The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation welcomes inquiries that align with our grantmaking area strategies.

In an abstract illustration, a figure stands before a large canvas with a circle. The illustration evokes a person standing in a gallery or other space and viewing a work of art before them.

Art and artists are essential to human connection.

Arts and Culture

An abstract illustration of a bird flying in the sky with clouds. The bird is made of folded, lined paper in an Origami style. 

Higher Learning

An abstract illustration in which two human figures stand together in embrace in a deserted landscape space with hills or mountains visible in the background. A sun is in the sky. 

How and where we tell our stories matters.

Humanities in Place

An abstract image of a series of 18 door frames with open doors float. A line evoking a string connects then doors, and is tied on door knobs, wrapped around door frames, and other features.

Public Knowledge

We are deeply immersed in the areas in which we invest, supporting ideas and organizations that contribute to a more connected, creative, and just society through these core grantmaking areas and signature Presidential Initiatives.

Grantmaking Areas

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 