The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (GDDF) today announced support for 69 groups in its 2024 spring/summer grant cycle. The Board of Directors has approved over $3.6 million in funding to organizations working in the Chicago region and the Lowcountry of South Carolina across the Foundation’s three program areas: Artistic Vitality, Broadening Narratives, and Land Conservation. In the Lowcountry, GDDF is supporting 16 organizations with more than $700,000 in funding.
The Foundation also has an additional round of grant funding at the end of the year.
GDDF continues to have a deep presence in our regions, fostering opportunities for impact, innovation, and collaboration. The Foundation is proud of the longstanding relationships it builds with grantee partners—fifty-six grants are for renewed support, while 13 new organizations are being welcomed to GDDF’s portfolio.
Forty-seven—nearly 70 percent—of this cycle’s grants are for multiyear general operating support.
“The Foundation is committed to trust-based practices and offering our partner-grantees steady, sustained support that recognizes their expertise in their fields and regions,” noted Executive Director Arnold Randall.
“We are proud to support this vibrant array of organizations that play such a vital role in their communities,” continued Randall. “Collectively, their work speaks to our humanity: the art that inspires us, the narratives that shape us, and the land that sustains us.”
Lowcountry of South Carolina
In the Lowcountry, GDDF is supporting 16 organizations with more than $700,000 in funding.
Artistic Vitality Program
$290,000 to 10 organizations throughout the Lowcountry.
The recipients are:
- Annex Dance Company
- The Flowertown Players
- Footlight Players
- Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
- Gibbes Museum of Art
- Long Bay Symphonic Society
- Native Island Business and Community Affairs Association/Gullah Celebration
- Palmetto City Ballet
- South Carolina Arts Alliance
- South of Broadway Theatre
From Gullah-Geechee artists to art museums to world-class musical ensembles, the arts are an integral part of the culture that makes the Lowcountry so unique Incredible professional artists are creating in communities throughout the Lowcountry, and GDDF supports a wide spectrum of organizations that help make that work possible and that reflect the vitality and diversity of this region.
Broadening Narratives Program
$127,500 to three organizations including one new group: Dorchester Heritage Center.
The returning organizations are:
South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development
The Village Group Broadening Narratives is a newly imagined approach to the work of collections. GDDF is working to ensure that those whose stories are being told through collections are included in the decisions about how those stories are told, with an emphasis on untold or incomplete or inaccurate stories. The Foundation wants to help balance subject-matter expertise with lived experience expertise, foster partnerships between smaller community-based organizations and large institutions, and encourage equity in resource sharing.
Land Conservation Program
$290,000 for two organizations plus one cross-region grant with Chicago.
The organizations are:
- Open Land Trust
- PeeDee Land Trust
- Trust for Public Land (jointly with Chicago)
The Foundation is energized by the success of this year’s Lowcountry Land Conservation Symposium, which brought together nearly 200 people to tackle the subject of community-focused conservation. GDDF is proud to support organizations that are working in partnership with communities to protect biodiverse landscapes, create green infrastructure, engage in cultural conservation, and more.
In addition to grantmaking, GDDF is committed to supporting our grantee partners in a variety of ways, including access to trainings and support for collaborations and convenings. The Foundation’s next round of grants will be made in November.
