Key Facts
Key Information
About
The Colcom Foundation is a private philanthropic organization established in 1996 by Cordelia Scaife May, an heiress to the Mellon family fortune. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the foundation derives from May's substantial inheritance and focuses on environmental conservation, population stabilization, and limiting immigration to the United States. Since May's death in 2005, the foundation has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from assets exceeding $1 billion, operating as a grant-making entity without direct program implementation. It supports nonprofits aligned with its mission to address overpopulation and environmental degradation through policy advocacy, conservation efforts, and community development in southwestern Pennsylvania. Notable grantees include the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and its anti-immigration stance has drawn criticism for promoting nativist policies, though the foundation frames its work around sustainable population levels. Colcom maintains a low public profile but wields significant influence in shaping public policy debates on immigration and environment within conservative philanthropic networks.