OVERVIEW
The Michael J. Connell Foundation is a private foundation. We accept grant proposals only from qualified tax-exempt not-for-profit organizations.
We usually discourage requests for grants because it is our policy to initiate and pursue our own programs in various cultural, environmental, educational and medical programs. We limit our grants to a relatively small number. As a consequence, at any one time we tend to focus on three or four narrow program areas.
In 2013 - 2019 our areas of program focus are:
- Classical Music -- its ability to enhance the area cultural experience
- The Environment -- the maintenance, accessibility and preservation of our public resources
- Education - technology implementation, programs with impact in under served areas and upon minority constituencies and the implementation of modern technologies
- Medicine - allocating limited resources and addressing the needs of underserved constituencies in the Los Angeles Area
In most years we will complete funding in one or more areas of interest and we will seek one or more new areas to focus on in subsequent years.
We frequently look for programs that need funding to test new ideas or concepts, before they can qualify for funding from more traditional or formal resources. We do not confine ourselves to these programs, although they usually represent a majority of the grants we fund. We will occasionally team with other organizations and individuals to fund start-up expenses, but the organization must have already established its tax-exempt status before we will make a grant.
We fund specific programs as opposed to general expenses. We only fund building or endowment programs for applicants with which we have established relationships, either based on our contacts with the organization or with the persons representing the organization. We will fund capital expenditures, particularly if the purchase is in connection with the implementation of new technologies.
We do not strictly limit our focus on a particular geographic area, but we tend to focus on areas where our directors are involved in the communities. Currently, most of our grantees operate in Southern California. We also have grantees in Southern Montana, far Northern California and Austin, Texas. We have no plans to make grants outside these geographic areas.
