Mellon at a glance

1969

Founded

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was established by Ailsa Mellon Bruce and Paul Mellon, the children of Andrew W. Mellon.

Learn about our history 

$8B

Total endowment

Grantmaking across all areas supports ideas and organizations that contribute to a more connected, creative, and just society.

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360

Grantees in 2021

Mellon actively works with our grantee partners, and we are deeply immersed in the fields in which we invest.

See a list of recipients 

$510M+

Awarded in 2021

Grantmaking across all areas supports ideas and organizations that contribute to a more connected, creative, and just society.

See grantmaking areas 
In the news
September 19, 2023
Mellon Foundation Appoints Historian and Scholar Kelly Lytle Hernández as its 2023 Fellow in Residence
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September 11, 2023
Melissa Gilliam and Gaurav Kapadia Join Mellon Foundation’s Board
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June 29, 2023
Statement on US Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action
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June 19, 2023
Monuments Project Giving Exceeds $150M; Grantmaking Expands to Nine Municipalities
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June 06, 2023
Mellon Announces Over $5M in Funding for Higher Education in Prisons
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Explore Ideas
  • Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image
    Artists as Catalysts
  • A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.
    Beyond Incarceration
  • Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous
    Civic Engagement
  • A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.
    Evolving Higher Education
  • Expanding Public Knowledge Navigation Image
    Expanding Public Knowledge
  • A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti.
    Monuments and Memory
  • Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.
    Multivocality
  • Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."
    Power of the Word
  • A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods
    Public Places‚ Public Stories
  • In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez"
    Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora
  • Two scholars dressed in all black face the camera.
    University Everywhere

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