Enterprise Holdings Foundation

Enterprise Holdings Foundation is sponsored by Enterprise Holdings Foundation. Supports nonprofit organizations in Florida with grants for community development and housing initiatives.

Enterprise Holdings Foundation | Inside Philanthropy OVERVIEW: The Charitable arm of Enterprise Holdings, the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, awards grants to groups working in human service, youth, education, community development, conservation, veterans and more. IP TAKE: The Enterprise Mobility Foundation is a large corporate funder with an unusual access model. Nonprofits cannot apply directly.

Instead, an Enterprise Mobility team member who is actively involved with an organization must submit an internal grant request on its behalf. The strongest prospects are therefore nonprofits that already count Enterprise, National or Alamo employees among their volunteers, donors, board members or community partners.

The foundation supports a broad mix of local causes, including health and human services, education, food security, youth development, environmental conservation, disaster relief, veterans and the arts. Its largest initiatives, including Fill Your Tank and ROAD Forward, work through selected national partners and local nonprofits chosen by Enterprise operating groups. These are not open competitions.

Grantseekers should focus on building an authentic employee relationship, ideally through sustained volunteer engagement. Local food banks, youth-serving organizations and established community nonprofits near Enterprise operations appear especially well positioned. Do not seek event sponsorships, general operating support or multi-year awards: the foundation expressly excludes them.

PROFILE: The Enterprise Mobility Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Enterprise Mobility, the family-owned company behind Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo. It was established in 1982 by company founder Jack Taylor and has contributed more than half a billion dollars to nonprofit organizations since its inception.

The foundation now uses the Enterprise Mobility name publicly, although its tax filings continue to appear under the legal name Enterprise Holdings Foundation, EIN 43-1262762. Enterprise was established in 1957 by the late Jack C. Taylor, and the company is still privately owned and steered by members of the Taylor family.

The foundation’s mission is to strengthen communities where Enterprise team members live and work. Its grantmaking combines thousands of employee-connected local awards with a smaller group of large, long-term philanthropic initiatives. Enterprise also gives through regional operating groups, employee campaigns and volunteer programs, so companywide giving figures should not be confused with foundation-only grantmaking.

Grants for Community Development, Education, Work and Opportunity ROAD Forward appears to the the foundation’s largest and broadest giving initiative. Established in 2020, the program aims to “advance social equity by focusing on closing gaps in three areas–early childhood development, youth health & wellness and career & college preparation.

” Giving prioritizes communities where Enterprise operates businesses, and grants have so far supported over 1,000 organizations in 400 communities in North America and Europe. The foundation does not name specific goals for its giving in each sub-focus, but grants appear to prioritize educational programs for underserved children and youth. In the St.

Louis area, the foundation has made grants to the Matthews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club, Parents as Teachers, the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation and Ranken Technical College. Other U.S. grantee partners include My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, Girls Inc., the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Outside of the U.S. the foundation has supported organizations including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, Children’s Books Ireland and Spain’s Fundación MAPFRE, which works broadly to “to improve people’s quality of life and social progress through our multinational programs and activities. ” The foundation provides ongoing support to chapters of the United Way where its parent company maintains operations.

Employee donations are matched at 50% during the company’s annual Stronger Together Employee Giving Campaign. Grants for Food and Nutrition Grants for hunger and food insecurity account for a significant portion of EMF’s giving. The foundation’s Fill Your Tank initiative was launched in 2016 to address food insecurity around the wold, prioritizing areas where Enterprise operates businesses.

Three key partners receive ongoing support: Feeding America, Food Banks Canada and the Global FoodBanking Network. Many grants have also supported locally-operated food banks in the U.S. grantees include the Capital Area Food Bank in D. C.

, Feeding South Florida, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, the Greater Boston Food Bank and St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Arizona, among others. Grants for Environmental and Freshwater Conservation EMF’s environmental giving is mainly conducted through two signature partnerships.

EMF partners with the Arbor Day Foundation’s Urban Tree Initiative to support tree-planting projects in areas around the world. Planting projects support neighborhood beautification, as well as cooling and air filtration for communities in cities including Glendale, Arizona; Riviera Beach, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Mississauga, Ontario.

EMF’s Routes and Roots Healthy Rivers Project is a $60 million commitment to the Nature Conservancy’s work to preserve and protect freshwater ecosystems of rivers around the world. Since the program’s launch in 2017, the project has improved conditions for an estimated 13,000 miles of rivers and related freshwater ecosystems. Only a few additional grants support smaller organizations involved in environmental causes.

Recipients include California’s Yes Nature to Neighborhoods, the Riverbed Environmental Education Center in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation in Portland, Oregon.

Grants for Military and Veterans Causes The foundation names Veteran and Military Families as an area of priority and mainly partners with the Fisher House Foundation, a national organization that “no-cost housing for military and veteran families while a loved one is in the hospital. ” Only a few other grants are awarded for veterans outside of this collaboration.

Grantees include Clark County Veterans Assistance in Washington, U.S. Vets and the Military Bowl Foundation. Grants for Disaster Relief Grantmaking for Disaster Relief is mostly channeled to the American Red Cross. The Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program has received $1 million a year from EMF since 2015.

Note that Enterprise’s automobile rental businesses have waived fees to evacuees who need one way transportation to safety during emergency situations. Grants for Animal Welfare The foundation does not name animal welfare as an area of priority, but recent giving has supported several animal rescue and pet adoption organizations.

Grantees include Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League in Florida, New Jersey’s Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center and Good Karma Pet Rescue in Florida. EMF’s grants range from $1,000 to $6 million, with an average grant size of about $25,000. Grants of over $500,000 typically represent ongoing partnerships.

In a recent year, this funder made close to $76 million in grants, with over 500 grants going out the door. Human services and food insecurity emerge as the foundation’s strongest grantmaking interests. The foundation supports organizations of all sizes, with many small grants supporting small community groups in areas where Enterprise operates businesses.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding, but employees and their spouses may submit applications on behalf of organizations with which they are involved. Contact EMF via email at giving@em. com .

The foundation’s phone number is listed as (312) 514-5000. Community Giving/Programs Enable JavaScript to continue This site uses JavaScript to verify your account, display articles, and provide other features. Please enable JavaScript or allow scripts for Inside Philanthropy, then reload the page.

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