Dallas Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Dallas Foundation funds a wide variety of nonprofit causes in the city of Dallas and Dallas County, especially early learning, social services, and healthcare.
IP TAKE: In general, this is an accessible and transparent funder with a straightforward application process for both its grants and scholarships. The bulk of funding has been going toward education, and nonprofits need to go through the Community Impact Fund for education requests.
PROFILE: Established in 1929, the Dallas Foundation is the oldest community foundation in Texas. It works with local donors to serve nonprofits throughout North Texas through donor-advised, designated, field-of-interest, agency endowment, scholarship, and community impact funds. There are at least 587 funds at the Dallas Foundation, most of which are donor-advised funds, with far fewer being field-of-interest funds. The foundation aims to “serve as a resource, leader, and catalyst for philanthropy by providing donors with flexible means of making gifts to charitable causes that enhance our community.” Major grantmaking areas of interest are early learning, social services, and healthcare.
The foundation emphasizes place-based philanthropy, which President and CEO Matthew Randazzo calls, “One of the most successful tools in [the foundation’s] tool kit.”
Grants for Early Child Education, Community Development, Racial Justice, Women and Girls, and Public Health and Access
One of the largest grantmaking emphases here is on education, and the foundation helped launch Bachman Lake Together, an organization focused on reversing the low rates of kindergarten readiness. The Dallas Foundation also established the Mary M. Jalonick Women’s Philanthropy Institute to further the interests of women donors. There are other funding opportunities that exist here too, such as the AWARE Fund for Alzheimer’s disease, the Hispanic 100 Fund, the Pegasus Prize, and the Racial Equity Fund.
Always in search of innovative approaches to addressing community needs, the Dallas Foundation accepts grant proposals from a wide variety of nonprofits in Dallas County. It makes grants for capital projects, capacity building, programs, and general operating support. It awards grants once per year from its field-of-interest funds, which mostly support critical needs, low-income children, disabled children, and the arts.
The funder lists past sample grantees in the various program areas on its website.
Important Grant Details
Most foundation grants are between $10,000 and $50,000. Grantmaking is focused on the Dallas region of Texas. The foundation does not typically support start-up organizations, annual fund campaigns, or programs that don’t serve Dallas County residents.
The Dallas Foundation accepts letters of inquiry in the spring and fall of each year. It requires organizations to wait three years after receiving a grant before applying for a new one. The funder uses an online portal to accept new letters of inquiry. Direct general questions to the staff at 214-741-9898 or via online form.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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