Mars Impact Fund Awards More Than $13M in New Grants to Advance Community Resilience, Science Pipelines and Companion Animal Wellbeing

• Six new partnerships with Elucid, Tanager, People's Action for National Integration (PANI), Pratham Education Foundation, National 4-H Council and Worldwide Veterinary Service advance the Mars Impact Fund's three strategic priorities.
• New investments across Côte d'Ivoire, India, the United States and Thailand will expand community health and economic resilience for cocoa-growing and mint-farming families, build pipelines for the next generation of scientists and drive last-mile rabies elimination.

MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars, Incorporated today announced the next phase of investments through the Mars Impact Fund, awarding more than $13M in grants across six strategic partnerships with Elucid, Tanager, Pratham Education Foundation, People's Action for National Integration (PANI), National 4-H Council and Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS). Spanning Côte d'Ivoire, India, the United States and Thailand, these multi-year grants directly advance the Fund's three core pillars: strengthening resilience of Mars sourcing communities, developing the next generation of scientists and improving companion animal wellbeing around the world.

"The Mars Impact Fund aims to develop long-term partnerships that deliver sustained impact over time," said Michelle Grogg, Executive Director of the Mars Impact Fund. "We are confident that these multi-year investments in Elucid, WVS, National 4-H, Tanager, Pratham Education Foundation and PANI will improve farmer livelihoods, increase opportunities for youth and improve the health of people and pets in our communities."

Strengthening Sourcing Community Resilience

Supported by a $2.07M grant over three years, plus an approximate $2M in matching funds from Gavi, the new partnership with Elucid will enable up to 12,750 cocoa-farming households in Côte d'Ivoire to access affordable healthcare by combining enrollment in the national health insurance scheme with complementary coverage for services and costs not fully covered by the public system. In parallel, the partnership will strengthen rural health systems through investments in clinic quality, mobile clinics and maternal and child health. Gavi's matching funds will expand vaccination and disease prevention programs to reach at least 200,000 community members.

In India, the Fund is contributing $5.6M to help build healthier, more resilient mint farming communities. A new partnership with Tanager will support 20,000 mint-farming families to increase their farm income through crops beyond mint such as potato, mustard and rice.

The Fund also plans to partner with Pratham Education Foundation to strengthen early childhood development and school readiness for 3,000 children in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. A complementary planned partnership with People's Action for National Integration (PANI) will combat child undernutrition and establish sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in rural schools.

These investments in India complement the Mars Shubh Mint program, which has engaged more than 24,000 farmers, helping more than double their mint incomes while reducing production costs by around 20%.

Growing the Next Generation of Scientists

In the U.S., the Fund committed $3M to National 4-H Council to help prepare the next generation of youth to be Beyond Ready for work and life. This initiative will engage and inspire up to 200,000 young people in exploring careers in food, agriculture and veterinary sciences through hands-on learning, leadership development and career-connected experiences. The funding will support innovation grants for 4-H programs in select communities across the country, immersive leadership events and dynamic digital career exploration tools. In addition, 60 teens will receive full scholarships to attend Ignite by 4-H, an immersive youth leadership event where they will build the skills, confidence, experiences and connections that prepare them for future careers.

Improving Companion Animal Wellbeing

Finally, the Fund is also investing $3M in Worldwide Veterinary Service to support final-mile rabies elimination in Thailand. Working alongside Thailand's government-led rabies elimination efforts, WVS will bring specialist veterinary expertise and targeted field support to help reach free-roaming and hard-to-reach dog populations that campaigns can struggle to reach, strengthen integrated rabies surveillance so outbreaks are detected early and build the capacity of veterinary and public health teams to sustain this progress, including through the WVS International Training Centre in Chiang Mai. Together, this will help protect millions of people and animals while strengthening and sustaining critical response capabilities within Thailand's national One Health systems.

These latest grants are built on the Mars Impact Fund's growing global portfolio of partnerships launched in 2026. Among them are a $1M grant to World Central Kitchen to support earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela, a €1.5M grant to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings to fund global fellowships for early-career researchers, a $3M grant to Save the Children to strengthen resilience across cocoa-growing communities in Indonesia and a $726,000 grant to Humane World for Animals to expand equitable veterinary care in India and Mexico.

For more information about the Mars Impact Fund, its priorities and active grant partnerships, please visit www.mars.com/mars-impact-fund.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. Based on combined Mars and Kellanova 2025 net sales, we are a $65bn+ family-owned business with 170,000 Associates, our diverse portfolio of leading pet care products and veterinary services serve pets all around the world and our quality snacking and food products delights millions of people every day. We produce some of the world's best-loved brands including ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, CESAR®, M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, EXTRA®, Pringles®, Cheez-It® and BEN'S ORIGINAL™. Our international networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™ and ANICURA™ deliver high quality veterinary care and ANTECH ™ offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  

About Mars Impact Fund

The Mars Impact Fund is the enterprise-level philanthropic entity of Mars, Incorporated, a global leader in snacking, pet care and food. Launched in February of 2026, the Mars Impact Fund was designed to accelerate meaningful and lasting impact in the communities where Mars operates. The Fund focuses on three key priorities: boosting sourcing community resilience, growing and diversifying the pipeline of scientists and improving companion animal wellbeing. For more information about the Mars Impact Fund, its priorities and active grant partnerships, please visit www.mars.com/mars-impact-fund.    

Contact: [email protected]