Our Legacy

Lois and Dick (Richard) England were deeply committed to the DC region. They formed the foundation in 1990 as an extension of their personal commitment to philanthropy, and as the embodiment of the Jewish call to repair the world, Tikkun Olam. Their lifelong commitment to social justice, unwavering generosity, and bold philanthropic ideas shaped the legacy of the foundation and continue to inform its work now and in the future.

Our Values:

• Local Community – The England Family is proud to be 5th and 6th generation Washingtonians, and we honor the legacy of Lois and Richard England by giving back to our community and by investing in local solutions to local challenges.
• Stewardship – We are committed to using the foundation’s resources for mission advancement and hold ourselves to a high standard of accountability and measurable results. We equally value the different ways that organizations seek to achieve impact. We know that achievement can be measured by reach, but it can also be deep, and it can also be influence.
• Optimism – We believe in the good of people and invest in visionary ideas. Since our founding, we have invested in big ideas with outsized positive impact.
• Agility – We realize that our work must reflect the dynamic world we live in. We aim to be agile in response to the evolving needs of our community and the diverse perspectives of the people we work with. We are committed to listening, learning, evaluating, and adapting.
• Equal Partnership – Our partnership is a long-term promise to build genuine relationships based on transparency, trust, authentic engagement, and accountability. We strive to ensure that all people feel valued, welcomed, and empowered to work alongside us.

Our Strategic Priorities:

We provide funding to organizations whose mission and programs align with the England Family Foundation’s strategic goals.

• Economic Justice: Preserving people’s dignity and ensuring that poverty has no endurance.

  We believe that everyone should have equal opportunity to excel so that we can all benefit from a vibrant, dynamic economy. Extreme inequality creates barriers to access opportunities that are probative to this goal. In DC, economic inequity falls starkly across lines of race with white households holding 81 times the wealth of Black households and 22 times the wealth of Latinx families . If our vision, as a foundation, is for all individuals to fulfill their potential and participate in a thriving community, we feel it is imperative that we focus a portion of our grantmaking on strategies that create pathways out of poverty for DC families.

  Our economic justice grants focus on meeting the urgent needs of people in crises today, while scaffolding solutions to create generational wealth and financial security in the long run. Specifically, we fund organizations working in: Food Security, Housing Equity, Family Support Services and Financial Strength.

• Next Generation of Leaders: Preparing local youth to be a force for positive change.

  Our goal is to prepare the next generation to be leaders with vision and compassion. To achieve this, we partner with organizations that value youth’s experiences, present positive avenues for them to develop their passions, and create opportunities for youth to voice their perspectives.

  Understanding that a quality education is a critical pillar for lifelong success, the Foundation also aims to eliminate academic achievement gaps, especially for those students who face significant barriers to success. We support schools and non-profits that help students achieve through high school, and ultimately attend and persist through college.

• Representative Democracy: Celebrating diverse voices to shape a more just and multiracial democratic system.

  As a place-based funder focused on Washington, DC, the England Family Foundation upholds that DC’s ability to maintain home-rule and jurisdiction over its own constituents is critical to ensuring the wellbeing of its people.

  We trust in the power of the American democratic system. Its only limitation is the effective participation of all its people and the ability for institutions to respond to their needs, once heard. The Foundation makes grants with the goal of ensuring that all people can and know how to participate in their democracy, and that its systems are able to adapt to legitimate calls for reform.

• Special Initiative – Community Safety and Harm Reduction: In pursuit of a peaceful, healed and safe community, we are committing $1,000,000 over five years to end gun violence in DC.

  Too many tragedies result from gun violence, and it must stop. The England Family Foundation supports coordinated city-wide efforts to reduce gun violence in DC. Our goal is to ensure that every child grows up in a neighborhood free from violence and harm.