Funding to universities by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is another example of a great US philanthropic fund geared towards supporting the arts and humanities. Established 50 years ago, the Foundation formed from the merger of two existing foundations. By the end of 2019, the total endowment was approximately $6.5 billion, with annual grant-making approximately $316 million.

There are four core areas of giving: higher learning (notably higher education); arts and learning; public knowledge and humanities. Universities are significant beneficiaries of Mellon giving. According to our research of its university funding over the past 10 years:

• Mellon has given $1bn to 279 universities in 21 countries between 2010-19; 93% ($905m) of funding went to 231 US universities.

• The second biggest country beneficiary was the UK. 14 British universities received $28m in Mellon funding.

• Canada was the third biggest country recipient with seven institutions receiving collectively $14m. Approximately half of that funding went to the University of Toronto.

• The fourth biggest country beneficiary was South Africa. Five South African universities received $8m over the past 10 years.

• Columbia University is the single biggest recipient of Mellon funding. The top three recipient institutions are Columbia University ($33.4m), New York University ($30.9m) and the University of Michigan ($27.4m).

• The top three non-US recipient institutions are the University of Oxford ($12.2m), Cambridge University ($8.6m) and the University of Toronto ($6.7m).

• 4.3% ($41.8m) went to European universities, making Europe the second biggest regional recipient of giving after North America. 29 universities in 11 European countries benefitted from Mellon funding.

• Mellon pledged $10m to seven African universities – five South African, and one each in Uganda and Ghana. The University of Cape Town was the biggest beneficiary receiving $3.3m followed by Wits University ($2.9m) and the University of Pretoria ($1m).

• In the Middle East & North Africa region, Mellon pledged $2.8m to one institution - the American University in Cairo.

• In Asia, it pledged $800,000 to three universities in Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the Kyrgyz Republic.

• Mellon does not appear to have funded any higher education institutions in AustralAsia or Latin America in the past decade.