OVERVIEW: The Mary Kay Foundation’s grantmaking centers around two issues affecting women, cancer and domestic violence.
IP TAKE: Mary Kay grants often support project specific costs rather than general operating expenses. The foundation is somewhat vague as to how grantseekers can apply for funding, so grantseekers are advised to get in touch and make an introduction. However, it’s an accessible and approachable funder that’s laser-focused on its interest areas.
PROFILE: The Mary Kay Foundation, also known as the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, was founded in 1996 by Mary Kay Ash, founder of the multilevel-marketing cosmetics company, after her husband, Mel Ash, passed away from lung cancer. While the foundation was initially concerned solely with cancer, in 2000 it expanded its mission to issues surrounding domestic violence.
Grants for Women and Girls
While the foundation does not maintain specific programs for women, its grants prioritize support for them across all areas of its grantmaking. Every year, the foundation’s Research Review Committee selects top researchers and accredited medical schools whose work merits a grant from the foundation’s Cancer Research Grant program. Grants support investigators researching cures for cancers affecting women including, but not limited to, breast, cervical, uterine and ovarian cancers. The foundation also makes grants to organizations working to Domestic and Gender-Based Violence.
Grants for Diseases
Mary Kay’s Cancer Research program is primarily concerned with “eliminating cancers affecting women,” including breast, cervical, uterine and ovarian cancers, among others. Mary Kay generally supports individual researchers at major medical schools and institutions conducting translational research. Grantees include researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. To get a broader sense of the type of research Mary Kay supports, explore its Cancer Grant Recipients page.
Grants for Violence Prevention
The Mary Kay Foundation’s Domestic and Gender-Based Violence grantmaking program is “committed to stopping the violence, breaking the silence, and making a difference,” for women and children suffering from and surviving domestic violence. Grants support shelters and other organizations that support women and children across the country, including Crisis Intervention Services of Iowa, Maine’s Partners for Peace, Lacasa of Michigan and the Domestic Violence Resource Center of Nevada. For additional information, see the foundation’s domestic violence grantees page.
The Mary Kay Foundation also funds a one-year postdoctoral research fellowship in translational cancer research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Five fellowships are awarded to researchers from around the globe each year.
Important Grant Details:
Domestic violence grants typically fall in the $10,000 to $20,000 range and cancer-related grants tend to be around $100,000. See the foundation’s program pages, as well as its grant impact stories for additional information about past grants.
The foundation accepts applications for domestic violence grants from January 15 to April 30 each year. Cancer research grants are awarded based on the recommendation of the Mary Kay Foundation Research Review Committee. Inquiries may be submitted to the foundation via its contact page at any time.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: