Toyota USA Foundation and Corporate Giving
/OVERVIEW: Toyota USA makes grants through the Toyota USA Foundation and its corporate giving program, Toyota4Good. The foundation’s recent giving has focused on COVID-19 response. Toyota4Good supports the communities near the company’s manufacturing operations with grants for education, work and opportunity and conservation.
IP TAKE: The Toyota Motor Company’s grantmaking stems from two sources: the Toyota USA Foundation and the corporate giving program Toyota4Good. The Toyota USA Foundation recently shifted its grantmaking focus from STEM education to COVID-19 response and has given to food assistance programs, relief efforts and on-line education. Keep a look out for a return to future STEM education giving. In the meantime, we’ve posted historical information on past giving in that area. Toyota4Good works to support the communities surrounding the company's eight U.S. manufacturing centers in the areas of education, work and opportunity and environmental conservation.
The Toyota USA Foundation accepts applications for funding on an invitation-only basis, while Toyota4Good remains accessible, accepting applications via the company’s eight separate manufacturing facilities. Each facility posts its own application page, with grantmaking guidelines, due dates, geographic areas of priority and links to online application portals.
PROFILE: The Toyota Motor Company makes grants in the U.S. through its philanthropic foundation and a corporate giving program, Toyota 4Good. The foundation, which traditionally funded STEM education at the K-12 level, “pivoted” its focus during 2020 and 2021 to respond more directly to the COVID-19 crisis and supports food assistance and e-learning programs. Toyota 4Good, meanwhile, aims to improve the lives of people in the geographic areas where it maintains manufacturing operations and names workforce readiness, inclusive mobility, financial inclusion and community resilience as areas of focus.
Grants for STEM K-12 Education
K-12 education is Toyota USA’s largest area of giving, though it has been paused for COVID-19 relief grants. At the time of writing, Toyota USA’s tax filings still reflect pandemic-related giving practices. The company has traditionally focused on STEM education but has expanded its educational grantmaking scope in recent years to include support for high school completion initiatives, teacher education, out-of-school learning and, most recently, e-learning programs for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grantees include Michigan’s Hands on Museum for Children, the Southwest Independent School District of San Antonio, the National Dropout Prevention Network and New York’s Center for Science Teaching and Learning. The Toyota USA Foundation’s COVID response grants for education have gone to e-learning programs including Girls Who Code, Code.org, Science Buddies and Skills USA.
Grants for Higher Education
Toyota supports higher education as part of its workforce readiness and inclusive mobility focus areas but does not outline specific goals for its giving in these areas. Public and private universities and colleges have received grants for STEM, teacher education and vocational training. Recent grantees include Southern Methodist University, California State University at Dominguez Hills, Claremont University, Northern Kentucky University, Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
A significant portion of Toyota’s workforce readiness grantmaking fund initiatives for vocational training and career development. In New York, the foundation has supported the Hot Bread Kitchen, which provides job and entrepreneurship training, career guidance and other services to underserved women. Other grantees include Vermont’s ReSource, a social enterprise that offers vocational training through a business that repairs and resells household appliances, and Maryland’s 114th Partnership, which connects students and job applicants to training geared toward “high-growth careers.”
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
Environmental conservation stems from Toyota's community resilience program and is a smaller area of giving. Toyota has demonstrated interest in environmental education and awareness programs, as well as initiatives to conserve land and resources in communities near its centers of operations in the U.S. Recent grants have gone to the National Council for Science and the Environment, the Huron River Watershed Council, Earth Echo International and the Alabama Center for Sustainable Energy.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Toyota USA Foundation’s recent grantmaking has focused almost exclusively on COVID-19 response. In addition to grants for e-learning, the foundation has supported numerous food assistance programs, the Salvation Army and the United Way for their relief programs for “communities in urban hotspots.”
Important Grant Details:
Toyota USA makes over $5 million a year in grants. Foundation grants range from $50,000 to over $1 million, while grants stemming from the Toyota4Good program are smaller. This funder supports a broad range of organizations; higher education grants tend to go to large universities, while work and opportunity grants support small, social enterprises. In its largest area of grantmaking, K-12 education, Toyota has consistently supported organizations that support STEM education and teacher development. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the Toyota USA Foundation’s recent tax filings.
While the Toyota USA Foundation accepts applications on an invitation-only basis, Toyota4Good accepts applications via its eight separate manufacturing centers in the U.S.: Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia and a Production Engineering and Manufacturing Center that serves specific counties in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Each facility posts its own guidelines, geographic areas of priority, deadlines, application materials and contact information. General questions about the Toyota4Good program may be addressed to the organization via email.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
