Richard H. Driehaus Foundation

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation

Through their grants, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation seeks to improve the built environment, to enhance the city through the arts, to use investigative reporting to strengthen our democracy, and to ameliorate the effects of low wages.

Richard H. Driehaus, a successful investment advisor, made his first public philanthropic gesture in 1983 when he established his eponymous foundation. For the next decade, the Foundation made grants totaling $6,000,000. In 1992 a family board was appointed, an executive director was hired, and giving became more formal and focused. Today the Foundation's annual grantmaking program is $6,000,000; 25% of which is granted in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Foundation benefits individuals and communities by supporting the preservation and enhancement of the built and natural environments through historic preservation, encouragement of quality architectural and landscape design, and conserving open space. The Foundation also supports the performing and visual arts, investigative reporting and government accountability, and makes grants to organizations that provide opportunities for working families who remain poor.