Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Explained

Mellon Foundation
Full Name:The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Founded Date:June 30, 1969
Founder:Paul Mellon
Ailsa Mellon Bruce
Location:140 E. 62nd St., New York City, U.S.
Key People:Elizabeth Alexander (President)
Focus:Higher education
Museums and art conservation
Performing arts
Conservation
Method:Grants
Revenue:$380,179,226[1]
Revenue Year:2015
Expenses:$331,375,744
Expenses Year:2015
Endowment:$6.1 billion
Homepage:www.mellon.org

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2] It is the product of the 1969 merger of the Avalon Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation. These foundations had been set up separately by Ailsa Mellon Bruce and Paul Mellon, the children of Andrew Mellon.

The foundation is housed in New York City in the expanded former offices of the Bollingen Foundation, another educational philanthropy once supported by Paul Mellon. Poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander is the foundation's current president. Her predecessors have included Earl Lewis, Don Randel, William G. Bowen, John Edward Sawyer and Nathan Pusey.

In 2004, the foundation was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[3]

Core areas of interest

Organization

Mellon's research group has investigated doctoral education, collegiate admissions, independent research libraries, charitable nonprofits, scholarly communications, and other issues to ensure that the foundation's grants would be well-informed and more effective.[6] Some of the recent publications of this effect include Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education, Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values, JSTOR: A History, The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values, and The Shape of the River.[7]

Mellon's endowment fluctuates in the range of $5 to $6 billion, and its annual grant-making amounts to about $300 million.[8] [9] [10]

According to Alexander, Mellon supports the “work, experiences, and visions of disabled artists."[11] In July 2024, the Ford and Mellon Foundations named 20 "Disability Futures Fellows," including a Broadway composer, a Marvel video game voice actress, and a three-time Pushcart Prize-nominated poet.[12]

Projects and initiatives

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation . Foundation Center . 21 June 2017 .
  2. Web site: Andrew W Mellon Foundation/The - Company Profile and News . 2024-07-20 . Bloomberg.com . en.
  3. Web site: Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts . Nea.gov . 2012-04-28 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721054307/http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html . 2011-07-21 .
  4. Web site: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation . 2024-07-20 . www.arts.gov . en.
  5. Web site: Candid . Andrew W. Mellon Foundation . 2024-07-20 . Philanthropy News Digest (PND) . en.
  6. Web site: 2024-05-31 . Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grants for Arts & Humanities . 2024-07-20 . Inside Philanthropy . en-US.
  7. Web site: University funding by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation . 2024-07-20 . UniversityPhilanthropy.com . en-US.
  8. Web site: Mellon Foundation . 2024-07-20 . www.mellon.org . en.
  9. Web site: 2024-04-17 . ODU Receives $5 Million Mellon Foundation Award to Fund Humanities Internships . 2024-07-20 . Old Dominion University . en.
  10. Web site: Hughes . Eddie . 2024-04-17 . Mellon Foundation awards Fresno State $5 million for humanities internships . 2024-07-20 . Fresno State News . en-US.
  11. News: Bahr . Sarah . 2024-07-17 . Ford and Mellon Foundations Name 2024 Disability Futures Fellows . 2024-07-20 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  12. News: Bahr . Sarah . 2024-07-17 . Ford and Mellon Foundations Name 2024 Disability Futures Fellows . 2024-07-20 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  13. 5 October 2020. Mellon Foundation to Spend $250 Million to Reimagine Monuments. New York Times. 15 June 2022.
  14. 4 May 2022. Mellon Foundation, CEC launch $8 million artist program in Puerto Rico. Philanthropy News Digest. 4 May 2022.
  15. 7 February 2022. 2,700 Artists in New York State Will Benefit from New $125M Program. Hyperallergic. 15 June 2022.