MOTOROLA MOBILITY FOUNDATION

Contact information:
600 N. US Highway 45

Libertyville, Illinois 60048

Phone: (847) 523-3597
Email: giving@motorola.com

Website: http://responsibility.motorola.com/index.php/society/motofoundation/

Type of foundation: Corporate

Types of grants: Project, equipment, in-kind

Description: On 4 January 2011, Motorola Inc. separated into two independent, publicly traded companies, Motorola Mobility Inc. and Motorola Solutions Inc. Associated with this, the Motorola Foundation also separated into two foundations: the Motorola Mobility Foundation and the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

The Motorola Mobility Foundation offers Empowerment Grants that support the development and innovative use of digital, social and mobile technology applications to address important community issues. The Foundation wants to support projects that will make a positive change in non-profit organizations, communities and schools by broadening a stakeholder group, enhancing the skills of constituents and encouraging the development of new innovations. Empowerment Grants address four areas of focus – education, health and wellness, community and arts/culture. Successful applicants must demonstrate the ways that digital, social and mobile technology can be used to further their organization’s mission.

Applicants for Empowerment Grants must serve communities in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Texas or Pennsylvania. Online or national programs ARE eligible. Applicants must also be actively collaborating with at least one other non-profit, social enterprise or community group.

(The Motorola Solutions Foundation supports programs to encourage science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the U.S. and around the world. The Motorola Solutions Foundation’s Innovation Generation grants support STEM learning initiatives, especially serving the metropolitan areas around Columbia, MD; Long Island, NY; McAllen, TX; Plantation, FL; San Jose, CA; and Schaumburg, IL.)

Sample grants (all of the following are Motorola Mobility Foundation Empowerment Grants):

• Generation PRX: GPRX will provide youth with digital tools and training to gather stories and develop production skills. These young producers will create a catalogue of community stories about bullying that will become part of an hour-long special to be broadcast by public radio stations nationwide. The project will engage 100-150 producers, hundreds of community interviewees and thousands of radio and online listeners (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• Illinois Science and Technology Coalition: Apps for Metro Chicago will bring together governments, nonprofits, foundations, businesses and technology developers to build mobile and web applications to create access to important information that Illinois citizens can use in their daily lives using government-sourced open data (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• KaBOOM!, Inc.: KaBOOM! will build an Android mobile app, To Save Play, which will be used nationwide by 10,000+ parents to help them find and share great places to get out and play with their families. The app will also crowd-source data to generate a map of the nation’s play deserts (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• KQED: The KQED Science Lab will train teachers on the effective use of KQED and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) educational science media and digital media tools in the classroom to increase students’ engagement in science. In 2011-12, KQED will serve up to 150 educators throughout the Bay Area (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• Media Mobilizing Project: Untold Stories will provide technical and conceptual training in pre-production and post-production skills to 50 individuals in digital storytelling (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• Safe America Foundation: The Safe America Foundation is debuting a new emergency preparedness safety app, available on the Android market, which will help Americans be safer and more prepared in a weather related or other emergency situation. The app is part of a comprehensive program designed to improve grassroots readiness and offers cell phone users the ability to monitor family and friend status and location, provide weather alerts and links to important information (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• Sesame Workshop: Learning from Hollywood Forum will provide support for the convening of experts on how to use digital media in education at all levels, but especially with young learners (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• The After-School Corporation: TASC Digital Learning Forum will bring together 250 education technology innovators, policymakers, educators and after-school leaders in a forum to explore how school and community partners can integrate digital learning responsibly, responsively and equitably in the out-of-school time (Empowerment Grant, 2011).
• Youth Radio: Youth Radio’s Digital Media Workforce program will provide underserved Bay Area youth with intensive training in media production and technology to prepare them for post-secondary education attainment and meaningful career pathways in the tech and media industries (Empowerment Grant, 2011).

A full list of 2011 Empowerment Grant recipients, along with videos about each one, is available here.

Fit for public broadcasting: Empowerment grants offer a great opportunity for public media organizations that are innovating with digital, social and/or mobile technology to engage their communities. These grants are a good fit for youth media training programs, education initiatives, STEM learning initiatives and other projects that utilize digital, social and/or mobile media. Projects could intersect with work that stations are doing around dropout prevention.

Eligibility: Applicants must:

• Have 501(c)(3) status or be an NCES school or school district.
• Serve communities in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Texas or Pennsylvania. Note that online or national programs ARE eligible.
• Be actively collaborating with at least one other non-profit, social enterprise or community group.
• Be aligned with Foundation’s funding priorities in education, health and wellness, community, or arts and culture.

Empowerment Grants will not support purchase of Motorola Mobility equipment and products. These grants may not include overhead costs. Only direct program costs may be included. Empowerment Grants have a one-year term. No multi-year grants will be made.

Deadline: The deadline to submit a request for an Empowerment Grant is March 23, 2012. Grants will be announced in May.

How to apply: Until March 1st, applicants must download the Empowerment App APP from Android Market and follow the instructions provided. After March 1st, applicants should click here for application instructions.

Giving range: Grant size will typically be $25,000 (this is the maximum, though the Foundation apparently makes occasional exceptions). Organizations can apply for up to two Empowerment Grants.

Total giving: The total amount of 2012 funding for the Empowerment Grants program is $500,000. The Foundation intends to fund approximately 20 grants.