FORD FOUNDATION
“The Ford Foundation believes that helping families save for the future is key to promoting economic and social mobility among all Americans, especially low-income households,” said Frank DeGiovanni, director of economic development at the Ford Foundation. “We have funded pilot children’s savings accounts programs throughout the country to determine their impact on families’ ability to save. As the largest of these projects, and the only one to provide accounts to newborns, SEED OK is the capstone of that work. We hope the knowledge gleaned from these efforts will lead to a national program that provides savings accounts for all newborns.”
– Frank DeGiovanni, director of economic development at the Ford Foundation
LUMINA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION
“To fully realize the benefits of 529 plans, we must pursue efforts such as SEED for Oklahoma Kids in all states to that ensure every family can take advantage of this powerful savings tool. The Oklahoma savings plan is especially generous, and making it accessible to people receiving public assistance can truly help lift people out of poverty by eliminating financial barriers to postsecondary education.”
– Jamie P. Merisotis, Lumina Foundation for Education’s president and chief executive officer
CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
“The Mott Foundation’s support for SEED for Oklahoma Kids demonstration reflects our long standing interest in expanding economic opportunities for working families. This demonstration will serve as a national model for how states can help families save early and often and, over time, build economic security.”
– Benita Melton, program officer for income security at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
About the SEED for Oklahoma Kids Funders:
FORD FOUNDATION
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.
LUMINA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access to and success in education beyond high school. Through grants for research, innovation, communication and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development, Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students, particularly underserved student groups such as minorities, first-generation college-goers, students from low-income families and working adults. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that a society can make in its people.
CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, established in 1926 in Flint, Michigan, by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. It supports nonprofit programs throughout the U.S. and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally. Grantmaking is focused in four programs: Civil Society, Environment, Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty. Besides Flint, offices are located in metropolitan Detroit, Johannesburg (South Africa) and London. The Foundation, with year-end assets of approximately $2.7 billion, made 527 grants totaling $108.7 million in 2007. For more information, visit Mott.org.