Mission

It is our mission to support our customers, colleagues and communities by helping them achieve their aspirations and helping their communities thrive. This shapes our work as a responsible corporate citizen. We deliver high-impact funding and initiatives that support people, businesses and non-profit partners so that together, we can make a meaningful difference in the world.

Eager to Learn Program

The Eager to Learn (ETL) program allows us to partner with organizations that are designing, improving, continuing, or implementing programs geared toward closing the achievement gap. Organizations should be innovative and flexible in shepherding students to understand their options for a bright future. We partner with organizations and individuals seeking to form bonds within the communities they serve to enable the greatest success for their programs.

Our Foundation will support organizations implementing small-group programs so that students can attain optimum outcomes and get the attention and answers they deserve. Programs should consist of small groups of no more than ten at a time but as close to one-on-one as possible. We believe intensive programs are necessary to raise the average college entrance exam test scores for underserved or marginalized youth.

As a Foundation, our goal is to provide the funds necessary to bring the best career readiness counselors and test prep teachers, tutors, materials, and environment to students who would otherwise struggle to navigate and be successful in the college entrance system or their chosen career path. We want to eliminate the affordability factor for underprivileged and at-risk students where costly guidance and test prep are always barriers to achieving their goals. Also, we want to support and encourage the counseling and mentoring process required to navigate college entrance exams and beyond.

Program Goal

Our Eager to Learn program was created to provide college test prep assistance and college career counseling to vulnerable populations. This program will ensure that students from every socioeconomic background have access to the highest quality SAT and ACT prep materials. We want students and young adults to be at the forefront of information available to them from knowledgeable career counselors. We formed the ETL program to partner with organizations poised to provide these services or who are already working to raise ACT and SAT scores or counsel kids on a bright future without the need to attend college. We want to empower students by providing them with a fair and equal opportunity to get into the best colleges and universities and position them to be offered scholarships and tuition packages by raising their scores. If a student’s path does not include college, then we want them to have access to knowledge about trade school careers.

Why Education?

We have chosen education because we believe that it is the best means to empower people to get better jobs, to become more independent and to participate more fully in our society.

Our Grantmaking Strategy

We fund scholarships and other programs, which serve people in financial need. The Foundation’s programs are meant to help people who, through no fault of their own, do not enjoy the advantages of the affluent. Grantmaking is focused on organizations and institutions that serve Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities and economically disadvantaged people.

Economically Disadvantaged Students

Our purpose is to help economically disadvantaged students pursue and achieve success in education so that they can obtain meaningful employment. Our programs to serve that purpose are focused on scholarships.

The Foundation has developed a broad spectrum of scholarship programs. Most of them are leveraged by matching funds (sometimes as much as 4 to 1) and, where available, government grants. Some programs seek to reach students in middle or high school on the theory that preparation and mentoring are necessary if these students are to succeed at the post -secondary level. Others are straight scholarship programs at the university level.

The Foundation’s university and college scholarships to students in financial need are offered at Berklee College of Music, Palm Beach Atlantic University, South Florida University, University of Florida, and University of West Florida. The Foundation also provides scholarship for dependents of UPS employees who attend college or university in Florida.

The Foundation has funded scholarships and endowment building at the state (community) college level and has recently entered into an innovative project with the University of Central Florida and 4 state colleges in the DirectConnect partnership, which allows graduates from those state colleges to go directly to UCF and obtain scholarship support.

Examples of programs that seek to reach middle or high school students are the Johnson Take Stock program in the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, and Providence St. Mel School in Chicago, Illinois. Both of these seek to engage disadvantaged students with a mentoring and scholarship program aimed at helping them to graduate from high school and attend postsecondary institutions.

People with Disabilities

The Foundation makes grants to organizations that educate, mentor or otherwise support students with disabilities. It funds scholarships for students with disabilities at each campus of the State University System of Florida as well as schools throughout the United States and Canada that specifically focus on those populations. The Foundation also supports programs that focus on employment for people with disabilities.

