Back Print Page E-mail Page

Two years ago, we embarked upon a multi-year transition to expand our grantmaking. This section of our Web site is designed to keep you informed during our transition process. New developments in programs and processes are posted on our front page and explained in full in the Program Updates.

To date, we have instituted many important changes, all of which are intended to increase our potential partnerships with nonprofits and extend our influence by supporting organizations that advance our strategic values. Visit the program updates page for a complete inventory of new developments made thus far.

The three over-arching developments are:

• Our values criteria – We have elevated nine values to serve as the centerpiece of our grantmaking. In doing so, we have shifted our grantmaking evaluation criteria from focusing on an organization’s fundraising prowess – the characteristic most essential to securing a challenge grant – to a holistic examination of the nature of the organization’s work and impact.
• Fields of interest – Our programmatic focus or fields of interest – health, the environment, community development, arts and culture, education and human services – remain the same and represent a continuous commitment over time. Within each field, however, a clear strategic direction is emerging that represents a deepening of commitment and a narrowing of focus for maximum, long-term impact.
• Our funding methods – Historically, Kresge has used one tool – facilities capital awarded as a challenge grant – to advance its work. We are in the process of expanding our funding methods to include grantmaking and investment tools previously not awarded by the foundation. This expansion of our funding tool box affords us the flexibility to make awards in the forms most appropriate for individual grantee organizations.

Rationale for change

The Kresge Foundation historically has supported fundraising campaigns to build capital projects – libraries, hospitals, schools, museums and community centers, among others. We are proud of the critical role we have played in helping build the country’s nonprofit infrastructure. The national landscape is dotted with capital projects that have benefitted from Kresge’s distinctive challenge grant program.

The world today, however, is a very different place from what it was when our signature challenge grant program was created, took root and flourished. Globalism, technological innovation, economic restructuring, the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, climate change, and other forces have generated challenges and opportunities unprecedented in their scale and consequence.

We believe we have a moral obligation to recalibrate our grantmaking by elevating the values that have quietly guided us for more than 80 years. In doing so, we hope to contribute more meaningfully to those organizations that most directly advance these values.

For more information, visit the Who We Are and What We Do sections of the Web site.

If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.