The Mercatus Center seeks to support scholars, thinkers, writers, and doers addressing the challenge of sustaining liberal democratic pluralism and institutions. What insights and solutions can help us better understand and improve upon how we can coexist and live together peacefully amidst deep divides and differences? This effort requires an interdisciplinary, cross-ideological effort from scholars and practitioners committed to fostering a pluralism that advances a truly liberal cosmopolitan society.
View our past grant recipients: Cohort 1, Cohort 2, Cohort 3. Cohort 4
We are interested in receiving proposals for grants to support projects such as books, innovative teaching/training tools, interactive web platforms and applications, Internet writing (e.g., newsletters, blogs, Twitter engagement), workshops, fiction and artistic endeavors, commercially viable entertainment, and beyond. Projects can be undertaken independently; under the auspices of a non-profit, university, firm, or other existing entity; or in some cases on an ‘in-house’ basis at Mercatus.
We welcome people and small groups from various backgrounds to apply. We’re especially interested in action-oriented, scalable projects that large foundations may consider too risky or weird to fund. Support may include amounts ranging from $100 to $100,000 or beyond. Small initial investments that demonstrate success or promise may be quickly followed by much larger grants.
This request for proposals is open all year and we take applications on a rolling basis.