Joyce Foundation facts for kids
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| 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 |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Great Lakes region, U.S. |
| Method | Grants |
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Key people
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Ellen S. Alberding, president |
| Endowment | $1.1 billion (2019)[update] |
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Employees
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31 (2021) |
The Joyce Foundation is a special kind of organization called a private foundation. It's based in Chicago, Illinois. Think of it like a big savings account that gives money away to help good causes. In 2021, it had about $1.1 billion and gives out $50 million in grants (money) every year. Most of this money goes to groups in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.
A famous person, former U.S. President Barack Obama, was part of the foundation's board of directors from 1994 to 2002. The Joyce Foundation is well-known for supporting efforts to prevent gun violence.
History of the Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation was started in 1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean. She lived in Chicago. Her family's money came from the lumber business. Her father, David Joyce, was a successful lumber executive from Clinton, Iowa.
The family owned forests, sawmills (where logs are cut into wood), and places that sold building materials. These businesses were located across the Midwest, Louisiana, and Texas.
When the foundation first started, it didn't have a lot of money. But when Beatrice Joyce Kean passed away in 1972, she left nearly $100 million to the foundation. This made it much larger and able to help more people.
Many important people have led the foundation over the years. Charles U. Daly, who used to work for President John F. Kennedy, was president for eight years. Later, Deborah Leff, a lawyer who worked for civil rights, was president from 1992 to 1999. Ellen S. Alberding became the foundation's seventh president in 2002.
As mentioned, former U.S. President Barack Obama was on the foundation's board of directors from 1994 to 2002. By 2015, the Joyce Foundation had given out over $950 million in grants since it began.
What the Joyce Foundation Does
The Joyce Foundation says its main goal is to "improve quality of life, promote community vitality, and achieve a fair society." This means they want to make life better for everyone.
The foundation mostly focuses its efforts on the Great Lakes region. This area includes states like Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The foundation gives money to support many different areas:
- Protecting the Environment: They help keep the Great Lakes clean and healthy.
- Supporting Arts: They help different art groups and cultural programs.
- Saving Energy: They support ideas that help people use less energy.
- Improving Education: They work to make schools better and help teachers.
- Preventing Gun Violence: They fund research and programs to make communities safer by reducing easy access to firearms.
- Helping Kids Read: They support programs that help young children learn to read.
- Job Training: They help people get the skills they need for good jobs.
- Voting Rights: They also support efforts to make sure everyone can vote easily.
The Joyce Foundation is one of the few private foundations that looks at ideas for research about gun violence. Since 1993, the foundation has spent over $54 million on more than 100 grants. These grants support efforts to help prevent gun violence by making it harder for people to get firearms easily.
