About M & T Foundation
M & T Foundation concentrates its giving in higher education legal scholarship and a small number of regionally focused community organizations. The vast majority of its dollars support University of Notre Dame’s constitutional law work, with a secondary emphasis on a San Diego–based nonprofit (The Phoenix). Grants are few, large, and targeted rather than broadly distributed across many causes.
Focus Areas
University-based Constitutional Law scholarship and programming (University of Notre Dame)Repeat institutional support for a single flagship higher-education partnerRegional community services in the San Diego area (The Phoenix)
Who They Fund
students and alumniformerly incarcerated individuals / re-entry residentsSan Diego / Southern California communitiesreligious institutions and faith communities (churches, monasteries)international exchange participants / global partners
About M & T Foundation
M & T Foundation’s clearest pattern is a sustained commitment to University of Notre Dame constitutional law work. The three largest recent awards in the file all went to that single university program: $1.1 million in 2024, $1 million in 2023, and $500,000 in 2025. That concentration makes the foundation’s higher-education legal scholarship support stand out from its smaller community grants. Beyond Notre Dame, the foundation keeps a second thread of funding in San Diego-area community work. The Phoenix received repeated support in 2023, 2024, and 2025, including a $125,000 project grant in 2025. Other grants show a selective mix of education, student support, and community services, including University of San Diego, Miracle Babies, and Teen Challenge International. The recent record also shows the foundation willing to back both institutional and project-specific needs. It has funded endowment support, general operating support, outreach events and team expansion, alumni and student commons projects, and house-rebuild or renovation work. The overall picture is of a foundation making targeted grants to a small set of organizations rather than distributing many small awards across a broad set of causes.
What M & T Foundation Funds
Higher education and legal scholarship anchor the foundation’s giving. In 2025, M & T Foundation gave $100,000 to University of San Diego for endowment support, while Notre Dame’s constitutional law program received $500,000 in 2025. Regional community services are another visible theme. The Phoenix, listed for the San Diego region, received $150,000 in 2023 and $125,000 in 2024, followed by another $125,000 project grant in 2025. The foundation also backed Miracle Babies in San Diego with $50,000 in 2025. A smaller set of grants supports faith-based, student, and service-oriented projects. Examples include $75,000 to The Evermode Institute for general support, $50,000 to Saint Pius X High School for an alumni and student commons project, and $25,000 to Teen Challenge International for support for Southern California.
How M & T Foundation Gives
M & T Foundation’s typical grant size is $25,000 at the 25th percentile and median, rising to $100,000 at the 75th percentile. The recent list includes several much larger awards, but most individual grants cluster at the lower end of that range. The pattern is selective rather than diffuse. The same recipients appear across multiple years, especially University of Notre Dame and The Phoenix, which points to recurring institutional support rather than one-time philanthropy. The foundation is not giving to individuals and is not using program-related investments. The active grantmaking profile also points away from open solicitation: the listed charitable grant programs do not accept unsolicited applications.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.5M
Total Assets
$22.6M
Total Revenue
$2.3M
Total Expenses
$2.1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $25K and $100K, with a median of $25K.
25th Percentile
$25K
Median
$25K
75th Percentile
$100K
Geographic Reach
National12 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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