The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Announces Changes to Funding Programs

The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Announces Changes to Funding Programs

11/13/2017

The Biddle Foundation refined the focus of its grantmaking to have greater impact, with changes taking effect in 2018. The arts and K-12 education will be the focus of competitive grantmaking.

 

The foundation will increase to $350,000 the total funding it awards through competitive grants to nonprofits in Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake counties. It will no longer make grants in other regions of North Carolina or in New York City.
 
MDBF’s Arts program supports a strong and thriving cultural sector in the Triangle. Grants focus on efforts that strengthen arts organizations, encourage collaboration, and nurture artistic talent.
 
The Student Success and Learning program will support efforts that provide innovative, creative, and effective approaches to teaching and learning and arts education projects that provide opportunities for students to participate directly and meaningfully in the arts. Both programs focus on underserved K-12 students.
 
MDBF is doubling to $10,000 the maximum size of its competitive grants, and will make fewer competitive grants than in the past. It also anticipates making a few larger grants, possibly over multiple years.
 
"We are a small foundation, the total amount of our grant funding is limited, and we believe we can have a more significant impact on critical needs in education and arts by focusing on the Triangle and by making fewer grants that are larger," says Mimi O'Brien, the foundation's executive director.
 
Biddle will continue to make grants to Duke University, which under the foundation's charter receives half its annual grantmaking, and several organizations with which it has long-standing relationships.
 
Details about the Foundation's new grantmaking focus and application process are available on its redesigned website at http://mdbf.org/

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