Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation makes grants to support education and entrepreneurship. It also supports local groups in the Kansas City area.
IP TAKE: This is a highly accessible funder that accepts “ideas” any time via its online portal. It focuses on the Kansas City area, but recent years have seen increased grantmaking for “the heartland” and large national policy development organizations working in Kauffman’s areas of interest. In spite of the foundation’s deep pockets, grantseekers outside of the Kansas City area might find it more difficult to secure support.
PROFILE: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, was endowed by Ewing Marion Kauffman, a pharmaceutical executive and former owner of the Kansas City Royals baseball franchise. The foundation aims to “help individuals attain economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success.” Its funding initiatives are education, entrepreneurship and Kansas City, Missouri.
Grants for Education
Kauffman’s education program focuses on the greater Kansas City area and promotes learning that is equitable and that will “lead to economically viable careers.” Specific areas of focus include foundational learning for pre-K through grade 12, high school readiness and career and employment readiness. The foundation provides ongoing support to signature projects including in Kansas City including the Ewing Marion Kauffman public charter school and the Kauffman Scholars Program, which helps Kansas City students prepare for and succeed in college. Other education grantees include the Kansas City Teacher Residency, Teach for America Kansas City Scholars, the Literacy Lab and the DeLaSalle Education Center, which also operates in Kansas City.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The Kauffman Foundation’s entrepreneurship program aims to create “equitable and innovative pathways to entrepreneurship.” While this program also prioritizes Kansas City, Missouri, it also makes grants to projects and programs in “the Heartland” and other parts of the U.S. Subprograms include research on economic trends relating to business development, policy development for entrepreneurial ecosystems and entrepreneurial learning and support. A fourth subprogram, capital innovation, supports research to “understand and address the challenges entrepreneurs of color face when accessing capital” and to “deploy supportive grants that help create more equitable access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs.” Recent entrepreneurship grants have gone to Accelerator for America, the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, the International Business Innovation Association and the Iowa Center for Opportunity Resources and Equity.
Grants for Kansas City, Missouri
The foundation runs a third grantmaking program that focuses exclusively on the Kansas City area and aims to “enhance civic pride in Kansas City and make it a major league city.” Grantmaking from this initiative has supported out-of-school youth development and enrichment programs, recreation and cultural institutions and Kansas City community organizations working “to solve entrenched local issues that create disparate outcomes.” Grantees from the Kansas City funding program include the American Jazz Museum, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City, El Centro, the Johnson County Library Association and the Oak Ridge Youth Development Association.
Important Grant Details
This funder gave away over $100 million in a recent year. Kauffman grants range from a few thousand dollars to over $300,000, with an average grant size of about $50,000. Grants mainly support organizations operating in Kansas City, Missouri. The foundation provides a grants database on its website.
This funder accepts “ideas” at any time throughout the year. Submission begins with a brief questionnaire on the foundation’s grantseekers page. The foundation is not able to respond to every idea it receives, but will contact applicants within 30 days of submission in cases of grantmaking interest on the part of the foundation. It also posts RFPs on its current opportunities page and invites nonprofits to sign up for updates via its connect page.
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