About the Doll Family Foundation

The Doll Family Foundation was created in 1993 from an inheritance that Henry C. Doll received from his father, Edward C. Doll. With the involvement of Henry’s wife, Mary, and his four children, the Foundation originally chose two areas in which to focus its grant-making activities: to help women get back on their feet after experiencing life altering difficulties and to foster the promotion of philanthropy. More recently, it added support of environmental policy initiatives as a third area of focus.

In the beginning, the Foundation made small grants of up to $7,000 to non-profit organizations that were either based solely in Cleveland, Ohio and/or were working with Cleveland organizations. Since its board is comprised of every member of the Doll family and since the family is now geographically dispersed, the Foundation’s grant-making currently includes the cities of Astoria, Oregon; Bozeman, Montana; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington in addition to Cleveland. Its maximum grant level is now generally at the $10,000 level.

In the years since 1993, with the consulting assistance of Strategy + Action/Philanthropy, under the leadership of lead advisor Jeff Glebocki, the Foundation has benefited from sound administrative and program assistance and has felt that its grants are making a difference in the communities that it serves. We have appreciated the opportunity to work with staff members of innovative non-profit agencies, to collaborate with other funders and to make the best use possible of our philanthropic dollars. We look forward to working together as a family not only to learn more about important issues and initiatives in our fields of interest but also to continue making important grants in those fields.