Since the early 1990s the Foundation has funded scholarships for students with disabilities at each State University System of Florida campus and has developed close ties with the disability service offices at each of the 12 campuses. The Foundation also provides scholarships for students with disabilities at Gallaudet University. As in other areas of its programing, the Foundation supports early education, which is especially important for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and blind students. Since inception, the Foundation has made an annual grant to Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and in recent years it has made grants to Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech and Perkins School for the Blind.

The Foundation makes grants to organizations that educate, mentor or otherwise support students with learning differences. Examples of these are Landmark East School, Mount Allison University and Landmark College.

The Foundation also focuses on employment for people with disabilities. Even with good educational qualifications, people with disabilities still have difficulty entering the work force. Therefore the Foundation has developed a portfolio of grants to transition-oriented programs that are designed to help people with disabilities obtain traction in the workplace. These grants are riskier than scholarships but, when they work, often have great social impact. They also resonate with the Foundation’s desire to identify niche areas which may have been overlooked by other educational funders.

JSF Grant Making Strategy

JSF makes grants to organizations that help people overcome barriers to education and employment. Addressing these barriers enables them to graduate and find good jobs, thereby contributing to and enriching their communities.

JSF assists people indirectly by making grants to schools, universities, and non-profits, and funds initiatives such as scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and internships. Grants are focused on three areas: individuals with disabilities, individuals with financial need, and Indigenous peoples.

What We Fund

We view our grantees as partners and work with them to develop sustainable proposals that will catalyze change and growth in their organization and in the individuals served. Grantee partners are usually required to leverage Foundation grants by obtaining matching funds from other sources. The amount of matching money varies according to the circumstances and is negotiated with the grantee partner in each case.

The Wawa Foundation provides financial grants on a local, regional and national level ensuring that our commitment extends from the local communities Wawa serves to the regional footprint Wawa occupies in the mid-Atlantic and Florida. Only registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations operating in Wawa’s six-state area are eligible to apply. Organizations must fall into The Wawa Foundation’s three key areas of focus: Health, Hunger and Everyday Heroes.

Wawa Local Connection Grants

Financial grants less than $2,500 are available to local non-profit organizations. After submitting an online inquiry, you should hear back from a representative from The Wawa Foundation within 4 weeks. Local connection grant inquiries are considered on an ongoing basis while budgeted funds last. Once the budget is reached, further inquiries will be declined for the current year and encouraged to re-apply for the following year.

Areas of Focus

The Wawa Foundation is committed to Building Stronger Communities by championing life-saving research and care for people in need, leading hunger relief efforts and supporting the heroes making a difference every day.

Health

The Wawa Foundation will provide funding to organizations committed to saving and improving lives in the communities Wawa serves. Specifically, The Wawa Foundation will support programs dedicated to Championing Life-saving Research & Care for People in Need by:

• Providing grants to hospitals with a focus on pediatric institutions
• Funding research
• Supporting care and comfort Initiatives

Wawa’s founding family, the Wood family, began the culture of giving back to its communities by supporting the growth and expansion of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia® and Riddle Memorial Hospital in the 1960s. Wawa leadership has continued the practice of serving and helping institutions that serve their communities.

Hunger

The Wawa Foundation will play a leading role in hunger relief in the communities Wawa serves. To achieve this, we will support programs that enable us to Lead Hunger Relief Efforts by:

• Providing food donations to local pantries daily through Wawa Share
• Improving access to food through financial grants
• Enabling Feeding America Food Banks to reach more communities through annual in-store campaigns

Standing up in the fight against hunger drives us each and every day. Wawa’s origins as a dairy and establishment as a food retailer compel us to continue this fight…and win.

Heroes

The Wawa Foundation is committed to Supporting the Heroes Making a Difference Every Day by:

• Showing appreciation and care to our military, veterans, first responders and other heroes in our local communities 
• Enhancing the education and mentoring of at-risk youth in grades K-12.
• Supporting heroes through crisis response, blood drives, and volunteering

Wawa is committed to being there when our communities need us the most, so it’s natural for us to lend a helping hand to those who serve and protect and who inspire our youth or enrich our education system.

