Exxonmobil Foundation
/OVERVIEW: ExxonMobil funds STEM education, health and biodiversity and conservation. Within that scope, the ExxonMobil Foundation has a partially overlapping emphasis on math and science education, women’s economic empowerment, and efforts to combat malaria. It no longer conducts environmental or higher education grantmaking.
IP TAKE: ExxonMobil is a large, but unapproachable funder. It prefers organizations in communities where it has “established or proactively developed relationships,” though it occasionally supports “organizations that operate across a nation or around the globe.” Furthermore, it “does not seek and rarely funds unsolicited grant applications and project proposals.”
It chooses the organizations to which it gives its largest grants, typically organizations with which it chooses to partner. The best way for mid-sized organizations to secure grants here are through employee-led giving, so network with an Exxon employee for a grant in one of its focus areas.
For more information on ExxonMobil’s giving areas and recent recipients, check out its most recent Worldwide Giving Report, found on the corporation’s Worldwide Giving home page.
ExxonMobil has dramatically reduced its previous environmental grantmaking, despite its position as a gas and chemical company with environmental concerns, and only funds some work opportunities related to sustainability. It remains to be seen if and how they expand into this space given their impact on climate change and greenhouse gases.
PROFILE: The ExxonMobil Foundation has existed under its current name since 2000, following the merger of the two oil corporations Exxon and Mobil, but the foundation’s history dates back to 1955, when it was founded as the Esso Education Foundation. It aims to support education, “promoting women as catalysts for economic development” and the treatment and prevention of malaria. In a recent year, combined giving from the foundation, its parent corporation and its employee-giving program totaled about $280 million. The foundation’s three focus areas are STEM education, women’s economic opportunity and malaria prevention.
Grants for STEM Education
ExxonMobil’s STEM Education program has contributed over $1.25 billion to organizations around the world that support STEM K-12 teaching, diversity initiatives, and education pathways. It’s STEM education giving occurs both internationally and nationally, with separate priorities. It’s U.S.-based giving focuses on giving teachers the tools and skills necessary to support students and future career readiness in STEM-related jobs. Specifically, it’s national giving invests in the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), an effort to provide K-12 “scalable and rigorous program solutions that empower school communities to prepare all students to succeed in college and the workforce,” as well as in a College Readiness Program, “a comprehensive three-year program designed to increase student participation and performance in rigorous Advanced Placement® coursework in math, science and English.” Teacher Pathways and the UTeach Institute, both sponsored through the NMSI initiative, further advance STEM education through teacher support and training. Exxon’s international STEM education funding also centers on K-12 STEM and teacher training. The majority of ExxonMobil's science education grants support a handful of high-profile initiatives, but it does give smaller amounts to some secondary programs.
Though ExxonMobil’s STEM education giving prioritizes K-12, it funds some grants for STEM higher education on occasion. In particular, this work centers on STEM recruitment of women and minorities at universities in the U.S. and abroad. In 2019, ExxonMobil provided $41.6 million to colleges, universities and other organizations that support STEM higher education, most of it benefitting institutions in the United States. The foundation conducts most of this grantmaking through its Educational Matching Gift Program, which in 2019 granted $33.6 million in matching funds to 825 colleges and universities. One STEM higher education grantee is the University of Alaska, which used funding to run science and engineering programs for Native Alaskan college students. Other past STEM higher education grantees include various diversity-based education programs and professional societies such as the National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, among others.
Grants for Global Health
ExxonMobil’s Malaria Initiative names several areas of interest: education, prevention, diagnosis, control, and elimination; and research. Although the foundation supports healthcare grants to organizations that operate in areas where ExxonMobil operates, its malaria funding is largely dedicated to groups working in Africa and Asia. The foundation also supports other global health causes such as strengthening Africa’s healthcare infrastructure and infectious diseases in West Africa; however, it makes those grants on a smaller scale than its malaria grants.
ExxonMobil’s global health grants range from a few thousand dollars to over $1 million and are generally awarded to “leading organizations” that combat malaria in its geographic priority areas. The malaria initiative has funded research on public health education and outreach at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and at Oxford University in England.
Grants for Women
ExxonMobil conducts funding to benefit women through its Women’s economic opportunity program, which helps women “invest in themselves and their communities” around the world. Believing that women drive economic growth, this initiative prioritizes funding organizations that serve women in developing countries. Exxonmobil’s giving in this area emphasizes grants for women’s economic development at the local and international levels by supporting work that addresses financial literacy, women’s entrepreneurship, young women’s employment, farming, childcare, and research to measure and gage women’s economic advancement. In addressing women’s lack of access to financial services, the ExxonMobil Foundation partnered with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women to develop the Road to Women’s Business Growth Initiative, which “aims to build the business management and financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria and Mexico, empowering them with the knowledge and tools they need to grow profitable and sustainable businesses.” The foundation also maintains several partnerships in this space to advance women’s economic opportunities.
Past grantees include SheCounts, giving about $5 million a year to various local and global organizations. Other past women’s economic development grantees also include ADPP, the Center for Global Development, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Counterpart International, the George W. Bush Institute, Kickstart, Kopernik, Solar Sister, Opportunity International, Technoserve and WEConnect International.
Important Grant Details:
ExxonMobil is not transparent about its grantmaking practices; however, its grants range from tens of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. Its annual Worldwide Giving Report provides general information on the distribution of funds, while information on specific initiatives can be found on the relevant focus area’s page.
This funder works with organizations which it has established relationships; it does not accept unsolicited grant proposals.
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