Crediting Mellon Support

For spendable grants that support a specific project or program

Appropriate places to acknowledge support from the Mellon Foundation are those that describe the supported project or program in whole, such as on program- or project-specific web pages. Recognition of Mellon in materials for discrete activities associated with a project or program is not permitted, such as in invitations, flyers, or social media posts around a specific activity.

No additional acknowledgement of the Mellon Foundation is permitted except for recognition in general lists of all funders, such as in an annual report or on a website, with placement or style of recognition commensurate with that of other funders.

Fiscal Sponsors and Regranting Partners

For fiscal sponsor grants, the fiscal sponsor organization is responsible for ensuring these crediting instructions are honored by both the sponsor and the sponsored project.

In instances when Mellon Foundation is extending the reach of its financial support through funding to regranting organizations that, in turn, issue funds to multiple other groups and/or individuals, the Mellon Foundation grantee (the regranting partner) should only acknowledge support of Mellon Foundation when describing the project or program as a whole.

• For example, [NAME OF INITIATIVE] is an initiative of [NAME OF REGRANTING PARTNER], which has received support from the Mellon Foundation.

Subgrantees are not direct recipients of Foundation grants and therefore are not permitted to use Mellon’s name in crediting or funder lists.

Fiscal sponsors and regranting partners may consult their primary Mellon Program contact with any questions.

For grants that support core operations and overall mission of a grantee

General operating grants should not be announced publicly (e.g. no media releases, website articles, or social media post announcing receipt of Mellon funding).

Grantees may acknowledge Mellon Foundation among the organization’s list of general funders in placements like organization websites, overview brochures, and organizational collateral distributed during the grant period. In instances where logos of funders are used (rather than displayed as text), please use Mellon’s logo in accordance with Mellon’s brand guidelines. If other funders are displayed as text within a list for the purposes of recognition, please include Mellon’s name within such a list rather than use of Mellon’s logo.

No other naming or crediting of Mellon is permitted. Acknowledgement of Mellon should not be included in discrete program-specific or project-specific publications, social media posts, or public announcements, even if the organization has elected to use the general operating grant dollars to support the activities described.

Mellon reserves the right to require any grantee to remove acknowledgement of Mellon’s support or use of its brand assets at any time.

For other special considerations, Grantees should reach out to their primary Mellon Program contact or brand@mellon.org. 

Written instances of name

In written recognition and crediting, please use the Mellon Foundation. When using the article “the,” please ensure that it is lower case unless it appears at the start of a sentence.

Logomark use

Use the Mellon Foundation logo for visual representation of support where permitted in accordance with the Mellon Foundation’s crediting guidelines.

• To access logo and wordmarks, visit Downloadable Assets.

The Mellon Foundation’s Downloadable Assets may not be altered.

As a general rule, the size and prominence of acknowledgment should be commensurate with level of funding provided by the Mellon Foundation relative to other sources of funding and support, or in alphabetical order.

When the grant period has expired, please remove all Foundation crediting from materials except those that state the period of support (e.g. Mellon Foundation, 2021-2022). 

For questions on crediting and logo usage, send an email to brand@mellon.org. Please allow ten business days for our review and response.

The Mellon Foundation’s approval is required on all press releases, media announcements, newsletter articles, and website content that recognize the Foundation for its support. Grantees are not required to issue a press release announcing a Mellon Foundation grant.

1. Press releases or articles may not be issued/published without Mellon’s prior written approval (email sufficing).

2. No announcement of a grant may be made and no press release may be issued to media until a grant has been approved and any documentation (e.g. grant agreement) has been fully executed with the Foundation.

3. Neither Mellon Foundation’s name nor its logo should appear at the top of the press release unless it is a joint release with the Foundation.

We invite grantees to foreground your work within the body of the press release rather than Mellon’s grant, and to use Mellon Foundation’s boilerplate description adjacent to grantee or other funder organizational descriptions at the end of the release.

For all press release questions, or to submit press materials for review, please send an email to your primary Program contact with copy (cc:) to media@mellon.org.  

Allow ten (10) business days for approval once you have submitted your release or article for our review.

For Project Support and Flexible Program Support grants only. Any naming of a project, program, position, or place after the Mellon Foundation (i.e., Mellon Fellowship, Mellon Foundation Hall), or naming of the Foundation on exhibition signage, donor walls, or the like, requires special approval from Mellon.

Please send an email to your primary Mellon Program contact or brand@mellon.org

The Mellon Foundation may be credited in publications that it has funded through project grants. Examples include scholarly research reports, commissioned studies, websites, data sets, and other publications for external audiences. 

If grantees wish to credit the Foundation, please include a disclaimer and accurate representation of the relationship to Mellon, i.e.

• This [material/publication/presentation/report] is supported by (or in part by) the Mellon Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect opinions or policies of the Mellon Foundation.

• This [material/publication/book/report] was prepared for the Mellon Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect opinions or policies of the Mellon Foundation.

The Foundation logo or name should appear if other funders of the publication are being credited, but should not appear as the only logo or name. 

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments may be included in an author’s note, forward, or another narrative section so long as they are factual, e.g.:

• Research was conducted using the library at the Mellon Foundation in New York City.

For Project Support and Flexible Program Support grants only. Hashtag or tagging @mellonfoundation is generally accepted to increase awareness regarding the specific project or program in whole, not for discrete activities within a project or program.

To make a request to collaborate on a post, please send an email to brand@mellon.org

Podcasts and Radio

For project-support grants, please credit Mellon in a way that is commensurate with other project funders. Sample scripts are provided here for pre-recorded segments:

• Short (:15) Support for this this program comes from the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. More at mellon dot o-r-g.

• Short (:15) [TITLE OF PROGRAM/PODCAST] receives funding from the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest private funder of the arts and humanities. More at mellon dot o-r-g.  

• Longer (:30) Support for this program comes from the Mellon Foundation, a charitable foundation and the nation’s largest private funder of the arts and humanities. Learn more about Mellon’s mission and explore the projects it supports in all 50 states and US territories at mellon dot org.

• Longer (:30) [TITLE OF PROGRAM/PODCAST] receives funding from the Mellon Foundation, a charitable foundation and the nation’s largest private funder of the arts and humanities. Learn more about Mellon’s mission and explore the projects it supports in all 50 states and US territories at mellon dot org.  

Television, film, or digital broadcasts

For project-support grants, please credit Mellon in a way that is commensurate with other project funders. This may include listing the name of the Foundation in closing credits or a dedicated on-screen card, which may include: 

• [TITLE] /This project is supported by The Mellon Foundation.  

• [LOGO] 

For operating grants, when the grant provides resources for a recipient and the television, film, or digital broadcast is a product of its mission, crediting should be commensurate with other general funders and may appear as follows:

• Funding for PRODUCING ORGANIZATION is provided by The Mellon Foundation.  

For crediting needs that differ from the examples shared above, please reach out to your primary program contact at Mellon.