ABOUT USThe Stewart R. Mott Foundation is an innovative foundation focused on small, strategic grant-making since 1968. The Foundation takes pride in turning modest investments into lasting systemic change.
The Foundation's philanthropic mission originally focused on changing public policy to address the issues of nuclear armament and overpopulation. Since then, funding interests have grown to include exposing government corruption and the protection of constitutional rights.
The Foundation supports organizations active in the four following areas:
· Peace, Arms Control and Foreign Policy
· Population Issues and Reproductive Rights
· Government Reform and Public Policy
· Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Recognizing that small grants can build capacity and create fundraising leverage for new organizations, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation provided initial support for many of our grantee organizations, often before larger and more mainstream funding sources were willing to do so. Since the beginning, the Trustees and associates have chosen to continue giving sustaining support to current grantees on an annual, renewal basis.
The Stewart R. Mott Foundation is based in Washington, DC.
Stewart R. Mott, Founder
Stewart Rawlings Mott was born in Flint, Michigan on December 4, 1937. His parents were Charles Stewart and Ruth Rawlings Mott. In 1926 Stewart's father, General Motors' largest stockholder, established the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation aimed at strengthening community life in Flint, Michigan. The remainder of his wealth was distributed among his children in the form of trusts, Stewart being one of the six.
Stewart's philanthropic career began with the family foundation. When his ideas for reordering the priorities of the foundation were rebuked, he struck out on his own to fund his personal philanthropic position: population control and arms control. "At age 18 I realized that two problems confront planet earth that dwarf and aggravate all conventional problems: namely the threat of nuclear war and the continuing worldwide population explosion. Coming to grips with these realities, I decided to dedicate my life to help find solutions to these two problems through public service in philanthropy and politics."
Stewart lived most of his life in New York, where he married Kappy Wells in 1979. The couple had one child, Samuel Apple Axle Mott.
Stewart shared his time between his home in New York and the Mott family home in Bermuda.
Conrad Martin, Executive Director
Conrad Martin is the Executive Director of the Stewart R. Mott Foundation. Additionally, Mr. Martin serves as the Executive Director of the Fund for Constitutional Government and chairs the Board of Directors of HALT - - Americans for Legal Reform. Mr. Martin also serves on the Boards of the Center for International Policy, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and the American Progressive Caucus Foundation. Mr. Martin served in the Peace Corps from 1981 to 1983 as a Forage Agronomist on the island of Barbados. He is a graduate of Utah State University where he studied Agronomy and International Agricultural Development with a focus in Agricultural Economics. Born in Mexico, Mr. Martin is fluent in conversational Spanish and has traveled widely in South America, Central America, Europe and the Near East.
Anne B. Zill, Program Associate
Anne Zill has been a foundation program associate with the Stewart Mott Foundation for more than 30 years. She is the Director of the University of New England Gallery of Art on the Portland College Campus, and has curated two exhibitions at the United Nations for UNIFEM & the International Museum of Women in 2000 & 2001(www.imow.org). She is also the Director of the Women’s Center for Ethics in Action at UNE. Earlier she was the news director and producer with National Educational Radio (NPR’s predecessor). She has published articles in The Washington Post, Barnard College Alumnae Magazine, Washingtonian, and The Maine Times, among other publications. She is a graduate of Barnard College with a Master’s Degree in broadcast journalism from American University where her mentor was Edward Bliss, Edward R. Murrow’s longtime CBS editor.
Katie Aulwes, Grants & Office Manager
Katie Aulwes joined the staff of the Stewart R. Mott Foundation as the Grants and Office Manager in May of 2007. Additionally, Katie serves as the Secretary of the Fund for Constitutional Government and is the Treasurer of the Board for City at Peace DC. She moved to Washington, DC in the summer of 2003 to an Associate position with Mulhauser & Associates, a small progressive management and public affairs consulting firm. In 2006, Katie worked as the Program Manager with J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism, an off-shoot of the University of Maryland Journalism Department dedicated to innovative news experiments and new technologies in journalism. Katie was born in central Wisconsin, and received a BA in English and a Certificate in Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002.
