Funding Areas

The Foundation has identified four areas on which to focus our efforts:

Quality of Life

The Foundation support efforts to make the Louisville region a community of choice for families and businesses. We give priority to projects that:
 
·         Strengthen the impact of core human services and cultural organizations and agencies in the community
·         Support efforts to improve and sustain quality neighborhoods and a thriving downtown
·         Support initiatives that strengthen the relationship between business and education to increase growth in human capital and jobs in higher wage, higher knowledge, and high technical areas
               

Education

The Foundation seeks to play a major role in fostering nationally pre-eminent higher education in Kentucky. 
 
·         The Foundation has established the Brown Fellows Program as a “one program on two campuses” initiative with Centre College and the University of Louisville to attract and challenge a diverse group of extraordinary Scholars to dream of, and to prepare to do, extraordinary things, and in doing so, to challenge Kentucky's higher education institutions to become more competitive and to continue to strive for excellence. 
 
The Foundation supports opportunities in early childhood education that raise Kentucky in national rankings and dramatically improve outcomes.
 
The Foundation supports broad education improvement initiatives that demonstrate the potential for high impact.
 

James Graham Brown Cancer Center

The Foundation supports as a strategic partner the James Graham Brown Cancer Center’s efforts to become a premier cancer research and clinical center in the United States. The Foundation committed $20 million over five years to be used to facilitate the growth necessary to recruit additional faculty, retain current faculty and build research infrastructure necessary for NCI designation.
 

Governance

The Foundation will be a leader in all aspects of foundation management, using best practices in fiduciary oversight, operations, grants management, and service to the field of philanthropy.