Charitable Contributions and Grants

MPC and our employees provide support to 501(c)(3) non-profit and government-related organizations and agencies in the form of foundation grants, corporate contributions and sponsorships and workplace giving and volunteerism. While we will accept requests from eligible organizations across our marketing area, preference will be given to communities where the company has a significant operational and employee presence.

We strategically focus community investments on three core areas where it can make a positive, measurable impact: workforce development, sustainability and thriving communities.

Communities Investment Priorities

Workforce Development

From engineers to pipefitters, chemists to accountants, IT specialists to welders, MPC’s success relies on our ability to recruit and retain employees with exceptional skills-based experience. Our goal is to invest in workforce initiatives that better prepare individuals for professional success by increasing access to high-quality educational training and career readiness resources inclusive of vocational, technical and skilled trades.

Sustainability

Consistent with our commitment to meet the needs of today while investing in a sustainable future is our support of community programs involving environmental conservation and sustainability. MPC supports environmental government agencies, community groups, trade organizations and professional and industry associations devoted to protecting, conserving and sustaining natural resources. These efforts may include life sciences and breakthrough research, protecting biodiversity, preserving or creating parks and green spaces, improving air and water quality and increasing access to clean water and food.

Thriving Communities 

We are committed to making our communities stronger, safer and thriving places to live, work and play. MPC provides funding for programs that promote the resiliency of our shared communities including helping to address basic needs, supporting youth development programs and creating opportunities for economic vitality. This also includes safety projects and efforts that help communities better prepare for, mitigate the risks of and respond to disasters, hazards and emergenciess

Battlefield Preservation Fund

Grants from the Battlefield Preservation Fund will serve as a catalyst to stimulate efforts to preserve battlefields, viewsheds, and related historic structures and to leverage fund-raising activities.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning

Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach

Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

Guidelines

Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by supporting on-going preservation work and by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for preservation projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector.

A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Grants generally start at $2,500 and range up to $5,000. The selection process is very competitive.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning: Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach: Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

NOTE: In 2022, the Art Acquisition Fund was renamed the Alaska Art Fund (AAF) to account for the expanded nature of the program.

Rasmuson Foundation Overview

Mission:

To promote a better life for Alaskans.

Primary program areas of interest:

Arts & culture, health, social services, housing, promotion of philanthropy

Grantmaking philosophy:

The Foundation acts as a catalyst for change; helps Alaskans help themselves; and embraces the diversity within Alaska.

Grantmaking goals:

Civic responsibility and individual philanthropy amongst Alaskans; economic possibilities for Alaskans; educational opportunity for Alaskans; healthy Alaska families; quality health care for Alaskans; strong leaders; vibrant arts and culture in Alaska.

About Museums Alaska

Museums Alaska supports museums and cultural centers in Alaska and enhances public understanding of their value. Museums Alaska maintains a central office to receive and disburse information about museums, cultural centers and their activities, and to collect and share professional opportunities. Museums Alaska organizes an annual conference to focus on the needs of Alaska museum professionals, volunteers, and their institutions. Museums Alaska currently administers two grant programs funded by the Rasmuson Foundation: the Art Acquisition program and the Collections Management program.

Art Acquisition Fund

The Art Acquisition Fund supports grants for Alaska museums to purchase work by practicing Alaska artists. Initiated in 2003, the project is intended to (1) support living, practicing Alaska artists through museum purchases, (2) enhance the permanent art collections of Alaska museums and (3) encourage Alaska museums to develop formal collections policies. The Foundation also provides a regular venue for contemporary Alaska art in the Foundation office in Anchorage.

Rasmuson Foundation Overview

Mission:

To promote a better life for Alaskans.

Primary program areas of interest:

Arts & culture, health, social services, housing, promotion of philanthropy

Grantmaking philosophy:

The Foundation acts as a catalyst for change; helps Alaskans help themselves; and embraces the diversity within Alaska.

Grantmaking goals:

Civic responsibility and individual philanthropy amongst Alaskans; economic possibilities for Alaskans; educational opportunity for Alaskans; healthy Alaska families; quality health care for Alaskans; strong leaders; vibrant arts and culture in Alaska.

About Museums Alaska

Museums Alaska supports museums and cultural centers in Alaska and enhances public understanding of their value. Museums Alaska maintains a central office to receive and disburse information about museums, cultural centers and their activities, and to collect and share professional opportunities. Museums Alaska organizes an annual conference to focus on the needs of Alaska museum professionals, volunteers, and their institutions. Museums Alaska currently administers two grant programs funded by the Rasmuson Foundation: the Art Acquisition program and the Collections Management program.

Collections Management Fund

This fund was established in 2013 to develop collections management practices through professional expertise, training, and conservation materials and supplies. The program seeks applications from any department for projects that have an emphasis on collections—whether that be the behind-the-scenes work of preserving, cataloguing, and storing the collections, or public facing work of exhibitions, education, and programming.

