The W. K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, has announced a 25 percent increase in its 2004 grantmaking and a 19 percent increase in its assets, which now total $6.8 billion, up from $5.7 billion in 2003.

In 2004, the foundation's program and grant expenditures in its four primary areas of interest — youth and education, health, food systems and rural development, and philanthropy and voluntarism — totaled $219.7 million. In addition, the foundation awarded nearly $9.4 million in grants to nonprofits and programs in the Battle Creek area, up from $7 million in 2003. In terms of geographic distribution, 81 percent of its grants in 2004 were made in the United States, 10 percent went to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 9 percent were awarded organizations working in southern Africa.

Foundation officials credited the vision of its founder, breakfast cereal pioneer W.K. Kellogg, for its continuing success. "He wanted to help people help themselves — to apply knowledge that solved real problems," said foundation president and CEO William C. Richardson. "W.K. Kellogg lived by that value, and as the Kellogg Foundation commemorates its 75th anniversary, this same value continues to guide the organization's work and mission."

To learn more about the foundation and its work, see: http://www.wkkf.org/AnnualReport/.