Grants from Mercator

Description

1) Objective

Stiftung Mercator is a European foundation. It promotes understanding between people of different cultures, stands up for a united Europe and helps establish the social prerequisites for peaceful coexistence. All submitted grant applications should contribute to the achievement of the following objectives:

• (1) Europe: they want to strengthen cohesion within the EU and through international understanding to contribute to the proper functioning of its relationships with key countries.
• (2) Participation and cohesion: they want to strengthen cohesion in our society, combat discrimination and ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to access education and participate in society.
• (3) Climate Action: reduce the human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases included in the Kyoto Protocol by 40 percent in Germany by 2020 and by at least 80 percent by 2050;
• (4) Digital Society: they want digital technologies in Germany and Europe to be further developed and used in accordance with democratic rights and values.

2) Eligibility

Stiftung Mercator is only permitted to support institutions and organizations that are formally recognized as non-profit-making or subject to public law with headquarters in Germany. These include for example universities, charitable associations and NGOs. Organizations with headquarters abroad are only eligible for funding if they meet all the requirements of German non-profit law.

3) Location

They focus on China, Turkey and Europe (as well as some worldwide interventions).

4) Budget

There is neither a lower nor an upper financial limit for project funding. Depending on their objectives and approaches, the projects approved by Mercator are based on grants of a few thousand up to tens of millions of euros. Annually the distribute around €60 million in grants with an average grant size of €500,000. For the concept note only the grant amount is needed. For a full proposal they provide a budget template.

5) Application

They employ a two-stage application process. Please initially submit only a draft application proposal containing the following information: (1) Applicant (name, job title, institution, address, phone number, e-mail), (2) Project title, (3) Brief project description (1,000 to 3,000 characters), (4) Explanation of the extent to which the project meets Mercator’s funding criteria and (5) Grant amount requested from Mercator. The grant application can be submitted to Mercator at any time at info(a)stiftung-mercator.de or to the relevant project manager.