FAQs and glossary

Answer:

We prefer to fund direct costs. But we may also consider funding administrative and other general indirect expenses which are allocated to the grant, up to a maximum of 15 percent of the total WKKF grant budget, excluding the indirect costs amount. The inclusion of any indirect costs is at the discretion of the Program Officer.

Answer:

Both the Kellogg Company and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation were established by cereal industry pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, and the assets of the foundation originally consisted of Kellogg Company stock. Our assets still include Kellogg Company stock although our portfolio is now diversified.

Each organization has always been completely independent of the other.  Each is directed by its own board of directors, and each has its own distinct goals.

Answer:

Ultimate success will be the achievement of our vision of a nation that marshals its resources to assure that ALL children have an equitable and promising future--a future in which all children thrive.

We also have specific, long-term programming goals.  In the places in which we are most active, we seek to:

• Ensure that all children are reading and math-proficient at or above grade level by third grade.
• Increase the number of children who are born at a healthy birth weight and who receive the care and healthy food they need for optimal development.
• Increase the number of children and their families who are living at least 200% above poverty level.
• We will partner with communities to establish appropriate measurements, which will consist of data easily available and consistent over time.
  

Answer:

Our strategic framework guides our grant-making decisions.  Based on the framework we have chosen to concentrate efforts in three priority places.  Our goal is that 60% of our resources over time will go to these places.

Approximately 80 percent of what is available each year is allocated domestically.  About half of that is invested in programming in Michigan--our home state--and in Mississippi and New Mexico.  These are our "priority" states, selected because the need is great and because we have the scale and local knowledge to make the greatest impact. 

The remaining 20 percent of the geographical allocation is invested to promote leadership development and scholarship in Latin America, including Mexico, the Caribbean and northeastern Brazil, and in southern Africa.

Our framework addresses the health of the whole child: strengthening her social, emotional, cognitive, physical, cultural and civic development.  Our efforts focus on education and learning; food, health and well-being; and family economic security as the areas in which we can effectively act on behalf of vulnerable children. 

As part of this framework, we view these factors through the dual lenses of civic engagement--supporting people in developing the capacity to solve their own problems--and racial equity--supporting racial healing and efforts to dismantle the structural and systemic racism that holds some children back.  We support initiatives that reflect these perspectives, and we partner with organizations that share them.

Answer:

We maintain our headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, the city in which we were founded.

Answer:

Federal law prohibits private foundations from lobbying.  However, many of our grantmaking initiatives have public policy components that involve advocacy.  As a foundation, we believe we are obligated to educate the public about approaches that work, and those that do not.  And we regularly provide policymakers with valuable educational information that we hope will inform them as they grapple with difficult issues.

Answer:

Our previous organization did not focus on integrating the different bodies of work the foundation funded.  The new organization and our new strategy better reflect the reality that there are many overlapping and interconnected factors which affect vulnerable children.  Our newly integrated approach allows us to address those factors more effectively.

Answer:

Our priority places in the southern Africa region are the seven countries of: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.