OVERVIEW: The Motorola Solutions Foundation centers its grantmaking on STEM education, technology, and programs for first responders.
IP TAKE: This is a focused corporate funder with a relatively clear path in for new prospects. The best fits are organizations working directly in first responder wellness, training, leadership, recruitment and preparedness, or in hands-on technology and engineering education, scholarships and workforce pathways serving under-resourced populations.
Grantseekers don’t need a preexisting invitation to make an initial approach: the annual inquiry period is open, although only selected organizations advance to the full application. Competition is deep, so applicants should make a tight case for fit, measurable impact and partnerships rather than relying on a generic public-safety or STEM connection. Organizations outside Motorola Solutions’ priority locations are not necessarily excluded, but proximity to company operations can improve strategic alignment.
PROFILE: The Motorola Solutions Foundation is the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, the Chicago-based communications and public-safety technology company. Its predecessor, the Motorola Foundation, was established in 1953; the Motorola Solutions Foundation continued that work beginning in 2011, following the separation of Motorola, Inc. into Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility. The foundation’s purpose is to help “build safer cities and thriving communities.”
Today, the foundation concentrates its strategic grantmaking on first responder programming and technology and engineering education, with an overarching emphasis on reaching under-resourced populations. It also supports disaster relief, employee giving, volunteerism and other community investment activities.
Grants for K-12, Engineering Education and Workforce
The foundation’s Technology & Engineering Education grantmaking area aims to “inspire and cultivate the next generation of engineers and inventors” with a strong focus on underserved populations. Read the current program priorities.
- This is narrower than a broad STEM portfolio: current guidelines specifically identify computer science, robotics, coding, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, as well as vocational training, certifications and workforce placement in engineering, information technology and data science.
- The foundation also supports teacher training and scholarships. Its education funding prioritizes school-aged students roughly ages 8 to 18, college and university students, and young adults.
- The foundation says it committed more than $5 million to technology and engineering education in 2025. Programs may range from hands-on youth technology education to postsecondary scholarships, workforce certifications and employment pathways.
- Featured grantees include Generation Australia, which operates an IT support training program for people facing employment barriers; Instituto Rogerio Steinberg in Brazil, which provides technology and engineering programming for low-income young people; and NPower, whose Tech Fundamentals program offers technology training, certifications and career support to veterans and other adults facing employment barriers.
- Programs that combine technology or engineering education with public safety can also fit particularly well. The foundation’s current guidance explicitly identifies blended first responder and technology/engineering education programs as a funding category.
Grants for Mental Health, Human Services and Public Safety
Motorola’s First Responder Programming grantmaking area focuses on services that improve the lives and well-being of “law enforcement personnel, firefighters, dispatchers, EMTs, frontline healthcare professionals and veterans.”
Current grant priorities include leadership development and training, public-safety career pathways for youth and young adults, mental wellness and stress management, scholarships and wellness support for families of fallen first responders, safety preparedness and response training, and disaster-preparedness training for the public.
- Mental health and wellness have become particularly visible components of this work. Motorola says it directed $1.9 million to first responder mental-health programs in 2025, along with $1.5 million to programs supporting families of fallen first responders and $1.3 million to recruitment and leadership-development programs.
- Current and recent partners illustrate the range of this funding. The foundation highlights The Innocent Justice Foundation, whose HART program provides wellness training to first responders, and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, whose Policing Leadership Academy trains police managers. Its 2025 tax records also include a $500,000 grant to the Police Executive Research Forum and a $335,000 grant to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Explore featured grant partners.
- Organizations working on first responder mental health, recruitment and leadership, emergency communications, career development, scholarships for first responder families, and safety or disaster preparedness appear particularly well aligned.
- The foundation also maintains interest in supporting “programs that advance leadership among first responder populations.” Grantees also include the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Washington, DC Police Foundation and the San Diego Police Foundation.
Disaster Relief and Employee Programs
The Motorola Solutions Foundation separately identifies disaster relief as part of its philanthropic work and says it provides support following both natural and human-made disasters around the world. This work should be distinguished from the foundation’s annual strategic grant program: disaster preparedness can qualify under first responder programming, while direct disaster-relief giving is a separate foundation activity. The foundation does not currently publish a separate open application process for disaster-relief funding. See the foundation’s overview of its giving.
Employee philanthropy is another significant part of the foundation’s work. Through Motorola Matches, the foundation matches both employee donations and volunteer activity. Motorola employees in North America may also serve on grant-review committees; employees participating in those committees may direct a grant to an eligible nonprofit. Recipients of the company’s CEO Award for Volunteerism receive $5,000 to designate to a nonprofit. These programs are separate from the foundation’s competitive annual strategic grants.
Nonprofits interested in engaging Motorola employees can also post volunteer opportunities through the Benevity Causes Portal using the company’s published volunteer share key. The foundation encourages organizations to submit volunteer opportunities several weeks in advance. Current guidelines do not indicate that employee engagement is required to compete for a strategic grant or that it gives an applicant preferential treatment. See the grant FAQs.
Important Grant Details:
The foundation says it has given more than $100 million over the past decade. In 2025, it awarded 187 strategic grants totaling $10 million across 22 countries. Its latest available Form 990-PF, for 2025, reports about $12.9 million in charitable disbursements overall. See the foundation’s annual grant page.
The foundation’s standard 2026 competitive-grant request was capped at $50,000, although returning grant partners could seek larger awards. Large grants appearing in the tax record should therefore not be viewed as representative of what a new applicant is likely to receive.
- Motorola’s grants typically provide general operating support to grantees.
- Motorola Solutions Foundation makes grants internationally.
- For the 2026 grant cycle, the foundation identified nine North American priority locations: Baltimore area, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicagoland, Illinois; Dallas area, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; South Florida; Southern California; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Westminster, Colorado. See current geographic priorities.
- The foundation’s public grant materials point to several qualities it actively seeks. In addition to close alignment with its two main program areas, Motorola prioritizes organizations that reach under-resourced populations, work through strong partnerships with nonprofits or institutions, demonstrate sound financial health and use data and quantifiable metrics to evaluate results.
- Motorola Solutions Foundation is not strictly invitation-only. Its annual strategic grant program has a two-stage process: an open inquiry is followed by an invitation-only full application for selected organizations. This makes Motorola more accessible than funders that require a prior relationship or invitation even to introduce an organization. More than 830 organizations submitted inquiries in the 2026 cycle, indicating significant competition for invitations to the full application stage. See the annual grant cycle and application FAQs.
- As of August 2026, the 2026 cycle is closed and awards are being announced. The foundation says the 2027 grant cycle will begin in late November 2026 and maintains a mailing list for organizations interested in future opportunities.
- Email foundation@motorolasolutions.com with questions.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
Last updated on