The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a foundation endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon. It is the product of the 1969 merger of the Avalon Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation. These foundations were set up separately by the children of Andrew W. Mellon, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon-Bruce. It is housed in the expanded former offices of the Bollingen Foundation, another educational philanthropy supported by Paul Mellon. William G. Bowen is the Foundation's president. His predecessors have included Jack Sawyer and Nathan Pusey. As of July 1, 2006, its president will be Don Michael Randel, who is currently the President of the University of Chicago. A Foundation is a kind of philanthropic organization, set up by either individuals or institutions as a legal entity (usually either a corporation or a trust) with the purpose of distributing grants to support causes in line with the goals of the foundation. ... Formal portrait of Mellon Andrew William Mellon (March 24, 1855–August 27, 1937) was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932. ... Formal portrait of Mellon Andrew William Mellon (March 24, 1855–August 27, 1937) was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932. ... Paul Mellon (1907 - 1999), son of Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 - 1932, and brother of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. ... Ailsa Mellon Bruce (1901 - August 25, 1969), born in Pittsburgh, the daughter of the banker and diplomat Andrew W. Mellon (1921 - 1932) served as her fathers official hostess during his tenure as US Secretary of the Treasury. ... William G. Bowen is the current president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. ... Nathan Marsh Pusey (4 April 1907–14 November 2001) was a prominent American educator. ... Don Michael Randel is the twelfth and current president of the University of Chicago. ... The University of Chicago is a private co-educational university located in Chicago, Illinois. ...

Mellon sponsors five core program areas:

• higher education, including the humanities, libraries, and scholarly communications,
• museums and art conservation,
• performing arts,
• conservation and the environment, and
• public affairs.

Mellon has a modest research group that has investigated doctoral education, collegiate admissions, independent research libraries, charitable nonprofits, scholarly communcations, and other issues in order to ensure that the foundation's grants would be well-informed and more effective. Some of the recent publications of this effect include Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education, Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values, JSTOR: A History, The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values, and The Shape of the River. Higher education is education provided by universities and other institutions that award academic degrees, such as university colleges, and liberal arts colleges. ... Alternative meanings: Library (computer science), Library (biology) Modern-style library In its traditional sense, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ... Resources Great Museums in the World (Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, MoMA, Picasso …) CGFA: A Virtual Art Museum Art-Atlas. ... The performing arts include theater, motion pictures, drama, comedy, music, dance, opera, magic and the marching arts, such as brass bands, etc. ... Conservation may refer to the following: Conservation ethic in relation to preserving ecosystems Conservationist Conservation movement Conservation ecology Conservation law of physics Conservation of energy Conservation of mass Conservation in genetics Conservation in psychology Prolonging the material integrity of cultural and artistic objects Art conservation Architectural conservation or immovable object... Public affairs is a catch-all term that includes public policy as well as public administration, both of which are closely related to and draw upon the fields of political science as well as economics. ...

Mellon's endowment has fluctuated in the range of $4-5 billion dollars in recent years, and its annual grantmaking has been on the order of $200 million.

External links

• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation official site