Georgia Pacific Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Georgia Pacific Foundation supports a broad range of causes including education, work and opportunity, housing, arts and culture, health, the environment and disaster relief. Funding prioritizes the state of Georgia and areas where the Georgia Pacific company maintains operations.
IP TAKE: Working broadly in its areas of interest, the Georgia Pacific company is an accessible source of funds for community-oriented organizations in the Southeast. The foundation accepts applications for funding on a rolling basis via its online portal.
The foundation predominately limits funding to the United States, with a significant portion of funding concentrated in the foundation’s home state of Georgia. This funder prioritizes communities where the Georgia Pacific company maintains operations.
PROFILE: The Georgia-Pacific Foundation was established in 1958 by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, a global manufacturer of paper goods and packaging and building materials. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the foundation aims to improve the lives of people in the communities where its parent company operates. It names four main funding initiatives: education, enrichment, environment and entrepreneurship. This funder maintains a sparse webpage, but tax filings suggest a strong commitment to education, with funding also going to organizations working in the areas of housing and homelessness, work and opportunity, arts and culture, environmental conservation and disaster relief.
Grants for K-12 Education
K-12 education is the Georgia Pacific Foundation’s largest area of giving. The foundation does not outline goals for its grantmaking in this field, but tax filings reveal interest in supporting public school districts, literacy, out-of-school learning opportunities, financial literacy, college readiness and environmental education. In Georgia, the foundation has supported Junior Achievement of Georgia, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Year Up Atlanta and the Morgan County Department of Education. Elsewhere in the U.S., the foundation has given to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ashley County, Arkansas; the Mississippi Children’s Museum; Logan Elm Board of Education in Ohio; Teach for America of Southern Louisiana; the Vancouver, Washington School District and PowerMyLearning, a New York-based computer literacy initiative.
Grants for Higher Education
The Georgia Pacific Foundation’s higher education funding tends to go to large public universities. Past grantees include the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia, the University of Arkansas, Savannah State University, Louisiana State University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
Georgia Pacific names entrepreneurship as an important source of community growth and a focus area for its grantmaking. Entrepreneurship funding has supported small business development as well as educational and vocational education programs that help people develop career and business skills. Past grantees in this area include the Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency, the Golden Isles Technical and Career Learning Center, the National Black MBA Association, the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council, the Sabine Area Career Center in Texas and vocational education programs at Jones County Junior College in Mississippi and Wayne Community College in North Carolina.
Grants for Housing and Homelessness
The Georgia Pacific Foundation invests in affordable housing and housing maintenance in areas where its parent company maintains operations. In Atlanta, the foundation has given to the Westside Future Fund, which works to maintain affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods. Another grantee, Build a Better Community of Vredenburgh, helps residents of a rural area in Alabama maintain and repair homes. And in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the foundation has funded the Community Rescue Mission, a Christian organization that provides shelter, case management and skills development for homeless and recently homeless individuals and families.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Arts and culture funding stems from Georgia Pacific’s enrichment initiative, which aims to improve the communities where employees live and work. In this area, the foundation works broadly, supporting a variety of performing arts, visual arts, historical preservation and outdoor recreational initiatives and venues. Past grantees include Atlanta’s Robert Woodruff Arts Center, the National Black Arts Festival, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the True Colors Theatre Company, the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, the Hammonds House Galleries and the Brewton Council on the Arts in Alabama.
Grants for Public Health
Although this funder does not name public health as a priority, some of its larger grants have funded healthcare organizations in recent years. The foundation funded the Grady Health System in Atlanta and supported the expansion of Monroe County Hospital in Monroeville, Alabama.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
The goal of Georgia Pacific’s environmental funding is to protect the environment by making sustainable everyday choices. Funding has prioritized land and forest conservation, educational programs and green building. In Georgia, the foundation has supported educational programs at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, land conservation programs spearheaded by the Georgia Conservancy. Funding has also gone to LifeCycle Building, which “captures building materials from the waste stream and directs them back into the community through reuse.” Other environmental grantees include Dovetail Partners, a consultancy on forest preservation, and environmental education programs at the Calapooia Watershed Council in Brownsville, Oregon.
Grants for Humanitarian and Disaster Relief
The Georgia Pacific Foundation uses its grantmaking dollars to respond to natural disasters through relief and rebuilding efforts in its geographic areas of priority. The foundation has supported many local chapters of the United Way and Habitat for Humanity, Virginia’s Big Island Emergency Crew, Inc., the Diboll Volunteer Fire Department and a fire prevention program run by the City of Lufkin, Texas.
Important Grant Details:
The Georgia Pacific Foundation’s grantmaking totals about $3 million a year. Grants are awarded in amounts up to $100,000, with an average grant size of about $7,500. A significant portion of its grants remain in Georgia and other states in the Southeast, but the foundation does not place geographic limitations on its grantmaking, choosing instead to prioritize areas where its parent company maintains operations. For information about Georgia Pacific’s past grantmaking, see the foundation’s recent tax filings.
This funder accepts applications on a rolling basis but encourages submission of applications before October 31. The foundation runs an online application submission system and posts guidelines on its website. General inquiries may be directed to foundation staff via email or telephone at 404-749-2754.
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