Our Approach
Photo courtesy of our friends at Code on Wheels
The Steelcase Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and a separate entity from Steelcase Inc.
If you are looking for Steelcase, please visit its website.
Our Core Strategies
Photo courtesy of our friends at the Grand Rapids Art Museum
Creating conditions where all can participate, grow, & thrive
Our three Foundation community investment strategies are based on the best and most innovative approaches to philanthropic efforts and learning from stakeholder interviews and experience. They advance the Steelcase Foundation’s mission and are supported by our Guiding Principles. The cumulative impact of the three strategies will move the community, sector, and Foundation closer to the vision where the inherent brilliance of the community is embraced and efforts are focused on creating conditions where all can participate, grow, and thrive.
Elevating Community Brilliance + Expertise
Focuses on elevating and supporting the vision, work, and voices of leaders, community members, and smaller early-stage nonprofits that are most aware of and immersed in the current and future needs of children and their families. This strategy includes our Early-Stage Operations + Planning Fund grants and the Brilliant Leaders Fellowship.
Strategic Partnership to Meet Community Needs
Collaborative learning and partnership with nonprofits through grantmaking to support what is working and invest in new and innovative approaches and ideas to meet community needs. This strategy includes our traditional grantmaking, as well as grants to address emerging or time-bound community needs.
Systemic Change + Movement Building
Partnerships and Foundation-led initiatives that directly leverage the Foundation’s power to influence and inform philanthropy and policy and use our expertise to drive and support larger-scale social change. This strategy includes foundation-led collective impact strategies and our Investment in Families Initiative.
Our Vision, Mission, + Guiding Principles
Vision
Mission
We collaborate and connect resources with people and movements that advance, advocate for, and accelerate us toward a more just and liberated community.
Our grantmaking focus to increase access to quality, public education and cultivate communities that create conditions for children and their families to thrive through:
- Quality learning experiences.
- Multi-generational support, advocacy, and engagement.
- Removal of barriers and systemic impediments.
- Arts and culture opportunities that enhance young people’s learning, engagement, and sense of belonging.
Guiding Principles
- People
We believe our humanity, fate, and liberation are interconnected. We know that talent lives in community and that solutions are often among the people more impacted by unjust systems. - Partnership
We build authentic partnerships while addressing power dynamics through deep listening, co-creation, and mutual accountability to advance positive change. - Diversity + Inclusion
We believe that organizations operate best when there is clear representation at all levels from communities within which they work, and when diverse voices are sought, heard, elevated, and honored. - Integrity
We honor our word and treat all people with respect, dignity, and fairness. - Humility
We invest and partner with gratitude and appreciation and seek to lift up and center community brilliance. - Innovation
We encourage risk-taking, courageous leadership, actions rooted in the indigenous wisdom of the community, and new approaches to achieve long-term impact and systemic change. - Learning
The issues we face are complex and intersectional. Adaptive learning, continuous improvement, and mutual accountability helps move us toward meaningful results.