Rasmuson Foundation and The Alaska Community Foundation have partnered to provide support to 2022 camps and youth programming across Alaska. If your organization is eligible for funding as described below, we invite you to submit a grant application through The Alaska Community Foundation.

Purpose

Camps and youth programming opportunities are essential for Alaskan families. Alaska has the highest rate of participation in outdoor recreation in the United States (tied with Montana). Learning skills to be comfortable and competent on the land and in the outdoors can be a rite of passage. Camps provide lifelong experiences for many, but not all. Camps are expensive to operate, and these organizations typically charge a fee that can be a barrier to families. More children can attend camp with additional scholarship support, regardless of their family’s economic background.

The Camp Initiative prioritizes funding for organizations that are addressing the following key issues: 

• Fees/Costs – scholarships/camperships to assist in a family’s ability to pay, or for camps that do not charge a fee, the ability to pay staff and/or increase the number of participants (campers);
• Special expenses – may include traveling activity kits that reach youth who are unable to attend day or resident/overnight camps, increased transportation costs, or changes in program delivery; and
• Training – access to staff professional development and training for counselors.

Considerations

• Capacity to Implement
• Reach & Impact
• Equitable Access to Diverse Camp Experiences Statewide

Grant Request Amount Range:

Up to $15,000 per location, $45,000 maximum.

About Alaska State Council on the Arts

The Alaska State Council on the Arts funds applications in all areas of the arts: dance, visual arts, literature, music, theater, media arts, and traditional Native arts. The Council also encourages applications that promote and develop the cultural heritage of Alaskans and the creation of new works by Alaskan artists.

Helen Walker Performing Arts Grants

The Helen Walker Performing Arts Grant is a program of the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation and is administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Named in her honor, the grant provides support to the performing arts throughout Alaska. Helen A. Walker was a seminal Alaska arts advocate throughout her life. She served on the boards of numerous arts and culture organizations, including the Alaska Repertory Theater, the Fairbanks Library Foundation, the University of Alaska’s KUAC Advisory Board, and Fairbanks Commissions for Urban Beautification, Parks and Recreation, and the Library.

Ms. Walker was a 1984 Governor’s Award for the Arts recipient and a founder of the Fairbanks Arts Association, the Sitka Summer Music Festival, and Arts Alaska. Arts Alaska provided professional management services and additional programs for the state’s performing arts tours from 1975 to 1988. Since its inception, the Arts Alaska Endowment Fund has awarded over $100,000 to qualifying sponsors/presenters for performing arts projects in small Alaskan communities. At the behest of the Arts Alaska Board of Directors in 2006, the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation became the administrator of the Arts Alaska Endowment Fund whose annual earned interest generates grants to support presenting and touring in Alaska.

Eligible Projects and Important Considerations

• Presenting/touring presentations including: theater, dance, opera/musical theater, music, performances for young audiences, literary readings/storytelling, folk & traditional arts, and media arts. Funds can be used for any expenses directly related to the project. In fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023), applicants to this grant program may continue to consider alternate ways to present performing arts beyond the tour model: this may include performances, readings and other eligible performing arts disciplines noted above delivered via distance delivery, outdoor performances, or other adaptive strategies for performing arts presenting.
• Presentations specifically designed to attract new audiences, reach underserved populations (geographic, economic or individuals with disabilities) or underserved performing arts disciplines. Projects that include live presentations using distance delivery or other modalities will be considered for fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023). For FY2023, Walker applicants should consider communities with limited access to the arts because of the continuing changes in public health conditions, and that may be reached by an organization’s performing arts presentations, when considering access for underserved communities.
• Participation in workshops, conferences and other professional development opportunities for performing arts organizations volunteer and/or paid staff. This can include distance learning opportunities.

Recordings at Risk

Recordings at Risk is a national regranting program administered by CLIR to support the preservation of rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of high scholarly value through digital reformatting. Generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since January 2017, the program will run twelve competitions and will award a total of $6.75 million. Awards range from $10,000 to $50,000 and cover costs of preservation reformatting for fragile and/or obsolete time-based media content by qualified external service providers. Eligible media may include, but are not necessarily limited to, magnetic audio and video tape, grooved discs, wax cylinders, wire recordings, and film (with or without sound).

Recordings at Risk encourages professionals who may be constrained by limited resources and/or technical expertise to take action against the threats of degradation and obsolescence. The program aims to help institutions identify priorities and develop practical strategies for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, and raise awareness of best practices.

Application Assessment Criteria

An independent review panel, comprised of scholars in a variety of domains and technologists with expertise in digitization and digital preservation, will evaluate applications using four primary criteria: 

• Impact- The potential scholarly and public impact of the project
• Urgency- The urgency of undertaking reformatting to avoid risk of loss
• Potential for preservation- The viability of the work plan and deliverables for preserving the content over time
• Approach to access- The approach to legal and ethical concerns affecting access

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.