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About Wallace

Our mission is to foster equity and improvements in learning and enrichment for young people, and in the arts for everyone.
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OUR HISTORY

The Wallace Foundation stays true to the passions of our founders, DeWitt and Lila Wallace—the arts, school leadership, and youth development.  

View a timeline of our history >

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Impact Philanthropy

We carry out most of our grantmaking through initiatives in our three areas of interest. Our efforts have two goals: to help our grantees advance and to share insights from their work that can help their sectors advance as well.  

See our approach >

Working At Wallace

Guided by our mission, we strive to do excellent work in service to and with others.

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Learning drives everything we do. 

What we Value

Among our key values are a belief in equity, evidence, and partnership.

Equity

We believe equity means that fairness is embedded in the structures and practices of our society so that all people have the opportunity and supports they need to reach their full potential. What it takes to achieve equity varies from place to place, depending on local context and history.

Evidence

We believe in the power of evidence to drive positive change. "We say more only as we know more" is an expression we often use at Wallace to describe our approach to sharing insights from our work. We are committed as well to acknowledging the limitations of evidence.

Partnership  

We seek to provide benefits to our grantees and yield insights to improve policies and practices nationally in the arts, school leadership, and youth development. This means we form close partnerships with our grantees and work to understand their communities.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The work of Wallace’s staff and president is overseen by a board of directors. Among other things, the board is tasked with approving our strategies. 

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