Jessie Ball duPpont Fund
OVERVIEW: The Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s grantmaking areas of interest include affordable housing, higher education, racial justice, civic engagement and leadership development.
IP TAKE: This funder works mainly with the more than 300 organizations and schools that its foundress supported during her lifetime. Many recipients operate in the states of Florida, Virginia and Delaware. The Jessie Ball duPont Foundation does not accept applications for funding. This is not the most accessible funder nor is it particularly inclusive despite its grantmaking for racial equity. This foundation has worked in the past to maintain properties that memorialize the Confederacy. A great funder to know for the religious giving it conducts in the communities it serves.
PROFILE: Born in 1884, Jessie Ball duPont was a teacher and a successful investor in stocks and real estate. At the age of 37, she married the industrialist Alfred I. duPont, who was 20 years her senior. She became involved in her husband’s business, serving as president of the family-owned Florida National Bank in the 1930s. During her lifetime, she was involved in the maintenance and preservation of several historical properties that were owned by her family, including the plantation of Robert E. Lee.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund was endowed by her estate in 1970 and aims to “to expand access and create opportunity by investing in people, organizations, and communities that were important to Jessie Ball duPont.” Based in Jacksonville, Florida, the fund works mainly with a corps of over 300 non-profit organizations, schools and religious groups that duPont supported with grants during her lifetime. The fund works in the areas of housing, higher education, racial justice and equity and civic engagement and democracy through its four funding initiatives: a sense of place, equitable access to opportunities, impact investing and The Jessie, which organizes grantmaking for the downtown area of Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to Jacksonville, the fund names Wilmington, Delaware; the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of Virginia; and Port St. Joe, Florida as its “core communities,” although funding is not strictly limited to these places. A significant portion of the fund’s philanthropy is conducted through Christian religious organizations and churches.
Grants for Housing and Homelessness
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund invests in the development and maintenance of affordable housing via its sense of place initiative. The program prioritizes low-income communities, communities of color and other marginalized populations and aims to involve individuals and families who reside in these areas in decisions that affect their neighborhoods. The program also aims to nurture cohesive communities through “a sense of place” that involves comfort, safety and pride in one’s local surroundings. The program also supports temporary shelters for homeless families and sources of transitional housing. Past housing grantees include New York City’s Bowery Mission, the United Way of Delaware, North Carolina’s Old Salem Museum and Gardens and the Highland View Church of God in Port St. Joe, Florida, which used funding to help its community rebuild after hurricane Michael in 2018.
Grants for Higher Education
The fund’s equitable access to opportunities program names higher education as a main area of focus. Specific areas of interest include programs that increase college access, programs that increase the retention and graduation rates of first-generation and low-income college students and programs that aim to increase the diversity of faculty and board members at college and universities. Grants generally support a select group of 42 public and private colleges and universities that duPont supported during her lifetime. Hollins University and Edward Waters College both received funding for student retention initiatives, and Sewanee University has received support for its diversity programs. Other past higher education grantees include the University of Florida, the University of Virginia, Bluefield College, Georgetown University, the University of Richmond and Wake Forest University, among others.
Grants for Racial Justice and Equity
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s equitable access to opportunities program names as one of its main goals “assisting organizations in eliminating unconscious bias by conducting internal audits of policies, procedures and practices and supporting the implementation of recommended changes.” While some of this funding goes to institutions of higher education, nonprofits working in the areas of diversity and racial justice have also received grants. Past grantees include New York’s Osborne Association, which offers vocational training and job placement services to formerly incarcerated individuals, and the Opportunity Center of Wilmington, Delaware, which supports “communities that welcome, value and support the full diversity of their members.”
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The fund invests in civic engagement and democracy through its sense of place initiative. Goals of this program include leadership development and support for programs that increase individual and organizational capacity for civic participation. Some of duPont’s higher education recipients have used funding for leadership and civics programs, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, Richmond University and Kentucky’s Berea College. Other grantees include a cultural rights program run by the Apva Preservation in Virginia, a consumer protection program at the Historical Society of Delaware and a youth organizing program at St. Margaret’s School in Tappahannock, Virginia.
Other Opportunities
In recent years, the Jessie Ball duPont has demonstrated responsiveness to community needs. It has provided hurricane and disaster relief funding to organizations in Florida and North Carolina, and in 2020, the fund expanded its budget to support initiatives for those disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in its areas of geographic priority.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s impact investing initiative has supported programs that provide low-cost loans to companies that provide social benefit, environmental conservation projects, affordable housing initiatives and small businesses owned by women and/or people of color.
Important Grant Details:
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund’s grants range anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000, with an average grant size of about $25,000. The generally works with those organizations, schools and churches that duPont supported during her lifetime, but other organizations have occasionally received support. Jacksonville, Florida; Port St. Joe, Florida; Wilmington, Delaware and the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of Virginia are geographic areas of priority. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the fund’s annual reports and tax filings.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund does not accept unsolicited applications for funding. The fund may be contacted via email, online form or telephone at 904-353-0890.
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