Introduction to different kinds of granting foundations

Government programs

 * Coordinated through offices like the Department of the Interior, etc
 * Tend to have very specific things they fund and very clear specifications for what they want

Large Foundations

 * Tend to be the largest funders
 * Examples: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation (Hampshire gets money from them)
 * Two types: companies and individuals
 * Company foundations use money from their profits, and investment decisions are communicated to shareholders, etc
 * Companies also tend to give grants either relating only to their business (ie, pharmaceuticals giving to only medicine-based programs) OR to a wide range of causes in an attempt to communicate a positive, socially-conscious image for the company
 * Individuals often also channel money from their businesses or income sources, but they also may make grants based on the interest from loans and investments.
 * Foundations based on individual wealth such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tend to give to the largest variety of grants, though their mission statements are still important to look at to see what their goals are
 * Individual foundations are sometimes also memorials to someone who has passed away; relatives will often set up a foundation to commemorate someone’s life by working for causes that were important to them

Family Foundations

 * Tend to be more small-scale, in terms of how much money they give out and also how many organizations they fund
 * Often restrict themselves to a very specific mission, geographically or in type of grants to fund
 * Very often based off of a bequest from an older or deceased family member, and often utilize the interest that that bequest accrues in the bank as their grant money
 * Tend to want a more personal and sustained connection with the organizations they fund: often fund both reoccurring requests and new ones, unlike larger corps which only do one

Private donors

 * Different from individual-based foundations because they are not set up as grant organizations necessarily: usually individuals with a focus on philanthropy will have a foundation attached, but sometimes they choose to give as a strictly private matter
 * The money for grants tends to come from the same place as the large individual-based foundations, however
 * Very varied concerning what sorts of grants they tend to solicit and accept