History & Mission

Through the foresight and generosity of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge (daughter of William and Almira Rockefeller), the foundation bearing her name was created in 1974. Her will provided for the Trustees to set the policies and direction of the Foundation’s work.

For more than 30 years, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has nurtured people, ideas, and institutions which transcend self-interest and contribute to a sustainable human society and the environment which shelters it.

The Foundation works in three ways:

• by responding to imaginative proposals which fall within the declared areas and which promise to have impact, to be replicable, and to effect systemic change;
• by encouraging capacity-building and institutional development for the grantees through technical assistance workshops; and
• by developing initiatives shaped by close listening to practitioners and resource people in areas where the concentration of funds is likely to improve the quality of life.

The mission of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is to support and encourage those educational, cultural, social and environmental values that contribute to making our society more humane and our world more livable.