The Wawa Foundation provides financial grants on a local, regional and national level ensuring that our commitment extends from the local communities Wawa serves to the regional footprint Wawa occupies in the mid-Atlantic and Florida. Only registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations operating in Wawa’s six-state area are eligible to apply. Organizations must fall into The Wawa Foundation’s three key areas of focus: Health, Hunger and Everyday Heroes. To learn more, review our Criteria for Success.

Wawa Foundation Financial Grants

Our submission windows for grants over $2,500 will be the months of January, April, July and October. Qualified organizations can submit grant requests and Letters of Inquiry during those timeframes. Requests will be reviewed and organizations will receive a response before the next grant submission window opens.

Areas of Focus

Health

The Wawa Foundation will provide funding to organizations committed to saving and improving lives in the communities Wawa serves. Specifically, The Wawa Foundation will support organizations dedicated to Championing Life-saving Research & Care for People in Need by:

• Providing grants to hospitals with a focus on pediatric institutions
• Funding research
• Supporting care and comfort Initiatives

Hunger

The Wawa Foundation will play a leading role in hunger relief in the communities Wawa serves. To achieve this, we will support programs that enable us to Lead Hunger Relief Efforts by:

• Providing food donations to local pantries daily through Wawa Share
• Improving access to food through financial grants
• Enabling Feeding America Food Banks to reach more communities through annual in-store campaigns

Heroes

The Wawa Foundation is committed to Supporting the Heroes Making a Difference Every Day by:

• Showing appreciation and care to our military, veterans, first responders and other heroes in our local communities
• Enhancing the education and mentoring of at-risk youth in grades K-12.
• Supporting heroes through crisis response, blood drives, and volunteering

Competitive Grants

There’s something powerful about community charity. When channeled, the gifts of many residents can actively meet the most pressing needs of the community, whatever those needs are today, and whatever they may be tomorrow. By offering a competitive grantmaking process, we are able to glean valuable knowledge about our community and its ever-changing needs.

Categories

The Community Foundation welcomes and encourages grant applications that address one or more of the following broad categories:

Animals:

• We value healthy bio-diverse life and ecosystems, and address the ethical treatment of animals, threatened species, habitat conservation and connectivity, invasive species management, among other programs.

Arts & Culture

• Art, music, and everything that makes our lives more vibrant and rich.
  • We support symphonies, exhibitions, theater, human connection and appreciation of diverse cultures and art forms, and deepen community-based arts education for children and adults.

Community Capacity:

• The social good sector keeps our community healthy and whole.
  • We help nonprofits with strategic planning, board development, financial management, outcome evaluation, fundraising, marketing, and organizational restructuring and mergers/, purchase of office equipment and software programs so they can thrive.

Education:

• Promote social, emotional and cognitive development of young children, including programs that support and educate parents and efforts that engage volunteers, expand academic support; mentoring and recreational programs for children and youth, particularly to close the achievement gap; broaden workplace, career and postsecondary experiences and opportunities for youth; improve adult literacy, skill development, education and workforce training

Environment:

• Support stewardship, appreciation, and protection of outdoor spaces and wildlife – on land and in water.

Opportunity & Empowerment:

• Meeting basic human needs, including food, shelter and access to health care. Improve residents’ ability to meet local affordability challenges by helping them secure affordable, stable housing, recover from financial crisis, and/or increase earning potential.
• Programs reaching vulnerable communities.
• Activities that maximize the functioning of special needs populations in mainstream society; that protect the public (crime and delinquency prevention, legal administration, legal services); firefighting and police activities, and programs of community centers.

Health & Wellness:

• Improve community-based health and wellness; activities that improve and promote health outcomes; general and rehabilitative health services; mental health; crisis intervention; associations or services associated with specific diseases, disorders, and medical disciplines.

Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Grant

The purpose of the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc., is to provide funding for programs and projects designed to improve, preserve or restore the health and healthcare of the people in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The Foundation is proud to provide grants that contribute to the well-being of our community, touch future generations, and inspire others to make their communities—and their world—a better place.  

Community Grants

In addition to its three Signature Programs—School Health Initiative, Department of Human Genetics, and Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute—the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation supports programs and projects of community-based organizations as well as scholarships for nursing and medical students.

More that 400 Grants to local organizations have helped create and strengthen programs to help children fighting cancer and other diseases; provide dental, hearing, and vision care for needy families; institute mentoring, therapy, education, and other critical programs for children, adults, veterans, and the elderly.

Since becoming a grant-making organization in 1992, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation has given over 400 grants to community organizations totaling more than $12.6 million to conduct projects or programs related to the health needs of the citizens of Miami-Dade County. The Foundation also provides scholarships to medical and nursing students at local colleges and universities.

Our Funding Priorities

• Projects that target direct medical care.
• Health-related projects that assist children and the economically disadvantaged.
• Projects that promote health education, prevention, and early detection of disease.

About Us

Established in 1967, The Miami Foundation is the foundation for people who are passionate about Miami. The Miami Foundation is focused on building a stronger Miami forever.  Over the last 50 years we have invested more than half a billion dollars into our community, and we house more than $427 million in assets focused on strengthening Greater Miami.

We’ve worked hard to understand Greater Miami and what makes this unique community tick. We’ve learned that the desire to make our city a better place to live rests in every Miamian. The Miami Foundation connects that passion with efforts to enhance quality of life for everyone who calls Miami home through:

• Civic Leadership: Stepping up to shine a light on important community issues, and informing and inspiring leaders to incite action toward solutions.
• Community Investment: Purposefully guiding Fundholder resources to invest in the people and organizations who drive social change in Miami.
• Philanthropy: Stewarding a diverse portfolio of charitable investments and providing individualized philanthropic services, allowing people to make a positive impact through their giving.

Safe Communities Program

The Safe Communities Program strives to ensure safety and opportunity for all Greater Miami residents. We do this by investing in education and economic mobility, health services to overcome substance dependence, and collective action to improve community safety. The Fund is particularly focused on supporting survivors of human trafficking, gun violence, and other crimes as well as people who were previously involved in the justice system.

The Miami Foundation collaborates with over 1,000 fundholders that seek to invest in the Greater Miami community. Among those, we manage two field of interest funds set up with the State Attorney’s Office for the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida. To effectively invest these community resources, the Safe Communities Program was established as one comprehensive grant program in 2021. The program will continue to pursue the Funds’ shared mission to ensure Greater Miami is a safe community that offers opportunities for all residents.

What We Fund

The Safe Communities Program supports nonprofit work in five categories. The descriptions below are intended only to provide guidance and do not exclude other potential approaches. Proposals in each category are considered equally.

Eligible organizations may submit only one application in only one category.

• Crime Prevention and Deterrence
  • Build a safe community that offers opportunity for all people by activating residents to improve community safety as well as investing in economic and educational mobility to develop alternatives to illicit activity, particularly for people who were previously incarcerated or involved in the justice system.
  • This may include job training or placement programs as well as educational programs about illicit substances to prevent impaired driving.
• Human Trafficking
  • Support minors or adults who are survivors of human trafficking through high quality services such as health care, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, housing, immigration services or other critical needs.
• Substance Dependence Services
  • Guide people to overcome substance dependence or misuse by providing wraparound services that may include substance abuse counseling and treatment, mental health services, or support strategies to develop personal resilience.
• Survivor Assistance
  • Help survivors and their loved ones overcome the financial, health, or other challenges they face as a result of being victims of gun violence or other crimes.
  • This may include education assistance.
• Youth Development
  • Prepare youth to successfully reach their full potential in academics, career, and life by supporting youth whose life experiences or environments put them at risk for becoming involved in crime or violence.
  • This may include mentoring, educational support, employment and career preparation, or personal development.