Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Organizational profile: 

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that are working to strengthen its hometown of Flint, Michigan, and communities around the world. The Foundation has grantmaking programs focused on Civil Society, Education, Environment and the Flint Area, in order to fulfill its mission of supporting efforts that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. For more than three decades, the Mott Foundation’s Environment program has supported stewardship of the world’s natural resources, focusing on the following areas:

• Addressing the Freshwater Challenge
• Transforming Development Finance
• Advancing Climate Change Solutions
• Special Initiatives

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation believes long-term funding offers grantees stability, which allows them to focus on important work and pursue innovation. Its grants fund the core activities of grantees, rather than requiring them to shape projects around shifting priorities. The Foundation believes grantees are experts in their fields, and well-equipped to make the critical decisions that guide their work.

Financing Instrument: Grants

Project scale: Recent forest-related grants have ranged from US$50,000 to US$3 million.

Recipient countries regions/country groups: The Environment program primarily funds organizations in the Great Lakes region in the United States, but also makes grants to selected organizations in other countries to help ensure that international investment and trade support sustainable development and reduce environmental degradation.

Recipient categories: NGOs/NPOs

Eligibility Criteria:

The Mott Foundation funds grants in the United States and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally. 

• No grants or loans to individuals.
• No grants (except in the Flint area) for capital development, research, project replication or endowment unless these activities grow out of work already being funded by Mott.
• No grants (except in the Flint area) for local projects unless they are part of a Mott-planned national demonstration or network of grants.
• No grants for projects that duplicate, or significantly overlap, the work of federal, state or local governmental agencies.
• Film and video projects, books, scholarships and fellowships rarely are funded.

Application guidelines: 

While the Mott Foundation believes it’s important to maintain flexibility in their grantmaking, applicants should understand that funding for unsolicited proposals is limited. To ensure that any inquiries they receive are answered in a timely way, they ask potential applicants to please use the letter of inquiry (LOI) form located at https://www.mott.org/letter-of-inquiry/ 

In addition to its regular grantmaking programs, the Foundation also supports unusual or unique opportunities addressing significant national and international problems. Proposals for these Exploratory and Special Projects grants are by invitation only.