There is no place like home for McDonnell Foundation

For generations, the James S. McDonnell Foundation has been a leader in global research support and philanthropy.

Its impact has reached all corners of the world since its creation in 1950 by James McDonnell, founder of the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. He made the foundation’s mission to improve quality of life by supporting advancements in complex areas of science.

The foundation has announced it will now focus all resources and expertise on St. Louis, according to Jason Purnell, JMF president.

“Our North Star is shared prosperity and quality of life in St. Louis,” said Purnell, who has led the foundation since Feb. 1, 2023.

“The [McDonnell] family decided to make this shift two years ago. We have spent the latter part of the past year developing our strategic plan. We have also talked with many local stakeholders.”

Purnell said the McDonnell Foundation’s community and civic support “is certainly not new.”

“What’s new is the foundation’s focus. Where is there needed investment where there has been disinvestment in the past?”

The new focus will be on places and people who have been “intentionally excluded from opportunity” including support of Black, brown and immigrant populations, Purnell explained. 

Quality of life improvement is a goal for low- to-mid income families in the city of St. Louis north and St. Louis County.

The foundation will be supporting local organizations through grant-making and impact investing. Impact investing expects less of a return on investments with a priority on greater community benefit.

The four “Areas of Focus” are “deeply interconnected, mutually reinforcing and offer a chance to build great momentum for collaborative, positive change,” according to the foundation.

Workforce – Supporting work that will build cradle-to-career workforce systems that support the attainment of thriving-wage quality jobs—supporting both the current generation and the next.  

· Strengthening high-quality early childcare and education to both prepare the future workforce and address barriers the current workforce is facing. 

· Enhancing wraparound support for students and job seekers to build awareness, readiness, and access to quality jobs. 

· Strengthening connections between job seekers, employers, and education and training organizations. 

Small and Midsize Businesses – Supporting efforts to help scale small and midsize businesses. 

· Increasing access to capital and additional support for small and midsize businesses. 

· Strengthening connections between small and midsize businesses, anchor institutions, financial institutions, and corporations to drive new business opportunities. 

Wealth Building – Supporting efforts to help individuals and communities build and protect wealth. 

· Supporting financial products and services that enable individuals and families to build wealth. 

· Building capacity within community-based organizations that support individuals and families to build wealth. 

· Attracting new investment to the region, including federal, state, national philanthropic, and other private capital. 

Civic Infrastructure – Striving to strengthen regional leadership capacity and civic infrastructure. 

· Strengthening coalition and collaboration capacity. 

· Supporting current and future leaders to impact policy and actions across sectors. 

· Enabling shared knowledge development and learning. (i.e., make sure we’re defining problems in a collaborative way so we can address and track success collaboratively, too.)

· Helping develop a shared narrative about our region and our collective destiny. 

If we’re going to get to real growth as a region, everyone has to be at the table,” said Purnell.

“We will not achieve growth and equity unless everyone is involved. It cannot happen with 20% to 30% out of the mainstream.”