2026 Request for Proposals

Maddox Fund

The 2026 Maddox Fund Request for Proposals Is Now Open

The Dan & Margaret Maddox Fund is now accepting applications for our 2026 grant cycle, with a deadline of Friday, March 20.

This Request for Proposals reflects an important moment in Maddox’s evolution. Over the past year, we engaged a strategic listening and planning process—conversations with grantee partners, community leaders, peers, and advisors across Middle Tennessee—to help shape our next chapter. What we heard was clear and consistent: organizations are navigating complex, shifting conditions and need flexible, multi-year support grounded in trust, relationship, and shared purpose. Our 2026 RFP is one response to that call.

Our Vision and Approach

Maddox envisions a world in which people and planet flourish together in regenerative systems free from oppression and threat. Guided by our strategic blueprint, we are continuing to move toward a trust-based, community-responsive approach to grantmaking—one that recognizes the wisdom of organizations closest to the work and the communities they serve. For this cycle, Maddox will offer two-year general operating grants to organizations whose work advances one or both of our funding priorities.

people and planet
improving the lives of young people

The Maddox Fund does not have a formal minimum or maximum grant amount for this RFP. Instead, we invite applicants to request a meaningful level of support based on the scope of the proposed work and the overall size and capacity of your organization.

Historically, most Maddox grants have ranged from $15,000 to $30,000 per year, though grant amounts may vary depending on alignment, opportunity, and available resources.

For grants awarded through this RFP, funding will be distributed in two installments:

  • A first payment in 2026
  • A second payment in 2027

If you have questions about grant size or fit, please feel free to reach out to the Maddox team.

A New Pilot: Root Partners Cohort

This RFP also includes a new pilot opportunity—the Root Partners Cohort—designed to provide a small group of deeply community-rooted organizations with three years of unrestricted funding, technical assistance, and shared learning. There is no separate application for this opportunity; organizations may indicate interest directly within the RFP. Additional information about eligibility criteria and program expectations can be found here.

Apply and Stay Connected

We encourage organizations interested in applying to review the full RFP and join one of our upcoming Grant Application Workshops, where Maddox staff will walk through the application, share our review approach, and answer questions.

watch RFP workshop video
apply for a grant

We’re grateful to be learning alongside organizations across Middle Tennessee and look forward to the conversations and partnerships this grant cycle will bring. We also welcome direct outreach if you have questions about fit or focus areas:

  • For People and Planet grants: Joseph Gutierrez, Director of Grants & Operations — joseph@maddoxfund.org.
  • For Improving the Lives of Young People grants: Jen Bailey, Executive Director — jen@maddoxfund.org

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Jen Bailey is the Executive Director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, bringing her deep experience in community-based leadership, philanthropy, and movement-building to the organization.

Jen is the Founder of Faith Matters Network, a national Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually-grounded leaders on their journey to heal themselves and their communities. Since its inception, Faith Matters Network has served over 25,000 leaders through its programs and initiatives. She is Co-Founder of The People’s Supper, a global initiative that has hosted over 2,000 gatherings in 135 communities to foster conversation and collective healing across lines of difference.

Committed to advancing social change through philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, Jen serves on the boards of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Fetzer Institute, and The Healing Trust, where she is the Board Chair.

An Ashoka Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, and Truman Scholar, Jen holds degrees from Tufts University and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where she was awarded the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize for accomplishments in the study of theology. Her work has been featured by On Being with Krista Tippett, CBS This Morning, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She is also the author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope (Chalice Press, 2021).

email Jen: jen@maddoxfund.org