Since 1952, the Arca Foundation has worked to promote social equity and justice, and has helped to support initiatives that affect public policy on a range of critical issues. While our program may change over time, we remain committed to the belief that access to knowledge, vigorous public education, and community engagement are essential to democracy.
We face a moment of great turmoil, where the challenges we confront in the US seem overwhelming and at times intractable. Ever-growing racial, economic and democratic inequality, an alarming rise in the concentration of corporate power and climate change are threatening global health, human rights, and peace and security.
Despite these challenges, we are motivated by the possibilities we see before us.
We believe it is important for philanthropy and for Arca, with its history of funding experimental and innovative approaches, to support the development of networks as they work to engage the excluded, foster debate among the silenced, promote transparency, and drive social change.
Our Storied History
In 1952, at the foundation’s inception, founder Nancy Susan Reynolds articulated her unique approach to philanthropy in explaining, “I have been troubled and dissatisfied with the manner in which I have given to charitable enterprises. Each cause may be worthy in itself, but such isolated giving does not achieve the results that the same amount could realize if concentrated in one field or a few related ones. Foundations do not work in such a haphazard fashion. The natural diversity of opinion found in any group leads to more thorough planning and eventually achieves more continuity and sustained interest.”
Foundations need to be experimental. They need to take risks . . . and face some of the more critical and controversial issues. We must be prepared to venture into areas of uncertainty if we are to remain a vital instrument in the field of philanthropy.
– Nancy Susan Reynolds, Founder
Image used courtesy of Reynolda House Museum of American Art
The Nancy Susan Reynolds Foundation was later renamed the Arca Foundation. Arca is Latin for treasure chest and Italian for ark, a vessel affording safety and protection. Arca’s founder felt strongly that foundations should not attempt to substitute for government; they should avoid taking the safe path.
Nancy Susan Reynolds’ deliberate and focused point of view has driven Arca’s philanthropy for 65 years. Throughout its history, the foundation has sustained its commitment to experimentation, always seeking to transform ideas into action and continually looking to activists, academics, policy makers, and intellectuals to inform its grantmaking. In supporting organizations working on eliminating toxins from our water and households, Central American human rights, US-Cuba policy, ending the death penalty, campaign finance reform, media policy reform, financial reform, Pentagon budget reform and racial justice, the Arca Foundation has carefully and strategically chosen areas of concentration in which to invest its resources, ever remaining committed to the guiding principles and vision of its founder.