Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation – Examining Possible Initiatives for Future Funding
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The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation seeks to support high-risk, high-reward projects that lack other funding. To pursue this, the Foundation has four program areas: the environment, higher education, scientific research, and a Bay Area program. The majority of its grantmaking is organized around large-scale initiatives related to its program areas. It has two ongoing initiatives, both within the environment program – the Andes/Amazon Initiative and the Wild Salmon Ecosystems Initiative.

By mid-2004, the Moore Foundation hopes to have three or four additional initiatives up and running. In considering potential initiatives, the Foundation is looking for areas that touch more than one of its programs, particularly those that combine aspects of conservation, science, and education. Potential initiatives currently being considered are:

• Astrophysics
• Capacity-Building/Joint-Degree Programs
• Elder Independence (Bay Area)
• Evolution and Development
• Information Science
• Marine Microbiology
• Nursing
• University-Level Mentoring

The Foundation has decided not to pursue the following initiatives: Biomedical Science, Climate/Global Warming, Congo, Coral Triangle, Environmental Education, Mathematics, Population, and Stewardship.

The Moore Foundation primarily makes a small number of large grants, and emphasizes the importance of clearly identified outcomes for the work it supports. Although the Foundation is not accepting unsolicited applications, it welcomes opportunities to discuss and share ideas.

Additional information regarding the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation can be found on the Foundation's website (http://www.moore.org), including details about its initiatives at: http://www.moore.org/prgmareas_initiatives.asp.

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