Elmo Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Elmo Foundation makes both broad-based and program-specific grants related to global health and mental health. Its global health grants support water, sanitation and hygiene projects in developing countries.
IP TAKE: Without a public presence, it may be difficult for grantseekers to get Elmo’s attention. The foundation tends to support the same foundations year after year, making it difficult for new grantees to get through the door. However, grants prioritize local and community-based organizations, many of them based in and around Charlottesville, Virginia. That said, the foundation conducts grantmaking nationally in the U.S. On occasion, it will fund a global organization, generally in the global health space.
PROFILE: Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Elmo Foundation has existed since the mid-2000s. Since it does not maintain a public profile or website, it remains off the radar of most global health and mental health grant seekers. However, Elmo supports several health projects in the U.S. and abroad.
Grants for the Environmental Conservation and Climate Change
The Elmo Foundation does not appear to have visible grantmaking programs, but rather broad interests, among them the environment and climate change. The foundation’s largest grantmaking priority has evolved and now centers on the environment. Though it does not have a dedicated program addressing the environment, its taxes reveal an emphasis on climate change, prioritizing related grantseekers with organizations based in Washington, D.C., and Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Climate-change grantees include U.S. Climate Action, which has received most of the foundation’s climate-related grants. Environmental conservation-related grantees include Compass, the Audubon Naturalist Society, Streamwatch, and the Coalition for Smarter Growth. As evidenced, its environmental grantmaking is all over the place, preferring a broad strategy in order to include new areas of related interest.
Grants to Global Health
Elmo has decreased its global health grantmaking in the past few years, but it’s increased the size of individual grant amounts. According to tax filings, the foundation appears to particularly emphasize maternal health and WASH projects with an emphasis on Africa and Haiti. Past global health grantees include Possible, Jacaranda, and Last Mile Health. It also partners with Health and H2O for Life, but still funds new global health organizations each year.
Grants for Mental Health
It does not award many grants to mental health; however, its mental-health-related grantmaking has increased in recent years and has been global in scope. The Elmo Foundation does not appear to have specific mental health interests; however, grantees tend to be small, grassroots organizations. Past mental health grantees include Strong Minds, a depression treatment center in Uganda.
Important Grant Details:
Elmo is a smaller organization that offers modest grants. Grants tend to range in size from about $2,500 to $60,000, funding smaller, local organizations rather than larger, national groups. The foundation does not otherwise appear to impose geographic restrictions on its grantmaking; however, its awards tend to cluster around where it is headquartered in Virginia. In particular, it funds organizations in and around Charlottesville, Washington, San Francisco, Miami, Roanoke, and Bethesda, among other areas. The foundation’s work funds more grantmaking serving the United States than in the past.
The Elmo Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals. But this should not necessarily deter grantseekers. While the foundation does not award a large number of grants each year, it does appear as though it seeks to develop longer-term relationships with its grantees.
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CONTACT:
711-A Graves Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 242-8524
