George Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: Based in Minneapolis, the George Family Foundation’s areas of grantmaking include public health, mental health, women and girls, education and the environment. This funder prioritizes the state of Minnesota, greater Dallas, Marin County and the Vail Valley in Colorado.
IP TAKE: This funder’s main priorities include integrative health and mindfulness. Grantees tend to be well-known national organizations or smaller nonprofits serving the foundation’s geographic areas of priority. This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals. It’s not a particularly accessible foundation nor does it like taking grantmaking risks. Reach out to the foundation to learn more about what it looks for in grantees, which is always evolving.
PROFILE: The George Family Foundation was established in 1994 by Penny and Bill George and is based in Minneapolis. Bill George is a former chair and CEO of the medical devices corporation Medtronic and a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. The George Family Foundation aims to “foster wholeness in mind, body, spirit and community by developing authentic leaders and supporting transformative programs serving the common good.” Its named grantmaking initiatives are integrative health and healing, authentic leadership, spirituality and mindfulness, youth development, environment and community. Funding prioritizes, but is not strictly limited to key geographic areas including Minnesota, greater Dallas, Marin County and Vail Valley.
Grants for Public Health
The George Family Foundation supports public health via its integrative health and healing program, which is its largest area of giving. Integrative health is an approach that combines Western scientific medical practice with practices that allow for a deeper acknowledgement of patients’ mental and spiritual wellbeing. The George Family Foundation’s program works to broaden acceptance of the approach and support national organizations that provide education and professional development in the field.
Past grants include a $2 million commitment to the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and Healthy Living programs and $1.5 million to the Minneapolis Foundation’s Catalyst Initiative, which aims to bring mind-body approaches to self care for enhanced health and wellbeing in Minneapolis. Other integrative health grantees include the Academic Collaboration for Integrative Health, the American Medical Student Association and the Tides Center’s Integrative Medicine for the Underserved program.
Grants for Mental Health
Funding for mental health stems from the George Foundation’s integrative health, spirituality and mindfulness and youth development programs. Mental health and wellbeing feature prominently in integrative health approaches, and several grants have supported programs that offer individual and group counseling as well as healing programs that feature art and movement. The spirituality and mindfulness program supports nonsectarian and interfaith organizations that offer training and guidance in medication and contemplative practices, and the youth funding program has supported programs that include counseling and personal development programs for children and teens. Past mental health grantees include St. Paul’s Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, the Mind and Life Institute, the On Being Project and Minneapolis Pathways, which provides supportive services to people with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
Grants for Women and Girls
The George Family Foundation has demonstrated a strong commitment to women’s and girls’ causes through its integrative health, leadership and youth funding programs. In integrative health, the foundation aims to fund educational programs that support female practitioners, and the authentic leadership program has supported several women’s and girls’ leadership training programs at colleges and universities. Youth funding also prioritizes girls and specifies a preference for programs that work “intensively with girls and young women.” At Duke University, the foundation endowed the Penny Pilgram George Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a $100,000 grant supported Georgia Tech’s Women in Engineering Leadership Program. Other past grantees in this area include the Minnesota Women’s Foundation, the Girl Scouts of Northern Texas and a Girls Incorporated program at the YWCA of Minneapolis.
Grants for Higher Education
While the George Family Foundation does not name higher education as a funding priority, a significant portion of its funding goes to institutions of higher education via its leadership, spirituality and youth funding initiatives. Several grantees of the leadership program run programs that nurture leadership among underrepresented populations in specific fields of study. At the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public, the foundation supported women and minority participants in a fellowship program at the Center for the Study of Politics and Government. Other past grantees include scholarship, fellowship and leadership development programs at Duke University, Harvard University, Georgia Tech, Carleton College, Auburn Theological Seminary and the Sigma Chi Foundation.
Grants for K-12 Education
This foundation supports K-12 education mainly through its youth development program, which prioritizes children and young adults from “under-resourced families and communities.” The program aims to help young people reach their full potential through programs that teach life skills, mindfulness and conflict resolution and experiences that enhance self-esteem. Funding for this program is limited to the foundation’s geographic priorities of Minnesota, Dallas, Marin County and Vail Valley. Past grantees include the Breck School, College Possible, Education Open Doors, Minneapolis’s MacPhail Center for Music, the Page Education Foundation and the Walking Mountains Natural Science School.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Environmental funding is a new area of interest for this foundation and its smallest in terms of annual giving. The program names engagement with nature, outdoor experiences and environmental education as areas of interest. The foundation also prioritizes programs that have “synergy” with its other areas of grantmaking. Past environmental grantees include the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa, Minnesota’s Eagle Valley Land Trust, Wilderness Inquiry and Audubon California.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
Through its community grantmaking program, the George Family Foundation works flexibly in its geographic areas of priority to address specific community needs and interests. Examples of past community grantees include the Dallas Foundation, Global Minnesota, Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theatre, Minnesota Public Radio, the North Texas Food Bank and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
Important Grant Details:
The George Family Foundation’s grantmaking tops $3 million a year, with about half of all funding going to the integrative health program. Across all programs, grants range from $10,000 to $2 million, with many grants representing multi-year commitments to organizations. Grantees tend to be national organizations working in the foundation’s areas of interest or organizations that serve communities in Minnesota, Dallas, Marin County or the Vail Valley in Colorado. The foundation offers information about past grantees on its current grantees and annual reports pages.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding, but is open to general inquiries and provides email addresses for foundation staff on its contact page. The foundation can also be reached via telephone at 612-377-3356.
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