Moneygram Foundation

OVERVIEW: The MoneyGram Foundation focuses on helping vulnerable and disadvantaged children gain access to education and learning resources. The foundation seeks to improve children’s lives physically, emotionally and economically. 

IP TAKE: About half of Moneygram’s grants fund organizations working in the U.S., with the remainder funds organizations working in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and South America. The foundation’s grantees include large NGOs with global operations, as well as much smaller organizations that support education in individual communities. So, regardless of your organization’s size, this funder will consider you. However, it’s not the most accessible funder. It is approachable, though, and accepts inquiries at any time via email and invites selected applicants to submit full proposals.

PROFILE: The Dallas, Texas-based money transfer company MoneyGram established its philanthropic arm, the MoneyGram Foundation, to help vulnerable populations around the globe build better lives through education. The foundation “believe[s] that education is at the heart of better economic opportunities, healthier families, and individual freedom and empowerment” and its mission is “inspiring minds and improving lives.” It facilitates this mission through its support of children’s education in the U.S. and around the world.

Grants for Global Development and K-12 Education

The foundation’s sole focus in its grantmaking is to help vulnerable and disadvantaged children gain access to education and learning resources. The foundation does not name specific interests beyond this focus area but appears to prioritize organizations that supply underserved students with books, technology and school supplies, as well as programs that develop and improve on educational infrastructure in less-developed areas of the world. Recent grantees include One Laptop Per Child, which works to provide student computers and teacher training in classroom technology to schools in Latin America, and First Book, which provides books and other essential supplies to children in need in the U.S. and Canada. Other grantees include the global organization Pencils of Promise, the Kosovo Education Center and Mumbai Mobile Creches.

Important Grant Details:

The MoneyGram Foundation typically makes about $1 million a year in grants. Grants range from $10,00 to $100,000, with an average grant size of about $25,000. The foundation supports a broad range of organizations operating in its area of interest, with about half of its grants remaining in the U.S. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s where we invest page.

The MoneyGram Foundation accepts inquiries from grantseekers via email at any time. If selected, applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. The application process typically takes between 9 and 12 months.

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