Our Vision of Talent
We believe talent is more than a checklist of achievements or a spark of creativity that fits neatly into existing molds.
The talents we seek to cultivate are the ones that often go unseen or undervalued in a world obsessed with efficiency, metrics, and immediate returns.
Our Approach
We view talent as a sacred trust—a gift meant to be nurtured, multiplied, and offered back to the world for the flourishing of others.
Our approach is different. While many frameworks for identifying talent focus on disruptive potential or competitive edge, we focus on uncovering integrated, deep, soulful talent: individuals who possess a rare combination of deep interiority, moral imagination, and the courage to act for the common good.
Our grants are designed to find and amplify the voices, projects, and ideas that embody this vision. We take the long view, valuing slow growth and quiet impact over short-term hype.
We focus on the overlooked and the unmeasurable: those who might not shine in traditional talent-scouting models but who possess the qualities to transform their communities and inspire a richer, more humane world.
Invest in the invisible
Those who see value in places others overlook—whether it's nurturing relationships, reviving lost crafts, or advancing ideas that don't yield immediate applause.
Bridge divides
People who transcend silos and categories, connecting disparate worlds—faith and reason, art and technology, tradition and innovation.
Multiply the good
Those who are not content to preserve their gifts but use them boldly and responsibly to cultivate something greater, something that serves others and reflects the highest possibilities of human flourishing.
Grant Recipients
August Lamm
2025August is a writer and artist from New Haven, CT. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Free Press. She has spoken about the low-tech movement on NBC and NPR, and is the author of two non-fiction books: a drawing guide (Octopus 2022) and a technocritical book, forthcoming from Vintage. She was a 2024 MacDowell fellow in fiction writing, and her debut novel Lambing Season will be published in 2026.
The Center for Archaic Networks is dedicated to the research and revival of human networks predating social media. Projects include a print magazine, a series of booklets tracing the history of human networks, and an offline community center in New York, which will feature this century's first screen-free co-working space.
Thomas de Monchaux
2025Thomas Demonchaux is an architect and an award-winning architecture critic. His writing about design has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and in such journals as Log and n+1. He is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia University. His most recent book, with architect Deborah Berke, is Transform: Promising Places, Second Chances, and the Architecture of Transformational Change.
His “Envisioning Cluny” grant sent him to Harvard to report on an exhibit showcasing the historical Cluny Abbey, and the architectural historian Kenneth Conan.
Sisters of the Little Way
2025The Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness are a private association of the faithful intending to become a religious institute. As religious sisters and consecrated women, they live a mission of listening, healing, and reparation in solidarity with people on the fringes of the Church, especially those who have been wounded, scandalized, or abused by members of the Church.
Apply
If you are someone who embodies these principles, we want to hear from you. We're looking for thinkers, builders, creators, and caretakers who understand that talent is not merely a possession but a vocation.