Freeport-McMoran Foundation: Arizona

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OVERVIEW: The Freeport-McMoran Foundation supports many organizations in Arizona and some in New Mexico and Texas. Its grantmaking interests prioritize K-12 education, Native Americans, community development, and women and girls.

IP TAKE:  Freeport-McMoran is a low-profile corporate funder that makes small, medium, and large grants in areas where its parent company has an active or discontinued mine or business presence. It conducts most of its grantmaking through the lens of economic empowerment and community development, with a special focus on Native American communities located near its mining zones. While the foundation has an open application process for new grantseekers to receive modest community grants and investments, it seems to favor certain long-term repeat grantees with large grants, sometimes of $500,000 to $1 million per year.

While this funder is not particularly transparent about its past grantmaking habits, with no list or database of past grantees available on its website, it is very transparent about what it looks for in a new grantee. It strongly prioritizes programs that address one or more of the priority Social Impacts listed in its guidelines. This is appears to be an accessible funder for programs operating in its giving area, as it has an open application process for the majority of its funding opportunities, and also provides extensive resources to help applicants improve their proposals, such as sample applications, budget templates, research and data resources, and other tools.

PROFILE: The Freeport-McMoran Foundation (FMF) is the grantmaking arm of Freeport-McMoran, a publicly traded copper company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. It is also a leading international mining company with strong commitments to the communities where it operates. Through its signature mission of Transforming Tomorrow Together, it collaborates with communities and nonprofits to “make transformative change that increases individual and community opportunity, wellbeing, and success.” While the majority of its funding goes to Arizona-based groups, it also makes grants in communities across there U.S. where it has sites of operation, namely select regions of New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Iowa, and Louisiana. It conducts its giving through impact investments, large grants, mini-grants, school outreach, employee volunteerism, and employee scholarships. Its current funding opportunities are in Community Investments, Mini-Grants for Education, Native American Initiatives, and Women’s Development Initiatives.

Grants for Community Development, Economic Opportunity, and Environment

Freeport-McMoran’s Community Investment program makes grants and investments with the aim of building “long-term resiliency” to help communities in its operating areas “successfully navigate commodity market downturns, end of mine life and other economic/social disruptors or shocks.” The foundation refers to these grants as “investments” because it prioritizes programs that “think about financial and other resources as the means to make investments in the future of the community with the goal of realizing a return that helps create greater capacity and long-term sustainability.” It also funds environmental programs to support the restoration, protection, and preservation of land, rivers, and waterways. Its three-pronged approach to community investment centers around

  • Education and Workforce Development: grants for K-12 and higher education, including programs for teachers’ professional development, classroom equipment and supplies, parental engagement, removing barriers to student success, student counseling, and research to identify funding gaps and needs.

  • Economic Opportunity: Grants for small business development, affordable housing, public transportation, parks and recreation facilities, and land and waterway conservation.

  • Capacity and Leadership: Grants that help nonprofits improve and expand their ability to serve communities through leadership development, mentorship, coaching, consulting, training, engagement, and leadership networks.

Past grantees include Yavapai Regional Transit, Launch Pad Teen Center, Colorado Firecamp, Lideres Latinx, and Smart Bellies.

Grants for Education and Youth

Freeport-McMoran makes most of its education grants through its Community Investment subprogram, Education and Workforce Development. This program makes grants for grants for K-12 and higher education, including programs for teachers’ professional development, classroom equipment and supplies, parental engagement, removing barriers to student success, student counseling, and research to identify funding gaps and needs. It also makes STEM innovation grants of up to $5,000 to K-12 teachers. The foundation also makes Mini-grants for Education, which consist of grants of $100 to $500 for K-12 teachers to fund special school projects relating to the environment, mining and mineral resources, reading and literacy, and STEM education. Freeport-McMoran regularly supports school outreach programs promoting the importance of copper and molybdenum mining. Past grants in Arizona went to the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, Bagdad Little League, Audrey and Robert Ryan Elementary, and the Climbing Association of Southern Arizona.

Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights

Freeport-McMoran’s Native American Initiatives serve Native American communities located near the company’s current or former mining operation sites, namely the Hualapai, Yavapai-Apache, Yavapai Prescott, San Carlos Apache, White Mountain Apache, Tohono O’odham, and Pascua Yaqui. The foundation has several different initiatives in this field:

  • Native American Partnership Fund: grants of up to $60,000 supporting broader programs that “benefit the community as a whole,” such as “education and training, health and wellness, cultural preservation, economic development, and/or environmental protection/management.”

  • Native American Community Activities and Contributions: grants of up to $5,000 for local tribal events, programs, or activities, that promote “education and training, health and wellness, cultural preservation, economic development, and/or environmental protection/management.”

  • Navajo Nation Contributions Grant: grants of up to $5,000 for local tribal events, programs, or activities specifically in select Navajo Nation chapters that promote “education and training, health and wellness, cultural preservation, economic development, and/or environmental protection/management.”

  • Project Dreamcatcher: a “one-week, intensive business training program for Native American women entrepreneurs.”

  • Dreambuilder: an online business training program to “help individuals build their dream of starting or growing their own business.”

  • College Scholarships: four scholarships of up to $15,000 in partnership with Education Forward Arizona, namely the Native American Scholarship, Navajo Code Talkers Scholarship, Cyprus Tohono Corporation Scholarship, and Cyprus Tohono Josiah Moore Memorial Scholarship.

Grants for Women and Girls

Freeport-McMoran’s Women’s Development Initiatives aim to “ensure that women have suitable, relevant, functional opportunities to be full participants in economic development and attain greater levels of prosperity.” Specifically, it makes grants to programs that help “advance attainment, matriculation or graduation,” “create or expand businesses via small business development training and access to capital programs,” and “increase financial capability and employment via education or workforce skills training.” It gives priority to programs that serve rural communities, provide measurable results, engage in collaboration or partnerships, and have the potential to be sustainable beyond the funding period. Past grantees include Dreambuilder, Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, Women’s Transition Project, and Women for Women International.

IMPORTANT GRANT DETAILS:

Freeport-McMoran’s grants typically range from $5,000 to $50,000, with select long-term partners often receiving between $100,000 and $500,000 a year. While the foundation does not maintain a list or database of past grants, grantseekers may search for its past tax records for more information about the kinds of organizations it supports.

  • The company has a presence in the Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Other states and countries of interest are Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Iowa, and Louisiana.

  • Many programs and initiatives are limited to specific communities. Grantseekers are advised to consult the specific guidelines to ensure that they are located in a community served by that grant.

  • For most programs, Freeport-McMoran accepts applications once per year. Deadlines vary by program. Applicants must first complete the foundation’s eligibility quiz before proceeding to the complete application.

The general phone number for community information is (877) 629-2609, and direct general questions via online form.

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