Since its inception in 1936, the William T. Grant Foundation has had a remarkable constancy of purpose: to further the understanding of human behavior through research. The Foundation’s mission focuses on improving the lives of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. We invest primarily in high quality empirical studies. Our Current Research Interests are understanding and improving social settings such as families, schools, peer groups, and organizations, and how these social settings affect youth. Our Interests also focus on the use and influence of scientific evidence in policy and practice.
To a more limited extent, the Foundation supports capacity-building, communication, and youth service activities. We fund capacity-building activities, usually commissioned by us, to build the infrastructure for research on our Current Research Interests and our Action Topic of improving the quality of after-school programs. Most of our communications funding also is aligned around our Action Topic. We fund a limited number of communications activities meant to leverage all of our grantmaking by enhancing the Foundation’s image and visibility. Our Youth Service Improvement Grants program supports activities conducted by non-profit community-based organizations in the New York metropolitan area to improve the quality of services for young people ages 8 to 25.
