The San Diego Humane Society is setting the model for what humane societies nationwide can achieve. An innovative feline nursery and canine behavior center have helped bring the number of adoptable animals who are euthanized each year to zero.
Our Mission
To provide meaningful assistance and support to society, the arts, and the environment.
ABOUT
Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP) supports efforts to enhance quality of life and prevent and relieve suffering of children, families, and seniors; preserve and promote the environment and the arts; and encourage the humane treatment of animals.
Founded by the late Margaret A. Cargill, MACP actively partners with capable organizations to make a lasting difference for individuals and communities, with particular attention to overlooked causes. MACP’s combined assets (Margaret A. Cargill Foundation and Anne Ray Foundation) place us among the top ten foundations in the United States.
MACP develops and implements integrated grantmaking strategies across seven programmatic areas we call domains: Arts & Cultures, Disaster Relief & Recovery, Environment, Animal Welfare, Quality of Life, Teachers, and Legacy & Opportunity.
Our grantmaking approach is rooted in direction from our founder and reflects our Philosophy of Grantmaking.
Grant proposals are by invitation only, and we do not consider unsolicited requests for support.
OUR APPROACH
Within our domains, our program strategies are anchored in compelling issues where we want to make a meaningful, measurable, and sustainable difference in a defined period of time.
We limit the number of issues we choose to address, set clear goals for the difference we wish to make on each one, and allocate our resources accordingly. We pay special attention to underserved or low-attention areas and causes, and we favor community-based, on-the-ground programs rather than policy initiatives or endowments.
We continually hone strategies within our domains, investing in evaluation efforts and making substantial learning grants to inform decision-making and program development.
Core to our approach is strengthening the effectiveness and capacity of our key grantee partners by investing in their leadership, management, and operational capabilities.
We believe the best way to make a lasting difference on issues we care about is by investing in long-term relationships with key grantees, strengthening our combined abilities to make a meaningful difference in the world. Because of this, we look to our key grantees as partners, and they help us shape what we do. We work with these partners to find solutions that are consistent with the objectives and values of both our organization and theirs.
Philosophy of Grantmaking
Our grantmaking reflects our values and Margaret Cargill’s guiding principles and is always directed toward our mission and core purposes.
We expect our grantmaking to have these characteristics:
- We lead with our values, internally and externally.
- We partner with capable organizations that have demonstrated their ability to work successfully in our interest areas and in a manner consistent with our values. We look to our grantees as partners and co-learners.
- We provide meaningful support to strategic grantees.
- We support work in and with communities toward sustainable solutions.
- We pay special attention to underserved or low-attention areas, populations, or issues.
- We value and affirm the integration of all functions of the Philanthropies in our grantmaking.
- We make measurable impact on focused goals.
- We evaluate our work, reshape our approaches as we learn, share and apply our learning to future grantmaking.
All this we do, not to bring recognition to ourselves, but to support our grantees in the work they do to provide meaningful assistance and support to society, the arts, and the environment, in a manner consistent with our founder’s wishes and intent. Done well, this will distinguish us.
Our Grantmaking Entities
Margaret A. Cargill Foundation (MACF) is a private foundation that came into existence upon Ms. Cargill’s death in August 2006. In 2017, MACF’s assets were approximately $3.1 billion.
Anne Ray Foundation (ARF) is a supporting organization, which may make grants only to beneficiary organizations specifically named by Ms. Cargill. In 2017, ARF’s assets were approximately $4.2 billion.
Our Reach
In 2020, our national and international grantmaking efforts consisted of 454 grants, totaling more than $263 million.
Southern California Grantmaking (Akaloa)
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT: SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY Go to Case Study
Quality of Life
Program Highlight: Y-USA Go to Case Study
Tropical Forests
Program Highlight: CLUA Go to Case StudyOur History
Our History
Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP) is the umbrella over the grantmaking entities funded by the late Margaret Cargill.
Ms. Cargill was a woman of warmth and modesty who used her wealth to support organizations doing work she valued. During her lifetime she made significant, but usually anonymous, donations to organizations globally, nationally, and in Southern California, where she lived most of her adult life.
MACP began with the formation of Akaloa Resource Foundation in 1995. The name Akaloa was selected to preserve our founder’s anonymity and direct attention toward grantees’ good work. That approach remains central to our cultural values today.
Our philanthropic mission began with separate entities, each with distinct grantmaking criteria, but Margaret always envisioned her philanthropy as a whole and she approached her giving with a single philosophy. More than twenty years later, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies has made her vision a reality with more than $1 billion in cumulative grantmaking.
Our History
1995
Akaloa Resource Foundation formed; first grant to Mingei International Museum in San Diego, Calif.
Our History
1996
Anne Ray Charitable Trust formed; first grant to American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minn.
Our History
2006
Founder Margaret A. Cargill passes away; Margaret A. Cargill Foundation formed
Our History
2009
Margaret A. Cargill Foundation launches an ambitious restricted grant program to better inform its grantmaking process.
Our History
2011
MACP begins increasing the size and scale of our grantmaking
Our History
2014
MACP reaches estimated level of annual grantmaking
Our History
2015
MACP celebrates $1 billion in total, cumulative grantmaking
Our History
2016
MACP announces integrated grantmaking strategy and approach across our grantmaking entities
Our History
2016
MACP completes expansion of our Eden Prairie headquarters
Our History
2017
MACP finalizes governance transition, moving from three grantmaking entities to two foundations. Founding CEO Christy Morse announces her retirement and Paul Bush is named President & CEO.
Our Home
A home that reflects our mission
With one of our key philanthropic priorities centered on the environment, we saw our headquarters as a chance to lead by example. In spring 2016, we completed a major building expansion. Through sustainable design practices we tripled our building’s size while reducing its environmental impact.
A sustainable model
Our building is among the greenest in the country, using 95% reused or recycled materials and designed to the platinum LEED standard for energy conservation and sustainability.
Recycling our water
The project includes Minnesota’s first greywater drip irrigation system and 19 water storage tanks, which store 55,000 gallons of rainwater to sustain the native plantings, vegetable gardens, and orchards on our property.
Here comes the sun
Our rooftop photovoltaic and solar thermal panels will provide 15% of the electricity to operate our facility and 70% of the energy to heat our water.
Harnessing geothermal energy
The building has an extensive geothermal system that uses the earth’s constant underground temperature for heating and cooling the building. This innovative system is estimated to reduce energy costs by 60-70%.
