The Leakey Foundation

The Leakey Foundation promotes a multidisciplinary approach to exploring human origins. We award more than $800,000 annually in field and laboratory grants for vital new research and long-term projects. We give special encouragement to early career scientists asking new questions and seeking innovative ways to answer these questions about human evolution. Like venture capitalists, The Foundation understands that the greatest rewards come from taking the greatest risks. Dr. Louis S. B. Leakey was one of the 20th century’s great anthropologists and a tireless promoter of science education and public outreach. During Dr. Leakey’s travels to the United States in the 1960′s to lecture and raise money for his research, he met a group of enthusiastic individuals who were intellectually curious about human origins. Inspired by Dr. Leakey and his ideas, they started a collective to promote a multidisciplinary approach to exploring human origins research. In 1968, they formed The Leakey Foundation to support Louis and Mary Leakey’s fieldwork and the groundbreaking research of young scientists such as Jane Goodall, Don Johanson, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas. In its first decade of existence, The Leakey Foundation provided funding many of the seminal studies that inform our understanding of human prehistory. Today The Leakey Foundation continues to support the significant studies of researchers such as Zeresenay Alemseged, Jill Pruetz, Dan Lieberman, Frederick Grine, Sileshi Semaw, and many more. Many of today’s prominent human origins researchers got their start with a grant from The Foundation. Education and public outreach played a large part in the formation of The Foundation. What began as a way to support Louis and Mary Leakey’s research has expanded over the years to include numerous programs. For over four decades, the Annual Speaker Series on Human Origins has provided opportunities to learn first-hand about cutting edge research from leading scientists in the field. In recent years, The Foundation has broadened its reach by developing new programs such as the Origin Stories Podcast, our YouTube channel, and a large online and social media presence.