“This grantmaking milestone signifies the enthusiasm of North Texans for philanthropy as CFT enters a new decade,” says Dave Scullin, president and CEO of Communities Foundation of Texas. “We know the challenges facing our community are complex. Because no one organization can solve all the issues alone, CFT serves as a hub for philanthropy, convening those looking to make a positive impact in their community.”
Read the Dallas Morning news coverage of this milestone here.
CFT manages more than 1,000 charitable funds for individuals, families, businesses, nonprofits and other organizations. Addressing a diverse array of needs that have a direct impact on quality of life, CFT has worked on issues ranging from education, economic security, health, social services, disaster relief, racial equity, the arts and more.
Since reaching the $1 billion grantmaking mark in 2009, CFT has granted to 10,430 nonprofits. Almost 80% of the grants have benefitted the 20 counties of North Texas with the balance supporting grantees across Texas, the US and internationally.
Below is a breakdown of the latest $1 billion in grantmaking by issue area:
- Education: 26%
- Health & Scientific Research: 19%
- Other: 14%
- Religious Activities: 11%
- Housing & Human Services: 11%
- Arts & Culture: 9%
- Community Improvement: 6%
- Youth & Recreation: 4%
A thriving community does not exist without a thriving education system, so it’s no surprise that education ranks at the top of Communities Foundation of Texas’ areas of focus. Seeded in 2004 by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, CFT’s statewide education initiative, Educate Texas, has granted more than $80 million towards improving student outcomes across the state and has aligned more than $450 million in public and private investments to benefit over one million first-generation, low-income students across Texas. Throughout the years, CFT has continued to think bigger to improve our students’ and our state’s future. Hence, CFT’s Educate Texas efforts have expanded to enable educational leaders and policymakers to enhance Texas public and higher education systems.
Because a community won’t thrive without thriving families, CFT has focused on building the economic security of working families across North Texas. Since 2012, CFT has driven efforts to build the capacity of 75 local nonprofits through multiple learning cohorts like CFT’s Data-Driven Decision-Making Institute and Collin County Nonprofit Leadership Institute. Additionally, through the 16 agencies in CFT’s Working Families Success Network, 7,886 individuals have been helped along the path of economic security.
The $2 billion cumulative grantmaking also includes distributions from CFT’s North Texas Giving Day effort, one of the nation’s first and largest online communitywide giving events, benefitting 3,000 local nonprofits and enrolling 100,000 donors. Since 2009, North Texas Giving Day has become the nation’s single most powerful day of community-wide giving, cumulatively granting more than $290 million to over 3,000 nonprofits from more than 100,000 donors.
Another significant source of grantmaking from CFT is more than $200 million from CFT’s largest endowment, the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Fund, which was left to Communities Foundation of Texas upon Will Caruth’s death in 1990. Created to support innovative, high-impact solutions in and across the areas of education, health, and public safety, CFT acts as the custodian of the generous fund and directs its impact on issues where these target areas intersect.
More than 40% of CFT’s latest $1 billion in grantmaking comes from the 800 funds it manages for individuals, families and businesses. CFT and its fund holders have invested in many of the landmarks of our region. For example, the Meyerson Center, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Klyde Warren Park and Richardson’s Eisemann Center for Performing Arts were all significantly funded through CFT. Similarly, CFT provided a strong source of support for the newly reimagined Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum that opened this year.
CFT CEO Dave Scullin remarked on both the legacy and future upon reaching the historic $2 billion milestone in cumulative grantmaking.
