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MISSION
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation seeks to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Currently it fulfills this mission by making significant and long-term investments in the development and growth of nonprofit organizations with proven programs that help low-income youth make successful transitions to independent and productive adulthood.
The emphasis on creating opportunity for people with limited access to it began in 1969, when Edna McConnell Clark, a daughter of the founder of Avon Products, decided with her husband, Van Alan Clark, to set a fresh course for what had become a very large but unstaffed family foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Clark doubled the size of the endowment and charged their sons, Hays, Van Alan, Jr., and James, with overseeing staffing and establishing priorities to focus the resources of the newly formed private foundation and draw on the expertise of professionals in the field of social welfare. The sons sought to maintain the Clark family's discreet, down-to-earth approach to philanthropy, which emphasized the impact of grantmaking over the importance of its source.
The Foundation initially created narrowly defined programs in four areas: the poor, children, the elderly, and the developing world. Over time, the focus has changed with the Foundation’s evolving understanding of where its resources might achieve the greatest results. The Clarks' original grantmaking philosophy is reflected in the Foundation’s ambitious Past Programs and embodied by its current Youth Development investments and the core values and operating principles that guide them.
In the last three-and-a-half decades, the Foundation has made grants totaling $668 million. As of September 30, 2006, the Foundation's assets were valued at $846.5 million. Two grandchildren of Van Alan and Edna McConnell Clark – H. Lawrence Clark and James McConnell Clark, Jr. – serve on the Foundation's nine-member Board of Trustees, while their son James serves as trustee emeritus.
Learn more about:
Our Past Programs
Our Current Youth Development Strategy
CORE VALUES
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Core Values and Operating Principles
These values are integral to our grantmaking and who the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation is as an institution:
| Humility
| The work we do is first and foremost about our grantees—strengthening them to better accomplish what they do. We admit when we make mistakes, or when our efforts fail. We expect the same from those with whom we work. We do not seek to make a name for ourselves in philanthropy; there is no room for ego in our work.
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| Belief in People
| We invest in people because we believe in them and their vision. We also believe our grantees know best what they need to do to meet their goals. Our effectiveness as a grantmaker rests on their informed judgment and ability to execute. We also believe in each other—as staff and board members.
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| Pragmatism
| We accept the limitations of what we can achieve, given the extent of our resources. We strive to set realistic goals—both for our grantees and ourselves. We are prepared to shift course when necessary to ensure the effectiveness of our grantmaking.
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| Trust
| We trust our grantees and ourselves to carry out the work they and we do, and to use the Foundation’s resources with integrity, honesty, and a focus on results. We do what we can to support our grantees and each other. We challenge, but we do not second-guess.
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| High Standards
| We hold ourselves and our grantees to the highest possible standards, and strive for excellence in everything we do.
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Principles That Guide the Foundation's Work
- To ensure that the Foundation’s resources are put to effective use every day.
- To stick with our strategies and grantees long enough to see results, but to always be prepared to change course if results could be better achieved in other ways.
- To deliver a funding experience to grantees that is realistic in execution, outstanding in its helpfulness, and of the highest possible quality.
- To share what we do and what we learn with others as honestly as we can.
- To maintain and cherish the simple, no-nonsense, practical and friendly spirit of the Foundation.
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