Melville Charitable Trust
/OVERVIEW: The Melville Charitable Trust is committed to eliminating homelessness in Connecticut and throughout the United States.
IP TAKE: The Melville Charitable Trust, a major ally of funding to end homelessness, conducts grantmaking through a racial equity lens. Melville is not accessible, preferring a proactive approach to grantmaking, but grantseekers may contact program officers directly. While it will be tough to get on this funder’s radar, this is a great, national and regional funder to know in the ending homelessness space.
PROFILE: Established in 1990, the Melville Charitable Trust (MCT) is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut and is the largest U.S. foundation exclusively committed to ending homelessness. MCT was founded following the passing of Dorothy Bigelow Melville, Ward Melville’s widow. Ward Melville led the Melville Corporation, a former retail holding company that, through a series of acquisitions and restructurings, became the CVS Corporation. With a sole grantmaking focus on homelessness, MCT believes that “homelessness is solvable and preventable, and that philanthropy is an essential partner to end it.” Its grantmaking focuses on addressing the root causes of homelessness and housing insatiability, including access, insufficient income and systemic racism. The foundation makes “$6 – 10 million in annual grants to organizations working to ensure all people have a safe place to call home.” Grantmaking is national in scope but prioritizes initiatives serving homeless populations in large urban areas.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness, Racial Equity and Justice
The Melville Charitable Trust supports housing and urban development programs that are “grounded in racial equity and focused on the people most impacted.” Grantmaking works to increase the supply of affordable housing for people with incomes that are below half of the federal poverty level, as well as those who have extensive histories of homelessness and face significant barriers to obtaining stable housing. The trust also funds initiatives to expand rental assistance to vulnerable people.
Melville has made several major investments toward its grantmaking goals.
Melville partners with Arnold Ventures, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and others in the coordination of the Partnership for Equitable and Resilient Communities (PERC). PERC supports “disinvested Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities” as they work to access federal and other sources of support for equitable housing solutions.
The trust is a founding member of A Way Home America, “a national initiative to build the movement to prevent and end homelessness among youth and young adults.”
Melville coordinates the Funders for Housing Opportunity collaborative, a group of nine foundations that address “housing affordability and opportunity” broadly. The works to “ensure that millions of households can afford safe and stable rental homes in neighborhoods with access to amenities.”
Melville is also a founding member of Funders Together to End Homelessness, a group more than 175 organizations focused on grantmaking, collaboration and advocacy to end the homelessness crisis in the U.S.
In its home state of Connecticut, the trust provides ongoing support to the Frog Hollow neighborhood. Following decades of disinvestment, the trust has revitalized the area, thereby “increasing community health and engagement, developing meaningful employment opportunities, and showcasing the neighborhood as a vibrant place for others to invest in and support.”
In addition to these ongoing commitments, the trust makes grants to address and remedy issues that lead to homelessness and housing insecurity across the U.S. Grantees include the National Coalition for the Homeless, HouseUS, the National Fair Housing Alliance and the National League of Cities.
Grants for Public Health
While not a stated grantmaking area, Melville has supported public health in the past as it relates to homeless populations in the U.S. It believes that healthcare and access to affordable housing are inextricably linked, going so far as to state that “housing is healthcare” in an open letter published on its website during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.
Associated healthcare grants have gone to organizations that provide healthcare services to homeless and vulnerable people, including agencies that provide preventative health services at no cost. Grantees include the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut and Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
Melville lists “insufficient income and assets that create housing instability and expand the racial wealth gap” as a root cause of housing instability and homelessness. Its grantmaking reflects this and works to reduce and prevent homelessness through initiatives for education, vocational training, placement services and case management for homeless and vulnerable individuals and families.
Recent grantmaking has emphasized collaborative efforts to create stability in the lives of vulnerable people. Grantees include the Connecticut Women’s Educational and Legal Fund, Career Resources of Bridgeport, Connecticut and Hartford’s Forge City Works, which provides job training for employment in the food service industry.
Important Grant Details:
The Melville Charitable Trust’s grants range from $3,000 to about $500,000, although the trust’s long term commitments receive greater sums over several years.
This funder prioritizes initiatives serving large urban areas of the U.S., and its grants for work and opportunity appear to prioritize the trust’s home state of Connecticut.
In recent years, the trust appears to have prioritized collaborative efforts to coordinate services for homeless and vulnerable populations. Recent grantmaking prioritizes racial justice as a root cause of homelessness. Efforts to coordinate benefits and services and the development of policy that is supportive of affordable housing and rental assistance programs has seen support also.
Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Grants Database for more information on its grantmaking habits.
MCT does not currently accept applications for funding, but prospective grantseekers may use the trust’s staff page to contact relevant program officers.
Direct general questions to the foundation staff at info@melvilletrust.org or 203 901-1065.
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