Advancing Justice & Opportunity
Public Welfare Foundation seeks to catalyze a transformative approach to justice in the United States that is community-led, restorative, and racially just by supporting the creation and implementation of an alternative vision of justice that is rooted in communities.
Our Grants
Since its founding, the Foundation has made over 5,700 grants totaling more than $700 million. With current assets of more than $620 million, Public Welfare Foundation looks for strategic points where its funds can make a significant difference. The Foundation focuses its grant making in some difficult, and often overlooked, social justice areas where it believes it can serve as a catalyst for reform in adult and youth justice.
To bolster grantees’ staying power, the Foundation often gives multi-year and general support grants. In its program areas, the Foundation clusters grants under targeted strategies to achieve longer term goals that can be sustained over time.
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Timeline
1947
PWF Incorporates
Public Welfare Foundation incorporates in the State of Texas.
1948
PWF Makes 1st Grant
Grant is for 28 sewing machines for an organization of Jamaican women so that children could be clothed and sent to school.
1949
PWF Gains Tax Exempt Status
Charles Marsh’s protégé, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, conveys the news that the foundation is officially tax exempt.
1951
PWF is Reincorporated
Public Welfare Foundation reincorporates as a nonprofit in the state of Delaware.
1964
Charles Marsh Dies
PWF Founder Charles Marsh Dies.
1982
Grantee Spotlight: PWF Supports Those With Incarcerated Loved Ones
Matthew 25:36 House helps families and friends of prisoners at Washington State Prison in a variety of ways in Monroe, Washington.
1983
Grantee Spotlight: PWF Invests in DC
The Family Place assists young, low-income, inner city parents and their children in Washington, DC.
1988
Grantee Spotlight: PWF Supports Alternatives to Incarceration
Associated Marine Institutes provides an alternative to incarceration for youth, including marine and earth sciences, seamanship, aquatics, physical education, ad academic, and vocational education programming.
1989
Grantee Spotlight: PWF Supports Investing in Reentry Services
The Linking Offenders and Neighborhoods of the Rehab Project in Ohio, a grantee of PWF, trains incarcerated women in construction skills, while providing housing renovation in the community.
1999
PWF Purchases the True Reformer Building
PWF hires architecture firm of Sorg & Associates designed a renovation to preserve the character of the building while adapting the building for use as the Foundation’s headquarters.
2018
PWF Launches Race, Redemption and Restoration Initiative
PWF launches a focus on Race, Redemption, and Restoration under the Special Opportunities program.
2019
PWF Announces New Strategic Framework
Public Welfare Foundation announces a deepened focus on Criminal and Youth Justice reforms.
The Historic True Reformer Building
The True Reformer Building was the first in the nation to be designed, financed, built, and owned by the African-American community after Reconstruction.Over the years, the building has housed numerous civic and cultural institutions. The legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington gave performances here.
The True Reformer Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The Public Welfare Foundation purchased it in 1999.
Today it operates as Public Welfare Foundation’s headquarters and a community hub to advance social good.
