The Mott Foundation’s new annual report,
Striking a Balance: Supporting innovative ideas versus sustaining basic needs, now is available online. A print version also is available in limited quantities.
The report contains an annual message written by President and CEO William S. White, as well as a complete list of grants made in 2010, the Foundation’s financial statements for the year, and a list of Trustees and staff. During 2010, the Foundation made 492 grants totaling $92,898,581.
In his message, White examines the dilemma that many philanthropic institutions face as the U.S. economy continues to sputter: What portion of its annual budget does a foundation allot in support of innovation when faced with an ever-growing demand for basic services by those who have lost their jobs, their homes and/or their savings.
Noting the Foundation’s “special relationship” with Flint
— a city that some refer to as “ground zero” for the country’s recent economic troubles
— White writes about the need to shore up gaps in local emergency services for food, shelter, rent and utility assistance even as the Foundation continues to search out and fund new practices and approaches that could potentially lead the way to economic recovery.
While the philanthropic sector cannot assume broad responsibility for services traditionally provided by the public sector, the Foundation “makes no apologies for undertaking or supporting certain activities that ordinarily would be the responsibility of government, because the simple truth is that services must be maintained if the community is to recover,” he writes.
But balancing those needs with the Foundation’s long-term goal of building a just, equitable and sustainable society is critical
— requiring thoughtful stewardship and distribution of the Foundation’s available funds.
“As important as it is to respond to strategic opportunities and emergency situations where sustenance and quality of life are at stake, we also have remained committed to funding innovative ideas and programs in many fields, in hopes that they might contribute to new ways of tackling problems at the community or even the societal level,” White continues.
“Funding people, ideas and programs that are breaking new ground is part of what makes working in philanthropy so exciting, and so gratifying,” he notes.
“Yet at the same time it is sobering to see so much obvious need, right in our own back yard. Unfortunately, until the economy rebounds, we and many other foundations likely will continue to feel we are caught in a troubling position where we must somehow strike the right balance between supporting basic needs and funding new and innovative ideas.”
For more information about the Mott Foundation and its grantmaking, visit
www.mott.org.