Our Core Programs:

Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities 

Through the program in Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities, the Foundation assists select colleges, universities, and research institutes in the work of training scholars and producing scholarship in the humanities broadly conceived, and thereby contributes to culture and society.

Arts and Cultural Heritage

The Arts and Cultural Heritage program seeks to nurture exceptional creative accomplishment, scholarship, and conservation practice in the arts, while promoting a diverse and sustainable ecosystem for these disciplines. 

Diversity 

The Diversity program seeks to diversify the next generation of college and university faculty through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and other pipeline programs, and it aims to strengthen institutions that improve educational attainment of historically underrepresented groups.

Scholarly Communications 

The Scholarly Communications program assists research libraries, archives, museums, universities, presses, and arts organizations that seek to expand and equalize access to cultural and scholarly resources across sectors of society, and thereby to further our collective understanding of societies and cultures around the world.  The Scholarly Communications program promotes the common good by supporting the creation, dissemination, use, and preservation of original sources, interpretive scholarship in the humanities, and other scholarly and artistic materials.

International Higher Education and Strategic Projects 

Strong systems of higher education and cultural institutions are essential to building and sustaining viable polities and societies in emerging as well as more established regions of the globe.  The Foundation's promising experience in South Africa justifies targeted extension of that work to other countries or regions where the Foundation's commitment to the humanities, the arts, and higher education could contribute to stabilizing fragile democracies.

Foundation Transitions

Danielle S. Allen Succeeds W. Taylor Reveley III as Board Chair, Philip E. Lewis Retires, Cristle Collins Judd Named Senior Program Officer 
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Foundation Releases Strategic Plan for Programs

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Board of Trustees approved a strategic plan that will guide the Foundation's grantmaking in coming years.  The plan establishes four strategic goals and a new programmatic framework, and reaffirms the Foundation's belief that the humanities and the arts are vital to human flourishing and the well-being of diverse and democratic societies.
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Grantmaking Policies and Guidelines

Current and prospective grantees may consult the Foundation's Grantmaking Policies and Guidelines section for an overview of the grants inquiry and application process, to consult grantmaking policies, and for instructions and forms for grant proposals, reports, and modifications.
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