History
The Mitchell Kapor Foundation was founded by Mitchell Kapor in 1997 in Massachusetts to support programs and activities that address the urgent needs and issues in our society. The Foundation was re-incorporated in California in 2000. Since then, the Foundation has awarded over $18 million in grants to support a wide variety of programs aimed at improving human well-being and sustaining a healthy ecosystem.
During our early years, the Foundation made grants to organizations addressing issues related to the social impact of information technology and to international environmental health concerns.
The Foundation provided initial funding in 2001 for the Level Playing Field Institute, an organization devoted to revealing and removing hidden barriers to fairness in the classroom and the workplace.
In 2005, we began a gradual shift toward supporting work that brought environmental health and environmental justice groups together, and that enhanced racial and ethnic diversity among grantee staff and program constituencies.
After a strategic analysis of our social and philanthropic priorities, in 2007 we unveiled a new targeted grants program strongly focused on areas of concern: Green Access (mobilizing environmental awareness and action) and VoICE (ensuring voting integrity).
Learn more about our targeted grants.