Though our focus has changed since our beginning in 1936, the William T. Grant Foundation has remained dedicated to the original goal of our founder, William T. Grant: understanding human behavior through research. As a private grantmaking institution, the Foundation currently funds high-quality empirical research, with the ultimate aim of improving the lives of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. In 2012, we awarded grants totaling more than $15 million to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners invested in the future of U.S. youth.
Our Current Research Interests are understanding and improving social settings such as families, schools, peer groups, and organizations, and studying how these social settings affect youth. Our Interests also focus on when, how, and under what conditions research evidence is used in policy and practice that affect youth, and how its use can be improved. In addition to our major research grants, which are accepted three times a year, we fund two fellowship programs.
To a more limited extent, the Foundation supports capacity-building, communication, and advocacy activities. These awards are meant to support and leverage our primary focus on research. Our Youth Service Improvement Grants program supports activities conducted by nonprofit community-based organizations in the New York metropolitan area to improve the quality of services for young people ages 8 to 25.