Grants for Seniors

Mission

The Retirement Research Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life for our nation’s older adults. RRF is one of the first private foundations devoted exclusively to aging and retirement issues. As the issues facing an aging population gain ever-greater urgency, the Foundation remains committed to supporting innovative solutions that enhance the lives of older Americans.

Responsive Grants - Advocacy

The Retirement Research Foundation funds advocacy projects that have a regional or national impact for older Americans. Of particular interest are projects that:

• Advance policy issues of critical importance to our nation’s seniors such as economic security, health care, housing, etc. 
• Use clearly focused and strategic efforts to address systemic problems;
• Forge partnerships with organizations to achieve better use of resources and to share knowledge.

Organizations applying for Advocacy Grants will:

• Maintain a separation between their lobbying and advocacy work;  
• Describe the activities to be funded by RRF;
• Acknowledge in writing that RRF funds will not be used for lobbying efforts.

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

NOTE: Follow this link to get to the application portal.

Who We Are

The mission of the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation (the "Foundation") is to enhance the lives of aging adults and those who care for them. Founded in 2003, the Foundation has distributed nearly $3 million to date to nonprofit organizations serving seniors in the United States. The Foundation is proud to make this site (the "Site") available in connection with its GIVE65 program as a way to help generate greater giving in support of local nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving seniors. Programs like GIVE65 are important because, on average, less than 2 percent of funding from the nation's largest grant makers is estimated to specifically focus on seniors (Foundation Center, 2012 survey). This shortage of funding coupled with the growing senior population creates a tremendous opportunity to encourage charitable giving to nonprofit programs and services that benefit seniors. Nonprofit organizations at the grassroots level offer aging adults resources, programs and services for a greater quality of life. 

GIVE65 Grant Program

Home Instead Senior Care Foundation is launching a new grant making program and we invite nonprofit organizations serving seniors to participate. Beginning in 2016, the Foundation will collaborate with nonprofits to raise funds, increase awareness and create hope for seniors in communities throughout the U.S. and Canada. This dynamic collaboration will happen through an innovative new Foundation program called GIVE65.

GIVE65, a program of Home Instead Senior Care Foundation, is the first and only crowd-fundraising platform exclusively devoted to helping nonprofits raise money online for programs and services that create hope for seniors.

There are two ways your nonprofit organization can participate on the GIVE65 platform:

Participate in the annual GIVE65 Event

Apply to participate in Home Instead Senior Care Foundation’s annual 65-hour GIVE65 Event. If selected to participate, your nonprofit will harness the power of generosity in your local community while competing for matching grants and financial rewards. Not all participating organizations will receive matching funds, but all participating organizations will be able to compete for financial rewards.

Learn more about the Give65 event.

Feature a GIVE65 Project

If your organization would like to feature a fundraising project on GIVE65 outside of the 65-hour GIVE65 event, you are invited to apply. Maybe you need additional funding for a senior center, a transportation vehicle, respite services, low-income housing for seniors or possibly a nutrition program. These are great examples of how GIVE65 can complement your fundraising efforts. A simple application allows your organization to raise funds online.

The Value of GIVE65 Participation

Home Instead Senior Care Foundation will promote the GIVE65 site through a comprehensive social media and e-communications strategy. Our marketing efforts will help increase awareness for GIVE65 crowd-fundraising projects among an entirely new audience of potential donors. Participation on GIVE65 is easy and unique! Resources and support will help make GIVE65 crowd-fundraising efforts successful. And, the annual GIVE65 Event presents opportunities for matching grants to encourage donations and financial prize rewards to recognize outstanding crowd-fundraising efforts.

The Social Benefit of GIVE65

As a nonprofit, you know how difficult it is to raise funds for social service programs that help seniors in need. With GIVE65, we believe that we can inspire greater charitable giving in support of seniors when we all come together united around this common purpose. By working together, we can increase social awareness and the capacity of nonprofit organizations to care for the growing senior population.

About the Foundation

The Skadden Fellowship Program, described as "a legal Peace Corps" by The Los Angeles Times, was established in 1988 to commemorate the firm's 40th anniversary, in recognition of the dire need for greater funding for graduating law students who wish to devote their professional lives to providing legal services to the poor (including the working poor), the elderly, the homeless and the disabled, as well as those deprived of their civil or human rights. The aim of the program is to give Fellows the freedom to pursue public interest work; thus, the Fellows create their own projects at public interest organizations with at least two lawyers on staff before they apply.

Fellowships are awarded for two years. Skadden provides each Fellow with a salary and pays all fringe benefits to which an employee of the sponsoring organization would be entitled. For those Fellows not covered by a law school low-income protection plan, the firm will pay a Fellow's law school debt service for the tuition part of the loan for the duration of the Fellowship. The 2018 class of Fellows brings to 820 the number of academically outstanding law school graduates and judicial clerks the foundation has funded to work full-time for legal and advocacy organizations.

In its 2010 "US Innovative Lawyers" report, the Financial Times ranked our firm in the top tier in the Responsible Business category in connection with the Fellowship Program, highlighting that it "ensures some of the brightest legal talent goes into public life."

We wish to note that the Fellowship Program is not a substitute for Skadden's considerable pro bono efforts. As a charter signatory of the American Bar Association's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, Skadden pledges to commit time equivalent to at least 3 percent of the firm's annual billable hours to work on pro bono matters. Our attorneys are engaged in a range of pro bono and community activities. The foundation and Fellowship Program were created to complement these efforts, as we believe there is no substitute for full-time public interest work.

It is the firm's hope that, through their efforts and their example, Skadden Fellows will increase and improve the legal services available to the less fortunate in our society. Indeed, there is the expectation that the members of this cadre of new public interest lawyers will, individually and collectively over the course of their careers, have a profound effect on the quality and delivery of legal services. Since the inception of the program, almost 90 percent of the Fellows have remained in public interest or public sector work.

Our commitment does not stop when Fellowship funding ends — the Fellowship is just the beginning. We have undertaken a series of regional reunion symposia for former Fellows and extend to all Fellows a monthly newsletter and webinars.

Application Process

The foundation will award two-year fellowships for 2020 law school graduates, outgoing judicial law clerks, and LL.M. candidates who want to work in the public interest. The FAQs and key dates below provide general information about the Skadden Fellowship and our application process. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have additional questions or would like to discuss your specific project proposal.