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ROBERT R. MCCORMICK FOUNDATION

Robert R. McCormick Foundation

Contact information:
205 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 4300
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-445-5000
Fax: 312-445-5001

Website: http://www.mccormickfoundation.org/

Type of foundation: Independent

Types of grants: Building/renovation; General operating; Project; Matching/challenge;
 Program-related investments/loans; Program evaluation; Seed money.

Description: One of the nation’s largest foundations, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation is committed to fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens. The foundation was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The foundation makes grants in the areas of:

  • Journalism: Creating an informed, news-literate and engaged citizenry through quality content, audience education and protection of press freedoms.
  • Civics: Providing Chicagoland youth ages 12 through 22 with the civic knowledge, skills and experiences they need to remain engaged throughout their lives.
  • Education: Building a system of quality early care and education for children birth through third grade in Illinois. (Does not accept unsolicited requests.)
  • Veterans: Enabling veterans to become strategic assets in their local and national communities.
  • Communities: Giving underserved people access to programs that improve their lives.

In October 2012, the foundation announced the launch of Why News Matters, a three-year, $6 million initiative to expand innovative approaches to improving news literacy. The goal of the initiative is to increase the level of informed civic engagement in the Chicago area. The first $1 million of grants has been awarded. In addition, the Foundation is continuing to provide funding for initiatives supporting youth journalism, quality reporting and protection of press freedoms.

Sample grants:

  • $500,000 to Northwestern University – Medill School of Journalism (Evanston, IL) over two years for continued support of the Medill Watchdog Initiative (2012).
  • $375,000 to Columbia College (Chicago, IL) over two years for the Columbia LINKS youth journalism program and town halls on news literacy (2012).
  • $300,000 to Education Development Center (MA) over two years for administration of the Youth Media Technology Fund (2011).
  • $225,000 to Free Spirit Media NFP (Chicago, IL) over two years to expand broadcast journalism programs and youth media field building (2012).
  • $225,000 to Investigative News Network (Encino, CA) over two years for joint reporting projects, training seminars and support services for the 55-member network (2011).
  • $220,000 to Community Media Workshop (Chicago, IL) over two years for news literacy workshops, ethnic media training and mini-grants (2012).
  • $200,000 to Community Renewal Society (Chicago, IL) over two years for general support of The Chicago Reporter’s work in investigative news and community engagement (2012).
  • $200,000 to City Colleges of Chicago (Chicago, IL) over two years for support of an intergenerational news and information literacy curriculum (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $200,000 to Illinois First Amendment Center (Springfield, IL) over two years for a First Amendment educational program, student journalism camps and a community news literacy outreach initiative (2012).
  • $150,000 to Newspaper in Education Foundation (Chicago, IL) over two years to include news literacy activities in youth journalism programming (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $150,000 to Street-Level Youth Media (Chicago, IL) over two years for support of a multimedia journalism program and online news literacy hub (2012).
  • $150,000 to Chicago Public Media over two years to partner with media that serve youth and community audiences (2012).
  • $150,000 to True Star Foundation Inc., Chicago, IL over two years for youth journalism and news literacy training and marketing campaign (2012).
  • $150,000 to New America Media (San Francisco, CA) over two years for community and ethnic media work nationally (2012).
  • $120,000 to We the People Media (Chicago, IL) over two years for support of a Chicago youth journalism training program (2012).
  • $120,000 to DePaul University (Chicago, IL) over two years for news literacy programming designed for high schools in the Latino community (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $120,000 to Community Television Network (Chicago, IL) over two years for enhancing youth journalism training with news literacy curriculum (2012).
  • $100,000 to Society of Environmental Journalists (Jenkintown, PA) over two years for support of FOIA training for environmental journalists (2012).
  • $100,000 to Alternative Schools Network (Chicago, IL) for a two-year news literacy initiative in a network of charter high schools (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $100,000 to Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana to support experiential, hands-on news literacy workshops for Chicago youth ages 9 -13 (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $100,000 to Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Chicago, IL) to develop and implement news literacy training in Chicago neighborhoods (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $75,000 to Youth News Service Los Angeles Bureau (Los Angeles) for general support of youth journalism training (2011).
  • $70,000 to Project Exploration (Chicago, IL) over two years for after-school program building news literacy into science instruction (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $65,000 to Young Chicago Authors (Chicago, IL) for support of news literacy training and the launch of a new journalism project (2012).
  • $60,000 to Erie Neighborhood House (Chicago, IL) over two years to develop an after-school news literacy program for the Latino community (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $60,000 to The Futuro Media Group (New York, NY) for a local public forum and programs on news literacy targeting Latino audiences (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $50,000 to Loyola University (Chicago IL) for the Journalism/News Literacy program at Senn High School (2012).
  • $50,000 to Chicago Public Media for Vocalo 2.0 over one year to partner with media that serve youth and community audiences (2011).
  • $45,000 to National Museum of Mexican Art (Radio Arte) (Chicago, IL) for “Difusion Media” youth journalism programming (2012).
  • $45,000 to Kansas University Endowment (Lawrence, KS) for military-media education training program (2012).
  • $35,000 to The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (Oakland, CA) for audience research and Richard Prince’s column on diversity in journalism (2012).
  • $30,000 to Northwestern University – Medill School of Journalism (Evanston, IL) for research on news habits (Why News Matters, 2012).
  • $25,000 to Illinois Humanities Council (Chicago, IL) for neighborhood discussions on current affairs/ news literacy (Why News Matters, 2012).

Fit for public broadcasting: There is a good fit for public media outlets and initiatives located in and/or serving Chicago. Particular areas of interest include youth media, media literacy, audience development and community engagement.

Eligibility: The foundation primarily makes grants to Chicago organizations. The foundation will not fund production or distribution of TV or radio programming or documentaries, although it does fund content. It does not make grants to individuals. It will not fund programs that advance a particular religious or sectarian purpose, partisan political or electoral activities, endowments, or individual scholarships or personal research projects.

Deadline: Letters of Inquiry for Journalism Program requests of more than $50,000 are due May 1. LOI’s for grant requests of $50,000 or less are accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed in February, July and November.

How to apply: Guidelines for the Journalism Program are available here. Initial approach is by letter of inquiry.

Giving range: Most grants are between $10,000 – $999,999.

Assets: $1,176,585,115 (yr. ended 12/31/10).

Total giving: $56,881,049 (yr. ended 12/31/10).

View 2010 Annual Report here.