This is Part 15 of a Guide to Social Entrepreneurship Foundations. In these series of articles we will highlight top international Foundations focused in social business and social entrepreneurship.
Guide done by Paula Newton and Maria Fonseca
About the Foundation
The Kauffman Foundation Established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. The Kauffman Foundation is based in Kansas City, and is among the largest private foundations in the United States with an asset base of approximately $2 billion.
Management team and founders
Ewing Marion Kauffman was an entrepreneur and humanitarian, whose innovative and long-lasting contributions have benefited millions of people in his hometown of Kansas City and beyond. Ewing Marion Kauffman was born on a farm in Garden City, Missouri, in 1916. His family moved to Kansas City when he was a boy and he stayed in the city for the rest of his life. Following his service in the Navy during World War II, Ewing Kauffman began working as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. In 1950, his innately entrepreneurial spirit led him to start his own pharmaceutical company, Marion Laboratories, in the basement of his home that became very successful. He died in 1992.
Wendy Guillies is the present president and CEO of Kauffman Foundation.
Mission
The Foundation’s mission is:
“To foster a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens in their communities.In service of this vision, we focus our grant making and operations on two areas — education and entrepreneurship “
In pursuit of this mission, the foundation abides by four key principles:
- Identify opportunities where application of the Foundation’s people, ideas, and capital can benefit society in significant and measurable ways.
- Develop innovative, research-based programs leading to practical, sustainable solutions that are widely accepted and implemented.
- Treat the Kansas City region as a program incubator where feasible, in which new approaches can be tried and tested before being disseminated nationally.
- Partner with others to leverage our resources and capabilities while avoiding the creation of dependency.
Geographical Location
The Foundation is located in Kansas City, USA. It’s programs are scaled for the whole country.
Areas of Focus
The foundations’s areas of focus are entrepreneurship, education and research.
Entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship work is national in scale and global in reach. The foundation’s entrepreneurship strategy supports entrepreneurs in the U.S. by expanding signature education programs, notably Founders School, FastTrac, and 1 Million Cups, and investing in proven education models. They also foster startup communities and develop challenges to spur entrepreneurial activity in select metropolitan areas.
Education: The foundation invests in schools, programs, and research to support the development of teachers and leaders, quality public schools, and education innovations.
Research: Kauffman conducts and supports research that informs their own education programs and that educates policymakers and the public about pro-entrepreneurship policies at all levels of government.For research related to improving academic achievement, Kauffman focuses on Kansas City-area education issues and the development of a longitudinal database of student data from preschool through postsecondary.
Grants
The Kauffman Foundation only funds programs within the United States, such as entrepreneurship programs and activities located across the country and/or in Kansas City. The majority of their education grants and all of their civic-engagement grants go to organizations and efforts focused within Kansas City’s five-county metropolitan area.
More information can be found here.
Examples of types of organizations funded
As part of its new strategic plan, the Kauffman Foundation has awarded grants to nonprofit organizations that have exceptional track records in supporting entrepreneurs.
The Foundation has identified and invested in its first cohort of nonprofits that help entrepreneurs confront and overcome their key challenges. Strategic investments in these top organizations help their programs scale to serve more entrepreneurs.
The organizations were selected from a pool of more than 300 proposals from leading entrepreneurship programs in 47 states. They receive grants ranging from $330,000 to $500,000 each over two years. The eight grantees include organizations that serve a wide variety of sectors and demographic groups, from high-tech entrepreneurs to low-income individuals and groups that are under-represented in the world of entrepreneurship. Some of the organisations awarded are: IDEA Village, Interise, MassChallenge and others.
Education / Non Profits / Social Enterprise
The organisation supports non profits and social enterprises, by providing education, grants and networking opportunities.
Social media channels
The organisation can be found on various social media channels as follows:
Twitter: @KauffmanFoundation
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn/
LinkedIn:
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/user/KauffmanFoundationm/user/KauffmanFoundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 1- Skoll Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 2 – Ashoka Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 3 – Schwab Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 4 – UnLtd
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 5 – The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 6 – Jasmine Social Investments
ntelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 7 – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 8 – The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 9 – The Clinton Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 10 – The Young Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 11 – The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 12 – The Open Societies Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 13 – Ford Foundation
Intelligenthq Series on Social Entrepreneurship Foundations Part 14 – The Case Foundation
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