Grant proposals will be considered by invitation only at this time. Please do not expect a response to unsolicited inquiries.
The Merck Family Fund is completing an 18-month long strategic planning process in the wake of a generational shift in board leadership and the departure of the Fund’s long serving executive director. As the Fund enters its 70th year, with the fourth generation of family at the helm, MFF is updating the vision, mission, programs, and operations and practices to reflect best practices in philanthropy while continuing to center people and place and the urgent issues of our times: racial inequities and the crises in our climate and democracy.
Merck Family Fund will be tightening the geographic reach of grantmaking, “right-sizing” programs and grant size to meet the needs of frontline communities within the scope of a small family foundation, and reducing the administrative burden on both staff and partners in the field.
We look forward to sharing the revised mission and programs after the board approves the new 10-year plan in mid-May. MFF will endeavor to close out long-standing programs and relationships with as much advance notice and bridge funding as possible.
In the meantime, we have closed the “open LOI” portal and will be reaching out to regular grant recipients with instructions for a streamlined proposal process throughout 2024.