Our Focus

The W. M. Keck Foundation

Founded with the goal of generating far-reaching benefits for humanity and following the ideals of our founder, the Keck Foundation's programs support outstanding science, engineering and medical research; and in Southern California, arts and culture, education, health and community service projects that will have a significant impact on complex issues and problems. The Keck Foundation also supports undergraduate education through board initiated transformative special projects.

Over 6500

Grants Awarded

$2.2 billion

Grants Awarded since 1954

$1.5 billion

Total Assets in 2020

The Keck Foundation strives to fund endeavors that are distinctive and novel in their approach. It encourages projects that are high-risk with the potential for transformative impact. “High-risk” comprises a number of factors, including questions that push the edge of the field, present unconventional approaches to intractable problems, or challenge the prevailing paradigm.

Grants Awarded by Program

$832 million

Research Program Awards

$220 million

Southern California Program Awards

$852 million

Special Projects Awards

Annual Reports

2023 Financial Statements

In the last 15 years we have awarded over $33 million to study earth science and related fields. Our 2022 annual report highlights research striving to better understand our earth.

Mapping Earth

In the last 15 years we have awarded over $33 million to study earth science and related fields. Our 2022 annual report highlights research striving to better understand our earth.

Advancing Opportunities

The Foundation continues to look for ways to advance opportunities for medicine, science and our community. For 2021, we are pleased to highlight a few of our grantees who are pushing for advancement in a myriad of ways.

Courageous Communities

Our 2020 Annual Report highlights our grantmaking focus on our Southern California home base. We invite you to read stories that reflect our long-term commitment to meet the needs of our region for over the last 66 years.

Structures

Our 2019 Annual Report highlights projects that explore important structures – a fitting title for a year in which we made important Foundation governance changes, continued funding basic science that explores biological and physical properties, and made several large, special grants to support facilities that provide fabric for our region for years to come.

Unleashing Potential

Our 2018 Annual Report is a collection of stories that exemplify the Foundation’s goal of unleashing potential at the front end of basic scientific and medical research.

At the Interface

The theme for our 2017 Annual Report is “interface” – the place at which independent and often unrelated systems meet and act on or communicate with each other.

60 years (1954 - 2014)

The W. M. Keck Foundation’s 60th anniversary report reflects on the growth of our grantmaking through six decades of furthering our founder’s mission: to provide far-reaching benefits to humanity by funding high-risk, high-impact scientific endeavors.