The most important thing is to help others…help each other…
There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone else succeed.

John W. Sidgmore

Funding Priorities

In recognition that an impoverished environment limits the possibilities for people
to develop and thrive, we are particularly interested in funding organizations that…

IMPROVE

the quality of education and teacher training.

FURTHER

the advancement of knowledge in the field of medicine with a special emphasis on hearing and cardiology.

UTILIZE

entrepreneurial skills to explore and develop creative, scalable, and sustainable solutions to critical social problems.

PROVIDE

support and services to those in need in the Washington DC area.

Types of Grant Awards

Awards to organizations that have a clear, replicable plan for success,

measured sustainable results, and high approval ratings from charity

evaluator organizations, such as Charity Navigator.

Multi-year grants that can sustain a program or project.

DC Capital Fund Awards – Grants to organizations that provide support

and services to those in our nation’s capital and have been approved for

inclusion in the Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy.

*The SIDGMORE FAMILY FOUNDATION does not make grants to individuals,
national health organizations, government agencies, or political and public policy advocacy groups.

Representative Grants

Village Capital

Village Capital finds, trains, and funds entrepreneurs solving global problems.

The Unreasonable Institute

The Unreasonable Institute is an international accelerator & investor in high-impact entrepreneurs. We are providing support for the growth of the Institute as well as support and development of the Funders Boot Camp program.

Watsi

Watsi is the first global crowdfunding platform for healthcare, enabling anyone to donate as little as $5 to directly fund life-changing medical treatments for people in need.

Catalogue for Philanthropy of Greater Washington

Program support for The Catalogue, a nonprofit organization that amplifies the voices, extends the impact, and accelerates the success of the best community-based nonprofits in the Washington DC region.

The Foundation Center

Program support for The Foundation Center, the world’s leading source of information on philanthropy, fundraising, and grant programs.

Oxford Jam

Program support for OxfordJam, a three-day fringe event, running parallel to the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, creating a space for the nurturing of social economy and social finance projects the world over.

Venture Philanthropy Partners

Program support for VPP, a philanthropic investment organization that helps great leaders build strong, high-performing nonprofit institutions.

Room to Read

Support for the Girl’s Education program at Room To Read, the award-winning nonprofit organization for improving literacy and gender equality in education in the developing world.

Chatham Marconi Maritime Center

Endowment to the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center providing funds for teachers to develop STEM program for use in local schools.

Chatham Marconi Maritime Museum 240 x 260

Citizen Schools

Support of the mentorship program at Citizen Schools which partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for children in low-income communities across the country.

Keck School of Medicine of USC

A gift to Keck School of Medicine in support of research to further the understanding of the problems associated with inner ear hair cell death and hearing loss, as wells as the failure of hair cells to regenerate normally.

Johns Hopkins University Department of Otolaryngology

Support for research programs at the Johns Hopkins including development of the BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Device) and study to rebuild synaptic connection between hair cells and auditory nerve fibers in the inner ear.

Autism Speaks (formerly NAAR)

Funding for the research work of Autism Speaks (formerly NAAR) which is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism.

CCFA: Crohns & Colitis Foundation

Program support for the work of CCFA to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases.

826DC

826DC is dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

A Wider Circle

A Wider Circle turns empty apartments into fully furnished homes, enabling low- income children and adults to take the next steps in their journeys out of poverty.

Alternative House

The Alternative House transforms the lives of children and youth helping them stay safe, make positive decisions, and achieve educational success.

Apple Tree Institute for Education Innovation

Apple Tree is an innovative nonprofit that develops and provides proven early childhood education programs to help close the achievement gap before students enter kindergarten.

Arlington Free Clinic

Arlington Free Clinic provides high-quality medical care to low-income, uninsured Arlington County adults.

Beacon House

Beacon House provides tutoring, mentoring, cultural, athletic, recreational and nutritional programs for at-risk children, ages 5-18, who reside in and around the Edgewood Terrace community of Washington, DC.

Break the Cycle

Break the Cycle is the leading, national non-profit working to end teen dating violence and abuse.

Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC)

CFNC‘s mission is to provide caring, high-quality, free education and related services to at-risk children and their families in their own neighborhoods in order to prepare them for success in school and life.

College Tracks

College Tracks gives Montgomery County’s low-income, first-generation-to-college students the chance to go to college where they can succeed with enough financial aid and continued support to help them attain the degree they seek.

DC Campaign to End Teen Pregnancy

DC Campaign to End Teen Pregnancy works to reduce the city’s teen pregnancy rate in order to improve the lives and well-being of adolescents and families and improve the social and economic health of the city.

DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence

DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence provides education and training, individual and systems advocacy, conducts research and serves as a local and national resource against domestic violence.

DC Scores

DC SCORES builds teams through after-school programs for over 1,450 low-income DC youth at 42 schools by instilling self-expression, physical fitness, and a sense of community.

Education Pioneers

Education Pioneers attracts, prepares and advances top leaders and managers to accelerate excellence in education.

Food for Others

Food for Others, the largest distributor of free food directly to people in need in Northern Virginia, provides the assistance vitally needed by our unemployed and low-income neighbors.

Girls on the Run

Girls on the Run offers a unique, life-changing, after school program for 3rd through 8th grade girls that is designed to promote healthy habits and an active lifestyle.

Healthy Babies Project

Healthy Babies Project helps at-risk Washington, DC women and families have pregnancy support, develop parenting skills, and move out of the cycle of poverty.

Insight Memory Care Center

Insight Memory Care Center (IMCC), provides a wide range of services to people with Alzheimer’s disease and their families.

