Our Commitment to Fairness and Courtesy

The Foundation is committed to ensuring that grant-seekers, grantees, and others of the public have access to clear and up-to-date information about the Foundation and its programs, and are treated with fairness and professional courtesy. To this end we are committed to providing:

• Understandable, updated descriptions of grantmaking goals and strategies
• Clear procedures for submitting a grant request to the Foundation
• Prompt and courteous responses to all inquiries
• Fair and expeditious consideration of grant requests
• Clear policies and procedures for submitting grant reports
• A named contact at MacArthur for applicants or grantees

If you feel that you have not been treated with fairness and professional courtesy at any time, you are invited to bring your concern to the pertinent staff member, the vice president in charge of the program or area, or to the president. Alternatively, a senior staff person has been designated to receive and address concerns about our process. He is Richard J. Kaplan, Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Grants Management, who can be reached at (312) 726-8000 or concerns@macfound.org.

Richard Kaplan will ensure that the matter is understood and addressed, where appropriate, by relevant Foundation staff and will report back to the concerned person. If asked, he will keep confidential the name and organization of the person submitting the feedback.  Please note that Richard Kaplan’s role does not extend to providing a second venue for the appeal of decisions about grant proposals. It is the program staff, including program officers, directors, vice presidents, and the president, who decide the substantive merit of proposed projects, and it is the program staff who decide whether to reconsider a proposal, once declined.

We hope this additional way of registering concerns about our adherence to professional standards will be useful.