Presidential Initiatives
The arts and humanities can move our interconnected communities closer to justice.
The Foundation’s Presidential Initiatives support a wide range of creativity, culture, and knowledge production and dissemination in defined topical areas. Our three current initiatives are grounded in the arts and humanities and address some of the most pressing issues of the day. Across our grantmaking, we partner with organizations, governments, and community-based groups to advance projects that elevate multivocal perspectives, facilitate creative expression, and nurture human potential.
Guiding strategies
We make grants through signature initiatives.
Imagining Freedom
A $125 million commitment to support artistic, cultural, and humanistic work that centers the voices and knowledge of people impacted by the US criminal legal system.
Learn more about Imagining Freedom
Puerto Rico
An ongoing commitment to strengthen Puerto Rico’s vibrant artistic, cultural knowledge, and memory ecosystems, and the individuals who work within them, both on the archipelago and in the diaspora, with more than $50 million in grants to date.
Learn more about our Puerto Rico grantmaking
The Monuments Project
A $500 million commitment to transform the nation’s commemorative landscape by supporting public projects that reflect the breadth and complexity of American stories and communities.
Learn more about The Monuments Project
How to apply
Through our Presidential Initiatives, Mellon makes grants to organizations. Mellon does not make grants directly to individuals, although we do support regranting programs that benefit individuals.
Grantmaking in focus
Mellon makes grants to support visionary work in communities.
About our grantmaking process