The Sprout Fund is a nonprofit organization supporting innovative ideas and grassroots community projects that are catalyzing change in Pittsburgh.

Founded in 2001, Sprout is designed to facilitate community-led solutions to regional challenges and supports efforts to create a thriving, progressive, and culturally diverse region. With strong working relationships to many community organizations and regional stakeholders, The Sprout Fund is one of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s leading agencies on issues related to civic engagement, talent attraction and retention, public art, and catalytic small-scale funding.

Sprout Seed Awards are modest financial awards that support community-based projects and strategic initiatives. Over the last six years, The Sprout Fund has received more than 950 applications for the Sprout Seed Award program and made nearly 200 awards totaling more than $2.2 million of investment in community-driven programming. These low-threshold projects are being leveraged into high-impact results that can be felt at every level of Pittsburgh culture.

Sprout Public Art improves the image of the region by enhancing the visual landscape of neighborhoods in Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities of Allegheny County by creating high quality public art. By the conclusion of the fifth season of Sprout Public Art at the end of 2008, communities will have collaborated with artists to develop 45 enduring works of public art that enhance the urban landscape and consider the people of the community, their history and their vision for the future.

Hothouse is The Sprout Fund’s “live annual report” to the community and serves as stage to present a sampling of some of the innovative projects and emerging leaders of successful community initiatives supported by Sprout over the past year. And through additional programming such as Engage Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections, Sprout continues to seed community change at the edge of civic innovation.

Sprout is dedicated to serving those who demonstrate the drive and capacity to think creatively about their communities. Directed by a board of young, creative, and civically engaged people and led by co-founders Cathy Lewis Long and Matt Hannigan, Sprout employs 7 staff, has an operating budget of $2.2 million in 2008, and is located in the Penn Avenue Arts District in the East End of Pittsburgh. Supported by lead contributions from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Sprout has also received funding from more than 20 local foundations and more than 65 corporations, nonprofits, and governmental entities.

As a testament to its impact on the region over the last six years, The Sprout Fund was named one of the “Top 50 Influences on the Arts” of the last decade by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2006, Sprout Public Art was named “best public art” by the Pittsburgh City Paper. Moreover, Sprout has been recognized by Pittsburgh City Council and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for its important work in Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities of Allegheny County.