As many of you are aware the award letters went out for the 2024 Funding Cycle. We wanted to take a moment to look back on our grantmaking and accomplishments from 2023 and offer a peek at what lies ahead. In October 1994, the McCune Foundation’s Articles of Incorporation were signed and filed by the original board members. It’s hard to believe that the McCune family has been making grants in New Mexico for over 30 years. Here’s a snapshot of last year’s grantmaking:

2023 MCF Grantmaking by the Numbers

In 2023, the McCune Charitable Foundation continued to make general operating grants through an open application process. We awarded 178 grants to organizations across New Mexico. Foundation grant recipients are listed on our website here. The Foundation also supports the community through small discretionary grants on a rolling basis and is a participating funder in the Native American Recovery Fund (NARF) managed by the NM Foundation. An additional 35 organizations were supported through a modest sponsorship fund.

The leadership team continues to employ the principles and practices of Trust-Based Philanthropy for grantmaking and works toward leveraging funds and collaborating with other funders for maximum impact.

Although none of the 7 Board Members reside in New Mexico, they attended two meetings last year in Santa Fe and received monthly updates about our state and our community partners. The Board approved the implementation of multi-year grants (3-year, $35,000 grants). Starting with the 2024 funding cycle, the Foundation will begin a process of transitioning its Focus category of grants to become three-year, $35,000 per year operating grants. When fully implemented, a total of 60 Focus grants will be active in the Foundation’s annual portfolio at any given time. Click here to learn more about the Multi-Year grants program.

The Board also approved set amounts (rather than a range) for the open cycle grants – $15,000 for Cultivate level grants and $35,000 for Focus level grants. These decisions and a change in how the Grants Distribution is calculated resulted in a smaller number of grants being awarded in 2024. This year, the total number of Foundation grants will be closer to 90 (versus 123).

Connecting

Our team continues to value building relationships and connecting with our grantee and funding partners. We attended several conferences, convenings, ceremonies and other events. We also went on a couple of road trips to Zuni and Ramah in April 2023 followed by a trip to the southern part of the state including Las Cruces, Anthony, and Silver City. We learned so much about the good work that is happening in these regions and were thrilled to meet many of the dedicated folks that are engaged in it. We are also working to connect either one-on-one or in groups through frequent meetings, phone calls, roundtables and collaborative efforts.

We also completed our inaugural year of the Community of Practice for NM funders focused on Fostering Gender and Racial Justice and Healing. In partnership with New Mexico Women.Org, we kicked off year two with an in-person event at the McCune Office and will continue to meet in-person and virtually throughout the year.

Looking Ahead

This year is off to a brisk start. Here are a few things our team has been working on:

• Launching our 2024 Multi-year Grants and further developing our multi-year grant program
• Continuing to build relationships and show up in community
• Learn from grantees about how best to support newish EDs
• Begin planning for the 2026 Strategic Plan refresh

As always, the open grant cycle will be from August 15th through September 15th. Please mark your calendars if you are planning to apply for 2025 funding. We appreciate each one of you and look forward to working with you in the year ahead.