Who We Are

• Our programs and institutions should reflect professional cultures
  of mutual respect, caring and moral integrity.
  
  
• Pluralism should be expressed in our goals, programs and practices.
  
  
• Our institutions should be places where people like to work and where
  effort is expended out of pride, a spirit of collegiality, and a serious
  commitment to the organization and its success.
  
  
• Our programs and institutions should commit to pursuing excellence
  and always strive to “raise the bar.”

WE BELIEVE THAT

• Outstanding leadership is an indispensable aspect of great institutions.
  
  
• Outstanding leaders are guided by profound and imaginative visions
  of the possible, and equipped with cutting-edge knowledge and skills.
  
  
• The capacity of leaders and all citizens to envision and build a better
  future can be greatly enhanced through engagement with the humanities.
  
  
• Education is a critical vehicle through which we develop and train leaders
  who will change the world.

The Mandel Foundation is primarily an operating foundation. We prefer to
pursue our philanthropic purposes through our own institutions and programs.

• We conduct regular, rigorous evaluations of our programs and make
  changes necessary for continuous improvement.
  
  
• Our programs are open to all who support our basic values, including
  people of various faiths, political outlooks and backgrounds.
  
  
• We operate through long-term investments in particular fields where
  we have the experience, knowledge and capacity to make a difference.
  
  
• We initiate grants to select organizations in our areas of
  engagement. Our grants seek to test new approaches and/or
  bring successful programs to scale.

Click here to review our Areas of Engagement.

We operate in carefully selected fields where we have the experience,
knowledge, and desire to make a difference. These Areas of Engagement
have been chosen by the Founders and represent the areas that emerged
over time as being the most important to the brothers and worthy of the
investment of our time, energy, and financial support.

In new grant partnerships, we generally start with a small pilot program
that can be scaled and/or replicated elsewhere, following Mort’s philosophy
of “think big, start small.”

To be approved, grants must meet the following standards:

• We believe the quality of the program is driven mainly by the quality
  of the organization's leadership, so we must have high confidence in
  leaders' ability to perform to our expectations.
  
  
• The grantee should be financially stable with strong internal controls
  and sound accounting practices.
  
  
• We evaluate projects that we fund annually to determine whether
  support should be continued. We also perform regular site visits
  and review annual reports to ensure the organization is continuing
  to meet our expectations.