Get to know us
Global Citizenship is both
attitude and action.
We promote and enable global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges.
Our Mission and what we do
The Melton Foundation is an international non-profit organization registered as 501(c)(3) in the US, with legal subsidiaries in Chile, Ghana, and Germany.
Established in 1991, the Melton Foundation is one of the very early proponents of Global Citizenship. We offer experiential learning opportunities based on our Global Citizenship Development Framework. We firmly believe that today’s challenges expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved when working together across boundaries, acting on our shared humanity.
The Melton Foundations runs two Fellowship Programs. The Global Citizenship Learning Program targets young university students, and the Global Solvers Accelerator & Co-Lab targets young Changemakers working in SDG-related Projects. Upon successfully completing the programs, the participants become part of our lifelong Senior Fellow Network. Our fellows take tangible actions, creating local impact with a global mindset.
In our Program Area, Global Citizenship Development, we bundle all activities that are not connected to the Fellowship. We are the main organizers of the African SDG Innovation Marathon and the Global Citizenship Challenge, and we offer Global Citizenship Workshops to educational institutions and companies.
In our 6 Hubs in New Orleans, USA; Temuco, Chile; Jena, Germany; Accra, Ghana; Bengaluru, India; and Hangzhou, China, we work with universities and local organizations to promote Global Citizenship and create tangible impact projects in local communities.
Our Founders
William (Bill) Melton
Founder of Melton Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Global Internet Ventures
Patricia Smith
Melton Foundation Co-Founder
Founding Story
The Melton Foundation journey
1991: Entrepreneur and visionary William (Bill) Melton and peace activist Patricia Smith create the Melton Foundation.
The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Pinochet regime in Chile, and the economic and social transformations taking place in China and India in the 1990s, all influenced by young people, profoundly inspired Bill Melton and Patricia Smith. Bill Melton, who founded VeriFone and other pioneering companies, was convinced that deliberately bringing together talented young people from fast-changing yet culturally disparate environments would create a network capable of positive global impact.
From this early vision, the Foundation grew into a thriving network of more than 500 Melton Fellows who, through their lifetime Fellowship, form deep and lasting relationships across boundaries that once seemed impermeable.
Today, the Melton Foundation is the only global Fellowship program specifically designed to develop global citizens and integrate them into a lifelong global network.