What We Do

The Kresge Foundation awards grants to small, mid-size, and large nonprofit organizations in six fields of interest (described below): health, the environment, community development, arts and culture, education, and human services. Working with our grantees, we endeavor to improve the life circumstances and opportunities for poor, disadvantaged and marginalized individuals, families, and communities.

We evaluate grant requests on the basis of how closely an organization’s mission, programs and community outcomes align with and advance our values criteria.

In 2008, we created three new programs – the Health Program, the Environment Program and the Detroit Program – to expand our work in these fields. The Detroit Program is our primary community-development effort. The priorities for each program are designed to achieve maximum impact in specific areas over the long-term.

Grantmaking in Arts and Culture, Community Development (outside of Detroit), Education and Human Services consists primarily of facilities capital grants awarded as a challenge. The challenge grant has been our signature funding method for more than eight decades.

Fields of Interest

Each field is listed along with our particular areas of concern and the aspects of our values criteria we believe will influence positive outcomes. We are most interested in grant proposals that specifically address the concerns described in the fields below.

Health – Our primary focus is on improving access to health care for groups that have been marginalized, particularly low-income and minority populations and women. Four values are important in this area: creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and strengthening community impact. Organizations with a predominant emphasis on improving the health status of needy populations will receive priority attention. For more information, see the Health Program page.

Environment – Our grantmaking supports efforts to address the challenges of global climate change, which we consider to be one of society’s most pressing issues. Funding will be considered for nonprofits that are focused on projects such as reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the built environment, accelerating the adoption of renewable energy technologies, and developing adaptive strategies for dealing with climate change. Values associated with these efforts include creating opportunity, strengthening community impact, driving innovation, and advancing environmental conservation. For more information, see the Environment Program page.

Arts and Culture – Through our grant awards, we seek to help arts organizations overcome the challenges that threaten their long-term sustainability while ensuring they continue to fulfill their important role as creative contributors to the community. Funding will provide a financial safety net, support technological advancements, and build leadership capabilities.  The values of strengthening community impact, creating opportunity, and promoting innovation are particularly relevant for this field. For more information, see the Arts and Culture page.

Community Development – Grant awards are made to organizations whose work in geographically defined rural, urban, and aging suburban neighborhoods serves to enhance grassroots participation, resident empowerment, physical revitalization, neighborhood cohesion, and youth opportunity. Values that coincide with these efforts include: creating opportunity, strengthening community impact, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and enhancing environmental conservation. For more information, see the Community Development page.

Education – Our grantmaking is rooted in a desire to overcome systematic inequities in early childhood and higher education and to provide life-changing educational opportunities to those who have been excluded. We support organizations and institutions endeavoring to educate a workforce that can compete successfully in the global economy. Our top four values in this field are: providing opportunity and access, promoting diversity, supporting environmental conservation, and creating community impact. For more information, see the Education page.

Human Services – We focus mainly on the facility requirements of community-based organizations and the quality of care they provide. Grantmaking priority is given to service providers that offer opportunity and access to low-income, vulnerable, and disadvantaged populations in ways that improve their quality of life. The values we support include: creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and strengthening community impact. For more information, see the Human Services page.

Opening new doors

In 2007, Kresge began expanding its grantmaking to better address society’s pressing issues. We are in the midst of a multi-year transition to become a foundation that practices strategic philanthropy using an array of grantmaking tools and program-related investments. Our funding methods are determined based on the needs of an organization and the program officer’s discretion.

We are writing another chapter in our philanthropic history and opening new doors to grantees that seek our help and partnership. Although Kresge will long be remembered for helping to build the nation’s nonprofit infrastructure – libraries, hospitals, schools, museums, and community centers, among other facilities – we believe we have a moral obligation to address more directly the intractable issues of our time. The strong desire of our founder, Sebastian Spering Kresge, to “promote human progress” continues to be our guiding light.