Ruth Mott Foundation

Ruth Rawlings Mott was married to Charles Stewart Mott from 1934 until his death in 1973. She served as a trustee on the Board of the C.S. Mott Foundation from 1944 to 1975, 31 years. During her lifetime, she administrered the Ruth Mott Fund making national and international grants in the arts, beautification, health and environment until the fund closed in 1997. Upon her death in 1999, the Ruth Mott Foundation was established to continue her philanthropic endeavors.

The Ruth Mott Foundation’s mission is to advocate, stimulate, and support community vitality. Our commitment is to base the Foundation in its home community of Flint, Michigan.

Grantmaking is just one of the Ruth Mott Foundation’s activities.  Applewood Estate is also part of the foundation. From providing free public programs, to working alongside our community, to sharing horticulture expertise and volunteer opportunities, Applewood focuses on serving Flint residents in a relevant and meaningful way.

Except in very rare cases, grants from Ruth Mott are awarded for one year at a time.  While we caution grantees against relying heavily on Ruth Mott support, grantees can and do re-apply for renewal funding to continue the projects beyond the initial grant.

There is no set minimum or maximum size of a grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation.  However, if a request is less than $5,000 potential applicants often look to mini grant opportunities or other funding options because of the time and effort that goes into developing an application to Ruth Mott.  The median size of grants made by the Ruth Mott Foundation is around $50,000.

If you have a proposal idea that meets our funding guidelines, we are eager to hear from you.  Before you call or email a program officer, asking yourself the following questions may be helpful to ensure there is a potential fit with our funding guidelines.

1. Are you a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or other qualifying tax-exempt organization ?  (If you are not a qualifying organization but can answer “yes” to the other questions, it may still be worthwhile to contact a program officer and learn about fiscal sponsorship .)
2. Does the work you propose directly benefit people living in Flint or Genesee County?
3. Does your program or project match one or more of our program areas?
• Arts and Culture  (Arts and Culture Learning, Arts and Culture for Community Change, or Celebrating Flint’s Culture and Heritage)
• Beautification  (Land Use, Neighborhoods, or Parks and Public Spaces)
• Health Promotion  (Active Living, Healthy Food Systems, or Healthy Sexuality)

If you've answered yes to all three of the above questions, we're interested in hearing from you. We welcome a dialogue before turning in an application, especially for projects that have not been funded by Ruth Mott before.  Please call or email a program officer  to set a time to talk.

Proposals should fit one, or a combination, of our program areas: arts & culture, beautification, and health promotion. See the proposal guidelines for more details. Projects must be in Flint or Genesee County. 

A fiscal sponsor is an established charity that chooses to support a new project or group by applying for a grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation and assuming responsibility for the work.  To be considered as a fiscal sponsor, the charity should have strong financial systems in place.  Fiscal sponsors also need to complete a fiscal sponsor agreement with Ruth Mott and a memorandum of understanding with the project or group describing the roles and responsibilities of the charity and the project.  For more information, see the presentation on fiscal sponsorship below.

Grant requests for the following purposes will not be considered: capital projects, major equipment, land purchases, deficit financing, loans or endowments, renovations, and individual scholarships or fellowships.

As a private foundation,   Ruth Mott is able to make grants only to qualifying charities such as 501(c)3 non-profit organizations or other tax-exempt organizations like hospitals, museums, schools, religious organizations, and units of government.  If you have a project idea that you think fits with our funding guidelines but you are not part of a qualifying charitable organization, you may want to consider working  with a fiscal sponsor.