“No two funding sources are the same” – an adage that I was taught early in my fundraising career that still rings true today. For evidence of this claim, one needs to look no further than the focus of today’s Funder Profiles entry. Founded by James Stanley (J.S.) McLean, the president of Canada Packers, in 1945, The McLean Foundation has exhibited an ever-shifting set of priorities.
On the Foundation’s website, one will notice the plethora of different causes that their Directors support across Canada. A closer glance reveals that allocating funds toward a diverse assortment of charitable endeavours is consistent with the Founder’s sentiments. Mr. McLean was especially partial to assisting organizations in the areas of social welfare, education, environmental conservation and the arts.
Although many private foundations have stringent granting practices regarding how and to whom they support, The McLean Foundations employs a comparatively liberal approach. The team of twelve directors and two officers “endeavor to maintain a flexible policy, with particular emphasis on projects showing promise of general social benefit but which may initially lack broad public appeal”. In short, charities that encounter difficulty garnering approval for their projects from most conventional sources are encouraged to apply.
Submitting a proposal for funding to The McLean Foundation involves a two-step process:
1) Preparing a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) not exceeding two pages in length, “written on organization letterhead, signed by a member of the organization’s executive”, and emailed in PDF format. The LOI should include “a brief description of who the applicant organization is”, “what the applicant does” and “a brief description of the project” (if the request is for project-based support). Applicant organizations must also provide a project budget and their most recent audited financial statements in PDF format.
2) A selections committee reviews all LOIs. When a project interests them, applicant organizations are invited to submit a Full Proposal. The Foundation does not utilize application forms and does not require any standardized format. Applications should take the form of a brief descriptive letter with such supporting documents as may be appropriate. “Please note that when submitting a full application, the directors will not have access to the LOI so the application should be standalone and not reference the LOI.”
In 2021 The McLean Foundation maintained assets totalling $65,238,400 and allocated $3,060,860 towards 256 projects across Canada. Below is a breakdown of the 2021 grant allocations:
· Arts (Music) – 13 grants totalling $151,500;
· Arts (Theatre) – 23 grants totalling $238,500;
· Arts (Visual) – 12 grants totalling $247,500;
· Conservation – 40 grants totalling $778,045;
· Education – 11 grants totalling $135,500;
· General – 28 grants totalling $311,015;
· Health – 13 grants totalling $173,500;
· Welfare – 116 grants totalling $1,025,300.