Language ETC

Since 1993, Language, Education, and Technology Center (Language ETC), a community-based program, has offered English and literacy training to low-income adult immigrants in the greater Washington area using volunteer teachers and tutors.

Literacy Council of Montgomery County

The Literacy Council of Montgomery County provides educational programs that strengthens language proficiency and builds life skills.

Manna Food Center

Manna Food Center strives to eliminate hunger in Montgomery County through food distribution, education, and advocacy.

Mentors Inc.

Mentors, Inc. provides mentoring support to public and charter high school students in Washington, DC and improves graduation rates and students’ outlook for the future.

Mobile Medical Care Montgomery County

Founded in 1968, MobileMed’s mission is to provide quality health care to the uninsured, low income, working poor and homeless in Montgomery County.

Neediest Kids

Neediest Kids provides thousands of low-income students across the D.C. Metro area with the basic essentials they need to get the education they deserve.

Opera International

Opera International inspires an appreciation of opera in young people, assists aspiring vocalists in preparation for operatic careers, and offers world-class productions at affordable prices.

Operation Homefront

Operation Homefront provides emergency services, including financial assistance to the families of our service members and wounded warriors.

Passion for Learning

Passion for Learning develops innovative partnerships between businesses, members of the Montgomery County community, and schools to enhance student learning in reading and writing as well as 21st century Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Phoenix Bikes

Phoenix Bikes provides a safe, nurturing and educational environment that reinforces teamwork, hard work, and entrepreneurship through bike maintenance and education programs.

Posse Foundation

Founded in 1989, Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes.

Rebuilding Together Washington DC

Rebuilding Together makes free home repairs for low-income homeowners, especially veterans, elderly, disabled, and families with children in our Nation’s Capital, Washington, DC. RTDC also repairs several community facilities each year.

Red Wiggler Community Farm

Red Wiggler Community Farm is a non-profit horticulture therapy and vocational training program for adults with developmental disabilities.

ReSET

ReSET partners working and retired scientists, engineers, and technicians with elementary school teachers to improve science motivation and literacy.

Safe Shores – DC Children’s Advocacy Center

Safe Shores – The DC Children’s Advocacy Center is a direct service nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and working directly with child victims of sexual and physical abuse in the District of Columbia.

Sarah’s Circle

Sarah’s Circle is a non-profit agency with a mission of serving women who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Save a Child’s Heart

Program support for Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries, regardless of nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation.

SCAN – Stop Child Abuse Now

SCAN eliminates the abuse and neglect of children through family services, education, and community partnerships.

Second Chances Employment Services

Second Chances Employment Services promotes financial security for at-risk women and their dependents.

Sixth & I

Sixth & I is a cultural convergence point housing impactful, entertaining, and thought-provoking programs open to the entire community.

Stone Soup Films

Helping nonprofits tell better stories through film. Stone Soup mobilizes professional talent to produce compelling pro bono films that support nonprofits in communicating more powerfully.

Strive DC

STR IVE DC helps chronically unemployed people in the Washington, DC area transform their lives through employment.

Teen and Young Adult Health Connection

Teen and Young Adult Health Connection provides teens and young adults with affordable, timely, and culturally competent direct clinical care and educational outreach services.

The Dwelling Place

The Dwelling Place provides housing opportunities and support services in Montgomery County for families experiencing homelessness, helping them to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency.

The Literacy Lab

The Literacy Lab provides low-income children individualized reading instruction to improve their literacy leading to greater success in schools and increased opportunities in life.

The Senior Connection

The Senior Connection links older adults to services and resources so they can live as independently as possible while remaining integral members of our community.

Urban Alliance

Urban Alliance empowers under-resourced youth to  aspire, work, and succeed through paid internships, formal training, and mentoring.

Yachad

Yachad brings communities together by preserving affordable homes and revitalizing neighborhoods throughout the District of Columbia and the greater metropolitan area. Yachad mobilizes skilled and unskilled volunteers, invests financial resources, and, through their work together, transforms people and properties.

Yellow Ribbon

The Yellow Ribbon Fund provides services and support to our injured service members and their families while they are recovering in DC area hospitals.

Georgetown Day School

Teacher Endowment Support at Georgetown Day School, a coeducational, progressive PK-12 day school in the Washington DC area committed to academic excellence, educational innovation, and social justice.

Higher Achievement

Support of the Higher Achievement After School Program to help with “closing the opportunity gap for middle school youth.”

Latino Student Fund

The Latino Student Fund provides opportunities for a strong academic foundation for PreK-12th grade students of Hispanic descent to promote higher education and professional leadership.

Norwood School

Support for the Teacher Training Institute, Educational Technology Program Development, and Teacher Education and Development at Norwood School, an independent, Coeducational K-8 private school in Bethesda, Md.

St. Francis Hospital

Support of research programs at St. Francis Hospital, New York State’s only specialty designated cardiac center offering one of the leading cardiac care programs in the nation.

Application Process

application

About Learn more about us

john

The Sidgmore Family Foundation honors the legacy of John W. Sidgmore
by taking a proactive approach to helping others succeed.

It is our desire to use our resources to find creative and innovative solutions so that people may achieve their full potential and become responsible, healthy and productive members of society.

Contact

Please address all correspondence, including letters of inquiry and full proposals, to:

M. Gelbwaks, Director
Sidgmore Family Foundation
9505 Persimmon Tree Road
Potomac, MD 20854

E-mail: marian.gelbwaks@SidgmoreFoundation.com