Annual Report 2004 - Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

EXPLORATORY & SPECIAL PROJECTS
MISSION To support unusual or unique opportunities addressing significant
national and international problems. (Proposals are by invitation only; unsolicited
proposals are discouraged.)
While the Mott Foundation makes a limited number of grants
under its Exploratory and Special Projects program, many of
them reach across geographic boundaries.
The 12 grants, totaling $1,339,539,
awarded in 2004 included unusual projects
designed to bring together religions, students
and women with diverse backgrounds and
experiences in common cause.
In April 2005, 27 organizations
representing seven world religions, plus banks,
philanthropies and others became founding
members and partners of the International
Interfaith Investment Group (3iG). The
incubation of 3iG was supported by a 15-
month, $100,000 renewal grant to the Alliance
of Religions and Conservation in Manchester,
England. (An additional 12-month, $150,000
grant was made in early 2005.)
The purpose of 3iG is to promote the
ethical and moral transformation of
investment practices of the world’s faith
communities into socially responsible
investing. The seven religions represented at
the London meeting were Buddhist,
Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim
and Sikh. Their investment portfolios total
hundreds of billions of dollars.
3iG plans to investigate four investment
areas initially: forestry, labor dignity, microfinance
and water. One of its goals is to
have 50 or more members and partners
within 12 months.
In conjunction with NATO’s official
summit in Istanbul, Turkey, 204 university
students traveled from 37 Euro-Atlantic
countries to attend the Pan-Atlantic Student
Summit (I-PASS) in June 2004. This
meeting was supported with a one-year,
$50,000 grant to the Washington, D.C.-
based Atlantic Council of the United States,
one of the organizers.
At the summit, students met with 11
heads of state and government, and
participated in a model NATO simulation to
expose them to the intricacies and pressures of
diplomacy and consensus building. I-PASS
built on the success of the first such meeting,
the Prague Atlantic Student Summit held
during the 2002 NATO summit.
Meanwhile, Vital Voices Global
Partnership, which will celebrate its fifth
anniversary in 2005, seeks to provide women
around the globe with the leadership skills,
networking opportunities and resources they
need to improve their societies.
A two-year, $150,000 general purposes
grant will help the Washington, D.C.,
organization produce materials to share with
women, who will use them to train others in
political participation, economic
independence and human rights. To date,
four training programs have been developed:
Europe/Eurasia, Middle East and
Afghanistan, Combating Human
Trafficking, and Global Leadership Network.
Vital Voices also is undertaking a
concerted program of institutional
advancement and development.
70 CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION