Notes¶
Geographic limits: Southern Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, US: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico
W.K. Kellogg Foundation¶
Step 2 – How We Make Grants
Before You Begin: Determine if Your Interests Match Ours¶
The Kellogg Foundation makes grants to organizations that embrace a similar mission of creating communities, systems, and nations in which all children have an equitable and promising future – one in which all children thrive. Our grants will fund programs and projects that support children, families, and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.
We are committed to providing grants to a wide range of public, private, and collaborating organizations that share this commitment and whose work does one or more of the following:
- Implements practical solutions
- Discovers new approaches
- Holds promise for wider application
Where We Award Grants¶
We award the majority of our grants to tax-exempt organizations in the United States. Please view current details regarding Kellogg Foundation funding in the southern Africa, and Latin America, and the Caribbean regions. More specifically in Brazil, the Kellogg Foundation works with the Northeastern region (in the nine states), and with our main programmatic focus to support and promote Racial Equity for Social Inclusion.
To focus our work in the United States we make grants in three priority locations:
- Michigan (video coming soon…)
- Mississippi (video coming soon…)
- New Mexico (video coming soon…)
We also fund other promising ventures throughout the country.
We are committed to helping strengthen four dimensions of community life – essential elements that we believe all children need in order to be successful:
- Family Income and Assets
- Education and Learning
- Food, Health, and Well-Being
- Civic and Philanthropic Engagement
In Step 3 of this process, you will explore these current U.S. interests in greater detail.
We Focus Our Resources¶
The Kellogg Foundation received about 3,500 proposals during our last fiscal year (September 2007 to August 2008) and made 677 new grants, totaling $358,890,687. In 2009, we expect to see a significant increase in the number of proposals we receive, making it increasingly important that we focus our limited resources on our core funding priorities and locations.
The Types of Grants We Make¶
The vast majority of the grants we make support practical and innovative programming that supports children, families, communities, and community-serving organizations striving to make a difference in the lives of children, especially the most vulnerable. In addition, grants for operating support, endowments, corporate gifts, and program-related investments are provided in special and strategic circumstances.
In some instances, our grantmaking occurs through Requests for Proposals (RFPs).
In addition, the Kellogg Foundation makes mission-driven investments. These are not grants, but an innovative way to make investments in nonprofits and for-profits that seek to extend capital to those who are working toward social change in keeping with the Foundation’s mission and vision. Visit our mission-driven investments website for more information or to apply.
What We Don’t Fund¶
We don’t directly provide funds or scholarships to individuals.
In keeping with federal legislation, we don’t provide funds explicitly for lobbying or to support or oppose an individual candidate.
Selection Criteria That Makes a Difference¶
The Kellogg Foundation staff conducts a disciplined review of each grant application received to determine whether the proposal fits within our funding priorities and scope. Criteria may vary slightly, but generally, we are looking for proposals that have the potential to:
- Have a measurable impact on children and families who face significant barriers to opportunity for success
- Strengthen the “opportunity grid” (the systems and services) within communities that create opportunities for children
- Make significant and sustainable change
- Engage promising innovative solutions and technologies
- Work in partnership with communities, governments, businesses, and experts
- Leverage support from other sources
- Build on existing Kellogg Foundation work
