Finding the right foundation

Private foundations, established to give away money, often support faculty scholarship in its broadest terms—not only research, but also program and curriculum development, publications, conferences and symposia. Each is required by law to give away at least 5 percent of its assets annually. In 2006, America’s 71,000 grant-making foundations—independent, corporate and community—gave away $41 billion.

Happily, RIT’s piece of that pie is growing. During the last capital campaign, grants from the Gleason Foundation totaled almost $20 million. Grants from the Nippon Foundation (Tokyo) reached nearly $7 million, while research support from the Mellon Foundation exceeded $5.4 million. Major support from the Emerson and Davenport-Hatch foundations helped underwrite the cost of the Gordon Field House and Activities Center. A $2 million grant from the McGowan Fund enabled us to move forward with the new College of Applied Science and Technology building, scheduled for dedication in April. A $1 million commitment from the Starr Foundation endowed the Conable Chair in International Studies. Major support from the Sloan Foundation established a prestigious Sloan Industry Center at RIT, now the nation’s premier research center for the field of printing.

Closer to home, the Carlson Charitable Fund endowed scholarships for students pursuing degrees in imaging science, while the Schmitt Foundation endowed the work of Campus Ministries.

Our success continues today, due to the vision of the university’s leadership and the expertise of faculty and staff who transform vision into reality. We in the Office of Development can identify foundations to approach, arrange meetings with their presidents and program directors and work with you to develop proposals. We are only the facilitators, however. It is you who provide the vision, scholarship and can-do spirit that is redefining RIT as the university of innovation and invention.

The RIT Web site enables you to search the Foundation Center Database of 600 foundations to find those best suited to meet your need. This resource is available to anyone with an RIT username and password. You can search by purpose of grant (technology, minorities, visual arts, for example) and access foundation assets, sample grants, board membership and more. The beauty of you doing this yourself is that you know your project much better than anyone else. Here’s what you do:

Go to www.rit.edu and click on Academics, then Wallace Library

Under Databases & Resources, click on Databases: Find Articles

Scroll through A-Z Quick Finder and select Dialog1

A window will pop up; fill in your RIT username and password

Click on Search this Database

Click on Business Intelligence, then on Foundations Making Grants

Enter what you know—such as a key word under Purpose of Grant—and hit Search

Once you’ve identified foundations that look promising, contact us in Foundation Relations before approaching them with even a phone call or e-mail. We have strong relationships with many foundations that can pave the way for you. We also know which ones will consider multiple proposals. Contact me at susan.moline@rit.edu, Meaghan de Chateauvieux at meddar@rit.edu, or the director of development for your college or division. We’re here to help you succeed.

Susan Watson Moline is executive director of foundation relations for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.

This column presents opinions and ideas on issues relevant to higher education. To suggest an idea for the column, e-mail newsevents@rit.edu.