AT&T Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The AT&T Foundation’s primary giving area is education, with a focus on college- and career-readiness. It also gives broadly in the fields digital literacy, public health, community development and human services in the communities where its employees live and work.
IP TAKE: Application for funding from AT&T and the AT&T Foundation is currently by invitation only. One way to get this funder’s attention would be to get in touch with local management. The company matches philanthropic gifts through a designated program for select recipients up to $15,000 per employee to any “institutions of higher education and organizations involved with arts and culture.”
Note that AT&T has funded some far right-wing outlets that engage in disinformation, like OAN.
PROFILE: The AT&T Foundation supports “programs that address quality-of-life issues, with an emphasis on improving education and advancing community development,” and focuses mainly on underserved and marginalized populations in regions of the U.S. where AT&T provides services. Areas of funding focus include education, community development, health and human services, and arts and culture.
Grants for K-12 Education and College Readiness
AT&T’s signature education initiative, AT&T Aspire, aims to “help students graduate from high school ready for college and careers to become better prepared to meet global competition.” It supports programs that provide “access to education and training people need to get and keep good jobs.” It prioritizes programs that focus on improving benchmarks like graduation rates, on-time grade promotion rates, credit completion, attendance, and reducing disciplinary issues. The initiative also offers the Aspire Mentoring Academy, which has “impacted more than 350,000 students through more than 2.27 million hours of mentoring.” UCLA’s Saturday Business Institute, Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot Program and the American Association of People with Disabilities. Internationally, it has supported women’s business education programs in Afghanistan and Rwanda. The foundation also matches employees’ charitable donations and supports educational programs with technology and internet connectivity.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
In a recent year, the AT&T Foundation announced a $6 million commitment to digital literacy through a collaboration with the Public Library Association. The initiative will bring digital literacy workshops that focus on basic technology skills and online safety to to 160 libraries and community centers across the U.S. The foundation has also run signature initiatives that aim to “bridge the digital divide” including Connected Dallas, which promotes affordable internet access in underserved Dallas communities, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester, New York, which used funding to offer youth digital literacy programs during after-school hours.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
AT&T’s health and human services grantmaking centers on increasing access to healthcare for hard to serve populations and innovation and collaborative approaches to “address key community health and human service issues.” It also prioritizes programs that use telemedicine or telehealth approaches to “reach underserved and hard-to-serve populations,” “increase access to specialists,” and “provide medical education.” AT&T does not have a specific disease grantmaking program, but it awards plenty of grants to support disease-related organizations. Recent tax filings show that it prioritizes cancer, with grants to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the American Heart Association, and local chapters of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Grants for Racial Justice, Housing and Community Development
In the racial justice space, AT&T’s racial justice work centers on diversity and inclusion efforts. Giving that’s directly related to racial justice and equity address minority entrepreneurship. It also makes grants in the form of communications and technology support.
AT&T awards very few human services grants each year, but prioritizes “improving education and advancing community development.” It also supports “underserved populations, including women, seniors, youth, people with disabilities and low-income families.” Past grantees include North Texas Food Bank.
Grants for Disaster Relief
AT&T awards its disaster relief and recovery grants through its community support and safety funding focus. Grantmaking supports a wide range of assistance including food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, transportation, education and childcare. Past grantees include the the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund, the United Way, the Greater Houston Community Fund and Team Rubicon, which received funding for its Hurricane Irma response and relief efforts in the Caribbean. AT&T also has a special individual grantmaking program that provides relief to AT&T employees and retirees financially affected by disasters.
Grants for Military and Veterans
AT&T supports military personnel, veterans, and their families by “advancing education, strengthening communities, and improving lives.” It particularly prioritizes job training and other programs aimed at helping veterans transition to civilian life, as well as programs that help children and families of veterans complete high school and prepare for college.
Grants for Violence Prevention
AT&T’s awards crime and violence-related grants through its community support and safety funding and its health and human services focus areas. Community support and safety grantmaking focuses on issues such as online safety, revitalization efforts, community strengthening, small business training and environmental sustainability. Health and human services grants support organizations serving hard to reach populations and those using innovative approaches to “address key community human service issues.” One past grantee in this field is 2nd Chance, Inc., which received funding for its work providing shelter and support services for victims of domestic violence.
Other
Like many corporate funders, AT&T offers its employees a gift matching program for select recipients. AT&T will match donations of up to $15,000 per employee to any “institutions of higher education and organizations involved with arts and culture.”
Important Grant Details:
Although AT&T is a giant multinational, the foundation's grants tend to be modest, generally ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Larger sums go toward collaborative projects that bear the AT&T name and logo. This funder tends to support well-established organizations, and its grantmaking is national in scope.
The AT&T Foundation’s website features a funding requests page, but application requires a username and password. The foundation does not provide information about how to begin the application process. Grantseekers are advised to contact local management or send an email the foundation with a brief history of their organization, current objectives, problems being addressed, a timetable for implementation and continuation plans after AT&T funding concludes.
PEOPLE:
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