Quadrivium
OVERVIEW: Quadrivium supports efforts to reform electoral processes, increase voter participation and access, and promote nonpartisan leadership development in the United States. It also makes grants for climate change, marine conservation and science research.
IP TAKE: According to its approach statement, this progressive funder seeks “opportunities where our investment or leadership will make a real difference” and prioritizes “the potential for lasting impact over safe bets.” Quadrivium is one of only a few funders concerned with the pernicious effect of digital media on democracy and scientific knowledge. Grants tend to be large and offer multi-year support. Unfortunately, this funder does not accept unsolicited proposals. A connection to its founders, James and Kathryn Murdoch, or a past grantee may be the only way to get on its radar.
It is fairly evident that Kathryn is a major driver of the couple’s philanthropy, so look for environmental causes and women’s empowerment to emerge as two main funding priorities for their foundation. Although they may have relatively limited assets now, as one of the heirs to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, there is the potential that the operation could be turned into a philanthropic powerhouse at some point down the line.
PROFILE: Quadrivium was established in 2013 by James Murdoch, a former CEO of 21st Century Fox and son of media billionaire Rupert Murdoch, and his wife, Kathryn. While James and Kathryn have not come out publicly against the political influence of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, the couple’s values seem to run counter to Murdoch’s conservative politics.
The younger son of Rupert Murdoch was born in England, and subsequently emigrated with his father to the U.S., where he studied at Horace Mann School, and then Harvard, though he left university before completing his degree. He has helped run various News Corp companies over the years, and is currently the chairman of New Corp’s Asian and Italian satellite services, as well as the COO of 21st Century Fox.
Based in New York City, this Quadrivium foundation “invests in evidence-based solutions to some of society’s most urgent challenges – where the decisions we make today have major repercussions for our future way of life.” Its five main focus areas are Democracy, Technology and Society, Scientific Understanding, Climate Change, and Ocean Health.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
Quadrivium’s Democracy grants support efforts to “restore the health of our US democracy at a time of increasing polarization and dysfunction within the system.” It mainly prioritizes projects dedicated to structural electoral reforms, voter participation, and bipartisan leadership development. It supports the Unite America Institute, When We All Vote, and the RepresentUS Education Fund.
Through its Technology and Society grantmaking, Quadrivium seeks to “defend against authoritarian governments’ use of technology to polarize and distort the politics of democratic societies.” Quadrivium partnered with the Center for a New American Security to create a Countering High-Tech Illiberalism project, which creates and promotes national and international policies to counter the proliferation of political extremism on the internet.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
Quadrivium’s Climate Change grantmaking focuses on “action that also drives innovation and investment.” Specifically, the foundation supports initiatives that move the U.S. toward “the bipartisan passage of a US climate strategy that doubles as an economic growth strategy.” It endorses the Climate Leadership Council’s Carbon Rebate plan. Grantees include Climate Central’s Climate Matters program, which disseminates information about climate change to the public through trusted meteorologists, and the Environmental Defense Fund’s global climate policy efforts centering around “carbon markets” in India and China.
It is worth mentioning that Kathryn Murdoch once worked for the Clinton Climate Initiative and is an advocate for aligning economic and environmental health. She also sits on the board of Environmental Defense Fund.
Grants for Journalism
Quadrivium’s Scientific Understanding program focuses on science-related journalism as an important source of mitigating “public misunderstanding of science from climate change to vaccines.” The foundation partnered with the American Association for the Advancement of Science to establish SciLine, an online resource whose mission is to increase “the amount and quality of scientific evidence in news stories.” SciLine’s support for journalists includes scientific fact and reference sheets and the facilitation of connections to “relevant experts” in scientific fields who can aid journalists in interpreting and contextualizing emerging scientific findings and information.
Quadrivium has also made grants to the American Journalism Project and the 19th News, “an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.”
Grants for Marine Conservation and Food Systems
Quadrivium names Ocean Health as an area of focus and seeks to support “proven solutions for overfishing,” which has become a serious threat to “biodiversity and food security around the world.” The foundation’s main recipient in this area is the Environmental Defense Fund, which has received ongoing support for its “catch shares” programs, which “can make communities and oceans more resilient to climate change and pollution.”
Grants for Technology and Economic Development
Support for work and economic opportunity stems from Quadrivium’s Technology and Society initiative. Grantmaking focuses on “the future of work and how to best prepare people for change without leaving whole communities behind.” The foundation’s main recipient in this area is the computer science education nonprofit Code.org.
Important Grant Details:
Quadrivium’s grants have ranged anywhere from $50,000 to over $8 million.
Grantmaking is mainly limited to the U.S., but some U.S. based organizations working globally in the areas of climate change and democracy have received grants.
This funder tends to provide multi-year support.
Grantees tend to be well-known and/or well-established organizations.
Quadrivium does not accept unsolicited requests for funding. General inquiries may be directed to Quadrivium via email at info@qvdm.org.
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