Craft Catalyst Initiative
Keeping Commerce Human Beyond the Marketplace
At Etsy, we believe keeping commerce human means supporting more than individual businesses. It also means supporting the communities that help those businesses thrive.
The Craft Catalyst Initiative is a national strategy to strengthen the United States’ craft communities, developed in partnership with Center for Craft. It includes grants, from the Etsy Uplift Fund, to nonprofit organizations bringing critical support to makers. Launched in 2026, the initiative supports organizations working in some of the country’s most renowned craft communities. The program helps strengthen the organizations, networks, and community institutions that support makers throughout their careers.
This work reflects a simple belief: supporting the people and organizations behind craft helps creative businesses thrive.
Partnership Spotlight: Center for Craft
The Craft Catalyst Initiative was developed in partnership with Center for Craft, a national nonprofit organization based in Asheville, North Carolina.
For nearly three decades, Center for Craft has invested in the future of craft through research, grantmaking, and community partnerships. Their expertise helps ensure the initiative is informed by artists and institutional innovators, grounded in community needs, and designed for long-term impact.
Together, Etsy and Center for Craft are working to better understand what helps craft communities thrive and how those lessons can support makers across the country.
Why Craft Communities Matter
Creative businesses rarely succeed alone.
Makers depend on a broader network of people and organizations that help them learn skills, access resources, connect with peers, and build sustainable careers.
When those networks are strong:
- Makers gain access to training, mentorship, and business support.
- Communities preserve creative traditions and cultural knowledge.
- Local economies benefit from entrepreneurship and small business growth.
- Future generations have clearer pathways into creative careers.
Yet many of the organizations that provide this critical support operate with limited resources.
The Craft Catalyst Initiative exists to help strengthen those foundations.
Why We’re Investing in Craft Hubs
The initiative is launching in five communities where craft is deeply embedded in local culture, economic life, and identity:
- Asheville/Western North Carolina
- Berea/Eastern Kentucky
- Greater Philadelphia
- Santa Fe/Northern New Mexico
- The Bay Area, California
These communities are home to strong networks of makers, schools, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and community leaders committed to craft.
By investing in places where craft ecosystems are already taking root, we can strengthen craft’s foundations, learn what helps creative communities thrive and apply those lessons more broadly over time.
Featured Research
Craft Hubs: The Creative and Cultural Ecosystems That Sustain Local Communities
Craft is more than the objects people create. It is knowledge, skill, and tradition passed down through the teachers, mentors, organizations, and communities that help makers thrive.
This report explores how Craft Hubs develop, the organizations that sustain them, and why investing in these networks matters for entrepreneurship, cultural preservation, and community resilience.
Where the Investment Goes
1. Craft education and skill-building
Supporting organizations that provide training, mentorship, apprenticeships, and professional development opportunities.
2. Community infrastructure
Supporting the schools, nonprofits, guilds, and cultural institutions that sustain maker connections.
3. Research
Building awareness of craft’s cultural and economic impact through research, documentation, and public storytelling.
4. Economic opportunity
Supporting programs that help makers connect creative skills with sustainable livelihoods.
From Research to Action
The Craft Catalyst Initiative builds on years of research and experience into how creative communities grow and endure.
Following the devastation from Hurricane Helene in 2024, Etsy awarded a $100,000 Community Resilience Grant to ensure that Asheville’s River Arts District – home to more than 750 artists – could sustainably rebuild and re-envision the future of serving its creative community.
The lessons learned from that initiative now help guide a broader multi-city effort focused on strengthening craft communities across the United States.
FAQs
The Craft Catalyst Initiative is a partnership between Etsy and the Center for Craft that will invest $10 million over three years to strengthen craft communities across the United States by supporting the organizations and networks that help makers thrive.
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In its first round, the Craft Catalyst Initiative will award $2 million in five craft hubs nationwide, with 20 nonprofit organizations receiving unrestricted grants of $100,000 each. With three to five recipient organizations per hub, local craft economies will see an immediate infusion of up to $500,000 to unleash capacity and strengthen support systems for makers.
This place-based approach to advancing the field recognizes the resilience of American craft and the institutions that ensure makers remain woven into local culture and economies. Partner organizations were selected to receive awards based on research and interviews conducted in each hub, as well as guidance from a distinguished panel of national advisors. The program’s first-year grant recipients will be publicly announced on July 16, 2026.
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How can I learn more? Follow program updates, explore our research, and learn more about participating organizations and communities.