Named after | The Joyce family |
---|---|
Formation | 1948 |
Founder | Beatrice Joyce Kean |
Type | Non-operating private foundation |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) organization |
Focus | Education, environment, employment, culture, democracy, and gun-violence prevention [1] |
Location | |
Area served | Great Lakes region, U.S. |
Method | Grants |
Key people | Ellen S. Alberding, president |
Endowment | $1.1 billion (2019) [update] [2] |
Employees | 31 (2021) [3] |
Website | joycefdn |
The Joyce Foundation is a non-operating private foundation based in Chicago, Illinois. As of 2021, it had assets of approximately $1.1 billion and distributes $50 million in grants per year and primarily funds organizations in the Great Lakes region. [4]
Former U.S. President Barack Obama served on the foundation's board of directors from 1994 through 2002. The Joyce Foundation is notable for its support of gun control measures. [5]
The Joyce Foundation was established in 1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean of Chicago. [6] She was the sole heir of David Joyce, a lumber executive and industrialist from Clinton, Iowa. The family wealth came from the lumber industry, including family-owned timberlands, plywood and saw mills, and wholesale and retail building material distribution facilities located in the Midwest, Louisiana, and Texas. The Foundation was modestly endowed until Kean's death in 1972, when she bequeathed it nearly $100 million. [7] [8]
Charles U. Daly, a former aide to President John F. Kennedy, served as president of the Foundation for eight years. He was succeeded by Craig Kennedy in 1986. [7] Deborah Leff, a trial lawyer for the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, served as president of the organization from 1992 to 1999, and was succeeded by Paula DiPerna, named president in 1999. [9] DiPerna was succeeded in 2002 by Ellen S. Alberding, the organization's seventh president. [10] Former U.S. President Barack Obama served on the foundation's board of directors from 1994 through 2002. [5]
As of 2015, the Joyce Foundation has awarded over $950 million in grants since its establishment. [11]
The Joyce Foundation describes its mission as "working to improve quality of life, promote community vitality, and achieve a fair society". [11]
The Joyce Foundation's primary focus is on the Great Lakes region, where its funding efforts are focused on "environmental preservation, diverse art, energy efficiency, teacher quality, gun violence prevention, early literacy, and workforce development". [4] Foundation programs invest in public education, economic opportunity, and the environment. Other programs promote voting rights and arts organizations. [12]
The Joyce Foundation is one of the few private foundations that considers gun-related research proposals. [13] Joyce distributes grants designed to prevent gun violence by reducing the easy accessibility of firearms. [13] [14] Since 1993, the Joyce Foundation spent over $54 million on over 100 grants that favor gun control. [14]
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and provides approximately $260 million annually in grants and impact investments. It is based in Chicago, and in 2014 it was the 12th-largest private foundation in the United States. It has awarded more than US$7.92 billion since its first grants in 1978.
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As a member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is an American non-profit charitable foundation, established in 1944 by hotel entrepreneur Conrad Hilton. It remained relatively small until his death on January 3, 1979, when it was named the principal beneficiary of his estate. In 2007, Conrad's son, Barron Hilton announced that he would leave about 97% of his fortune to a charitable remainder unitrust which names the foundation as the remainder beneficiary.
The Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States. Founded in 1979 by former president Nan Aron, AFJ monitors federal judicial appointments. AFJ represents a coalition of 100 politically liberal groups that have an interest in the federal judiciary. The Alliance for Justice presents a modern liberal viewpoint on legal issues.
John Joseph Ricketts is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder, former CEO and former chairman of TD Ameritrade. He has an estimated net worth of US$4.1 billion as of 2024, according to Forbes. He has pursued a variety of other business ventures including DNAinfo.com, High Plains Bison, The Lodge at Jackson Fork, and The American Film Company. Ricketts also engages in philanthropy through The Ricketts Art Foundation, Opportunity Education Foundation, The Cloisters on the Platte Foundation, and The Ricketts Conservation Foundation. He and his family have been the owners of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team since October 2009.
