Research suggests that character virtues are associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including mental and physical well-being, happiness, and stronger personal relationships.
The Character Virtue Development funding area seeks to better understand and elevate the cultivation of character, with a focus on moral, performance, civic, and intellectual virtues, such as humility, gratitude, curiosity, diligence, and honesty.
The funding area provides support for two types of project-based grants:
Programs and Applied Research
We support not-for-profit organizations around the world that seek to develop, implement, enhance, or assess research-informed character development programs. We are most interested in programs that have a clear definition of character and can rely on a strong community of caring adults to provide youth with the opportunity to develop the habits of good character through practice. Programs may be situated in a wide variety of youth-serving contexts, including schools, sports, music, media, faith communities, neighborhoods, and/or camps.
Study of Virtues
We are interested in funding research that seeks to further our understanding of the nature and development of virtues. Grants in this area have explored questions such as: What are the boundaries of forgiveness in early childhood? What does it mean to love one’s enemy? Do expressions of gratitude vary across cultures? Our primary goal for this area of work is to catalyze scientific discoveries that will inform our understanding of virtues, and that have the potential to inform programmatic work in the future. To accomplish this goal, applicant teams will need to draw upon insights from multiple fields including the social sciences, humanities, technology, and medicine.
In 2025, we are particularly interested in projects that highlight the role of relationships and communities in helping to address some of the most pressing issues individuals will face in the next decade. Please see below for a list of topical areas of interest.
Purpose and Agency
Adolescence is a time of active exploration. During this time, young people grapple with big questions about who they are, what they believe, and who they want to become. It can also a time of hope and optimism, a period in life when young people want to tackle big problems and have a sense they can succeed. Yet, many adolescents today report a lack of purpose and an increased sense of hopelessness. How can programs capture the inherent energy and optimism of adolescents as a means to catalyzing a sense of beneficial purpose?
Character and Free Societies
Free societies allow for the flourishing of their citizens. It is also the case that having citizens of character is a requirement to sustain free societies. Whether it is the development of an entrepreneurial mindset, the development of virtuous leaders, or the promotion of virtues that are most strongly associated with free societies, we are interested in supporting projects at organizations that recognize the integrated nature of character development and free societies.
Moral Imagination and Hope
One essential element of successful character development is the ability to imagine the way the world should look, not merely how it looks at present. Like other kinds of imagination, this requires both study and practice. If we are to expect a better and brighter future, we must support new and innovative ways to educate young people on moral life and cultivate their curiosity for what can be.
Humility and Love
Humility and love are two of the most consequential virtues for thriving societies. To better understand the nature of these powerful virtues and how they interact, we seek to fund interdisciplinary research on questions such as: How do certain skills and dispositions such as open-mindedness, curiosity, and intellectual hospitality interact to yield a life characterized by a humble perspective? What is the role of unlimited love, or the benevolent goodwill for all people, in the cultivation of humility? How do different communities around the world, especially religious and spiritual communities, cultivate unlimited love? Are humble communities more loving?
Cooperation and Competition
Economic systems, including free market systems, depend upon ethical norms that provide the basis for how individuals act within such systems. The challenge is that these ethical considerations are not always reflected in conversations and actions within economic systems. We seek research projects that can elucidate the role that virtues such as honesty, creativity, and love can play in successful free market systems.
