1960s

“To Touch a Child” is a Mott-funded training film that was instrumental in spreading community schools and community education across the United States and around the world. For more than 20 years, Flint Community Schools used the 30-minute movie to introduce visitors to the community school concept.

C.S. Mott was 87 years old and still running his Foundation when his biography was published in 1963. Written by Clarence H. Young and William A. Quinn, “Foundation for Living” focuses on Mott’s life, his career with General Motors, and the 50-year relationship between the Mott Foundation and the Flint Board of Education that produced a national model of community education.

The Mott Intern Program, known formally as the Mott Inter-University Clinical Preparation Program for Educational Leadership, began as a pilot program in 1963 and was offered at seven Michigan colleges and universities between 1964 and 1974. A total of 667 Mott interns earned master’s or doctoral degrees in community education. Mott interns were critical to spreading the community school concept across the U.S.

C.S. Mott transferred General Motors stock, other stocks and securities totaling $195 million to the Foundation, providing the impetus to expand grantmaking on a national scale.

Charles Stewart Harding Mott, known as “Harding,” was the second president of the Mott Foundation. The son of C.S. Mott, Harding Mott served for more than 60 years as a trustee, vice president, president and chairman before being named chairman emeritus in 1988. Harding Mott’s leadership bridged the Foundation’s transition from a locally focused institution to a major funder of critical national issues.

With a $2 million grant awarded by Mott in 1965, the newly formed Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission was able to begin acquiring property. The Genesee County Parks began to take shape in 1970, when the Foundation granted an additional $2.5 million for construction of Mott Lake. The county park system has since grown to become the largest in Michigan. It features 24 parks; 15 fishing sites; 11,000 acres of woods, water and beaches; a nature preserve; a historic village; and parts of the Flint River Trail. Through 2020, the Mott Foundation granted $29.6 million in support of the parks, which welcome approximately 900,000 visitors each year.

The Mott Children’s Health Center became an independent organization in 1968 and moved to its present, freestanding site near Hurley Medical Center in 1969. Dr. Fleming Barbour was named chair and Dr. Arthur L. Tuuri president of the newly independent entity. Since 1968, the Mott Foundation has granted nearly $30 million in support of the health center, with a majority of the funds going toward its permanent endowment, which had grown to more than $475 million by 2021.

Because the Tax Reform Act of 1969 contained major provisions that would affect the way private foundations do business, C.S. Mott and Frank Manley traveled to Washington, D.C., and voluntarily testified before Congress while the legislation was being debated. Upon passage of the Act, we revised the Foundation’s articles of incorporation, clarifying future governance of the organization. We took steps to promote greater transparency, such as publishing an annual report. We also supported efforts to build a national infrastructure for the philanthropic field, which bolstered its capacity, efficiency and ability to advocate on behalf of the sector. This experience also informed our efforts to create a global infrastructure for civil society organizations in the 1990s.