$50 Million Literary Arts Fund Launches to Strengthen U.S. Writing Community
In a historic show of support for writers and literary organizations, seven major charitable foundations have come together to create the Literary Arts Fund, a $50 million initiative designed to revitalize and sustain the nonprofit literary arts sector in the United States.
The new fund, led by the Mellon Foundation and joined by the Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Lannan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Poetry Foundation, and an anonymous benefactor, marks one of the largest coordinated investments ever made to support the nation’s literary infrastructure.
According to the official announcement, the fund’s mission is “to dramatically increase funding for and the visibility of the nonprofit literary arts field, ensuring a healthy and more robust U.S. literary culture in support of creative writers.”
At the helm of the initiative is Jennifer Benka, the former president and executive director of the Academy of American Poets, who will serve as the Literary Arts Fund’s first executive director.
“I’m grateful to the foundations that founded the Literary Arts Fund for the critical leadership role they’ve played for years in supporting literature and writers,” Benka said. “I hope their combined generosity will inspire others who appreciate writers, books, and reading to help sustain our literary culture well into the future.”
What the Fund Will Support
Over the next five years, the Literary Arts Fund will distribute at least $50 million in grants to U.S.-based nonprofit literary organizations whose primary missions include publishing, presenting, or supporting contemporary creative writers—including those working in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and hybrid forms.
Two primary grant types will be offered:
- General Operating Grants – Multi-year, unrestricted awards that can be used flexibly over a five-year period.
- Innovation Grants – One-time awards designed to encourage collaboration and address pressing challenges in the literary ecosystem, particularly those that improve writers’ ability to create and connect with readers.
A Boost for an Undervalued Field
While the visual and performing arts have long benefited from major philanthropic investment, the literary arts sector has historically received only a fraction of that support. The new Literary Arts Fund seeks to change that imbalance—providing sustainable, large-scale funding to the people and organizations that form the backbone of America’s literary culture.
As Benka notes, the fund’s creation reflects a growing recognition of the essential role writers play in shaping society and inspiring empathy through storytelling.
“Writers are architects of imagination and truth,” she said. “By investing in them, we invest in the collective voice of our culture.”
Applications and guidelines for the first round of grants will be released in early 2026.