F. M. Kirby Foundation
MORRISTOWN May 12, 2021
Following a recent meeting of the Board of Directors, the F. M. Kirby Foundation announces 87 grants totaling $7.7 million were made in the first four months of 2021 to nonprofit organizations working to foster self-reliance and create strong, healthy communities throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, as well as national nonprofits largely based in Washington D.C. and New York City.
Early 2021 grantmaking includes grants in support of COVID-19 relief, as well as increased contributions to nonprofit organizations in the arts and humanities, education, environment, health and medicine, human services, public policy, and religion. As part of its Diversity and Justice Initiative, the Foundation has invested $1.8 million during the first four months of 2021 in support for current and new grantee partners led by people of color or directly serving communities of color. Most of these grants will provide general operating support, giving these organizations flexibility to meet immediate and shifting needs.
“The mission of this Foundation is to invest in opportunities that foster self-reliance or otherwise create strong, healthy communities,” stated Justin Kiczek, Executive Vice President. “Our grants within the Diversity and Justice Initiative reflect the belief that strong and healthy communities are inclusive and equitable. Over the past year, in the face of incredible challenges, our grantee partners have led the way in finding new and bold ways to create stronger communities. The first four months of 2021 provided us several opportunities to make extraordinarily impactful investments.”
One of these opportunities includes a $550,000 grant towards the Weavers Grove Campaign at Habitat for Humanity in Orange County, NC. Habitat for Humanity partners with families to create better, healthier, more financially stable lives, and Weavers Grove is a precedent-setting, mixed-income development designed to encourage interaction in a diverse, closely knit community. This development will create what research shows are economic and social benefits for the entire Chapel Hill region and offers a replicable national model.
Other grants within the Foundation’s Diversity and Justice Initiative include a $270,000 grant toward the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ (including support towards a new arts education and community center); a $250,000 grant toward United Way of the Greater Triangle in Durham, NC (including support for the Anti-Racism Community Fund); and a $180,000 grant toward Wakeman Boys and Girls Club in Fairfield, CT.
About the F. M. Kirby Foundation:
The F. M. Kirby Foundation is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey. Endowed in 1931 by Fred Morgan Kirby, one of the founders of the F.W. Woolworth Company, it was designed to continue in perpetuity through generations of the family. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded nearly $750 million in grants. Five Kirby family members, currently spanning two generations, serve on the Board, as well as two non-family directors.