Milestone achieved three years ahead of schedule
PITTSBURGH (July 22, 2026) – Now halfway through the sixth year of its 10-year Strategic Plan, the Richard King Mellon Foundation already has awarded more than $1 billion in grants and Program-Related Investments (PRIs) under that plan, surpassing the $1 billion milestone three years earlier than originally anticipated.
The Foundation’s 2021-2030 Strategic Plan was announced in January 2021 as “a blueprint to invest more than $1.2 billion over the next decade.” At that pace – $1.2 billion over 10 years – the Foundation expected to surpass the $1 billion mark sometime around the midway point of 2029. But, thanks to exceptional investment-management performance, the Foundation has realized greater-than-expected returns on its philanthropic assets, which have enabled greater-than-anticipated charitable giving.
“The Foundation’s Board of Trustees is grateful to fellow Trustees Ed Morgan and the recently retired Doug Sisson, who together led the stewardship of the Foundation’s investments over the first five-plus years of our Strategic Plan,” said Richard A. Mellon, Chairman and CEO of the Foundation. “Their exemplary work has enabled the Board of Trustees to approve the grants and Program-Related Investments (PRIs) recommended by Director Sam Reiman and the program team at a much brisker pace than we originally anticipated.”
As of its June 2026 Board meeting, the Foundation has awarded $1,031,000,000 in grants and PRIs since January 2021, through 1,538 grants and 145 PRIs.
“Our Board of Trustees is now on a pace to award more than $1.5 billion in grants and PRIs through this 10-year Strategic Plan,” said Foundation Director and Trustee Sam Reiman. “We will continue to seek out bold ideas from nonprofits and social-mission businesses over the remaining three and a half years of this Strategic Plan, to advance Economic Development, Economic Mobility and Health & Well-Being in our beloved Southwestern Pennsylvania, and across the nation through our environmental Conservation program.”
The 1,683 grants and PRIs were awarded through the Strategic Plan’s six program areas: Conservation ($304 million to date), Economic Development ($444 million), Economic Mobility ($114 million), Health & Well-Being ($115 million), Organizational Effectiveness ($15 million) and the Foundation’s program for social-mission for-profit businesses, called Social-Impact Investments ($38 million).
Reiman noted that the 1,683 grants and PRIs that took the Foundation over the $1 billion mark were awarded in response to 3,781 applications, requesting nearly $2.5 billion in Foundation funding. “Demand for Foundation funding remains strong,” Reiman said. “Even with our accelerated pace of giving, we still are required to make difficult choices.”
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About the Richard King Mellon Foundation: Founded in 1947, the Richard King Mellon Foundation is the largest foundation in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and one of the 50 largest in the world. The Foundation’s 2025 year-end net assets were $3.3 billion, and its Trustees in 2025 disbursed more than $167 million in grants and program-related investments. The Foundation focuses its funding on six primary program areas, delineated in its 2021-2030 Strategic Plan.