#KresgeMomentum

Expanding Leadership. Strengthening Organizations. Advancing Equity.

The Kresge Foundation's work of identifying pathways to opportunity requires deep, sustainable investment in leaders — the people who bring the passion, innovation and long-term commitment needed to find solutions for the most intractable challenges today. Momentum explores the stories of eight standout leaders — working in climate adaptation, higher education, public health, community investment and more — who bring that work to life and are successfully effecting change in America’s cities. For Kresge, strengthening partners’ organizational capacity, investing in their individual leaders and uniting with them to create systems change are integral parts of our mission.

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Working Toward a Prosperous New Orleans

New Orleans Business Alliance

Economic equity is the mission in the Crescent City

Meet Ashleigh Gardere

Narrowing the Equity Gap Through Creative Placemaking

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Connecting culture, people and place

Meet Rebecca Cordes Chan

An Advocate for Giving Residents a Voice

Community Development Advocates of DETROIT

Changing the face of community development

Meet Sarida Scott

Enhancing the Path to Success for Community College Students

Achieving the Dream

Changing the achievement paradigm

Meet Karen Stout

Bringing Equity Into Perspective

EcoAdapt

Addressing climate change with diversity and inclusiveness

Meet Lara Hansen

Championing Equity in Boston

Boston Public Health Commission

Neutralizing disparities in public health

Meet Monica Valdes Lupi

Recognizing That Fathers, Families Make a Difference

Center for Urban Families

A holistic approach to economic and domestic well-being

Meet Joseph T. Jones Jr.

Young Leader Remakes Impact Investing in Hawaii

Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement

A vision for possibilities that benefit everyone

Meet Joe Kūhiō Lewis

From Our Leaders

Elaine D. Rosen

Chair, Board of Trustees

What Makes a Good Leader?

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Rip Rapson

President and CEO

Philanthropic Leadership of an Equitable Kind

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2018 Financial Report

Our primary investment objective is to preserve and grow our endowment by generating returns greater than our spending on grants, social investments, administrative costs and inflation. We believe measuring our performance over market cycles of at least five years is appropriate. For the five years ending Dec. 31, 2018, the endowment returned 6.7 percent annually, slightly below our spending plus inflation target of 6.8 percent annually.

In 2018, the Board of Trustees approved 426 grants totaling $105.6 million. In addition, we made seven social investment commitments totaling $27.9 million to organizations whose efforts support our goals through program-related investments.