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Lannan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Poetry Foundation, and an anonymous foundation.
Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Houston Endowment, Jerome Foundation, and McKnight Foundation.
The Literary Arts Fund is grateful for additional contributions from foundations new to the literary arts field in support of its efforts. Please email giving@literaryartsfund.org to learn more.
The Literary Arts Funders Collaborative is a new affinity group that includes foundations contributing to the Literary Arts Fund and those that are interested in literature, reading, and creative writers, and in learning more about the nonprofit field that supports them.
The Literary Arts Funders Collaborative welcomes new members. To inquire, please email LAFC@literaryartsfund.org.