Inquiries and Guidelines

Inquiries

Mellon’s Higher Learning program makes grants to institutions and organizations rather than to individuals. All grants result from invitations issued by Mellon to institutions with which staff have engaged in preliminary exchanges. While we are unable to consider uninvited proposals, we do welcome inquiries from US colleges, universities, and higher education-related organizations, and especially from institutions not previously supported by Mellon. Please do not send inquiries to more than one Mellon grantmaking program. If you already have an account on Mellon’s grantee portal, please contact program staff directly. Otherwise, please submit an inquiry through the grantee portal at https://mellon.fluxx.io. 

Initial approaches to the Higher Learning program, including emails, must be made by or in express consultation with a senior academic officer, such as a dean or a provost. All visits to Mellon or meetings with Higher Learning program officers are similarly to be conducted by senior academic officers, who may be accompanied by one or two additional institutional representatives. Participants in conversations with Higher Learning staff are expected to have reviewed our grantmaking strategies.

The Higher Learning program generally does not fund overhead; indirect costs; capital costs (construction, renovation, equipment); projects in the social sciences or STEM fields; endowment management fees; one-off conferences; or undergraduate tuition, scholarships, financial aid, or study abroad opportunities. As a rule, Mellon expects colleges and universities to cover general operating costs and equipment, including graduate student tuition. As you contemplate submitting an inquiry, please bear in mind that Higher Learning requires institutions to plan for either the post-grant sustainability or the definitive sunsetting of projects they seek to launch with Foundation support. 

Grantmaking Policies and Guidelines 

Please see Mellon’s grantmaking policies and guidelines for more information regarding the submission of proposals, annual reporting requirements, and grant modification procedures.