The Kresge Foundation is a philanthropic private foundation headquartered in Troy, Michigan, United States. The foundation works to expand opportunities in America's cities through grantmaking and investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development efforts. The Kresge Foundation is one of wealthiest charitable organizations in the world, with an endowment of $4.3 billion as of June 2021.
Valerie June Jarrett is an American businesswoman and former government official serving as the chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation since 2021. She was the longest-serving senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama. She was assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, overseeing the office of the same name, and chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Before that, she was the chief executive officer of The Habitat Company and served as a co-chair of the Obama–Biden Transition Project.
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) was a Chicago public school reform project from 1995 to 2001 that worked with half of Chicago's public schools and was funded by a $49.2 million, 2-to-1 matching challenge grant over five years from the Annenberg Foundation. The grant was contingent on being matched by $49.2 million in private donations and $49.2 million in public money. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was one of 18 locally designed Annenberg Challenge project sites that received $387 million over five years as part of Walter Annenberg's gift of $500 million over five years to support public school reform. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge helped create a successor organization, the Chicago Public Education Fund (CPEF), committing $2 million in June 1998 as the first donor to Chicago's first community foundation for education.
The Woods Fund of Chicago is a private independent foundation in Chicago, whose goal is to increase opportunities for less-advantaged people and communities in the Chicago metropolitan area, including the opportunity to shape decisions affecting them.
Desirée Glapion Rogers is an American corporate executive, former White House Social Secretary for President Barack Obama's office and former chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC). As of 2019, Rogers is the CEO of Black Opal, a cosmetics company.
The Almanac of American Politics (2008) rated Barack Obama's overall social policies in 2006 as more conservative than 21% of the Senate, and more liberal than 77% of the Senate.
Paula DiPerna is a writer and frequent media and conference speaker on a variety of subjects. She has served as President of the Joyce Foundation, as well as Vice President for Recruitment and Public Policy at the Chicago Climate Exchange, which pioneered emissions trading and environmental markets worldwide, as well as President of CCX International. Prior to these positions, she served as writer and Vice President for International Affairs for the Cousteau Society, whose President was explorer and filmmaker, Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
Organizing for Action (OFA) was a nonprofit organization and community organizing project that advocated for the agenda of former U.S. President Barack Obama. The organization was officially non-partisan, but its agenda and policies were strongly allied with the Democratic Party. It was the successor of Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and of Organizing for America, which itself succeeded Obama's 2008 campaign.
Fred Eychaner is an American businessman and philanthropist.
Martin Hughes Nesbitt is an American businessman and public figure. Nesbit is co-CEO of the Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Nesbitt is on the boards of directors of publicly traded companies CenterPoint Energy, Norfolk Southern Corporation, and American Airlines Group. Nesbitt was the founder and former CEO of The Parking Spot, an airport parking company. He was on the board of the Chicago Housing Authority.
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The center will also include community and conference facilities and will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation. Construction on the 19.3 acre campus began in 2021, the tower topped out in mid-2024, and the center to expected to open in the first half of 2026.
Robert Blackwell Jr. is a Chicago-based American businessman and “a savvy and successful entrepreneur” according to the Los Angeles Times. He is the founder and CEO of EKI-Digital, a technology consulting firm. He is the CEO of Killerspin, a manufacturer of table tennis equipment that hosts internationally televised tournaments. Blackwell is also a former employer of then-state Senator Barack Obama, as well as a political supporter and personal friend of Obama.
The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, and operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.
Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW) is a nonprofit grantmaking organization that focuses on creating opportunities and resources for women in the Chicago area. Many Chicago based organizations such as South Side Giving Circle and LBTQ Giving Council further help women that face violence, poverty, and discrimination using the resources from CFW. CFW receives donations from individuals and corporations, grants from other organizations, the MacArthur Foundation, and partners, The Eleanor Neal foundation, to invest in organizations providing services to Chicago area women in need.
Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is a private American charitable foundation that provides funding for healthcare and health-related initiatives in the U.S. state of New York, aimed at low-income and underserved communities. It is the largest health foundation focused only on New York.