Ninety years ago, Clark T. Durant and Maynard T. Hazen established the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving with a vision: To build a community-wide charitable endowment for the acceptance of bequests, gifts, and devises and, thus, to become a trustworthy, responsive, and steadfast charitable resource for the community.

Today, the Foundation has grown by leaps and bounds from a single $1,000 bequest to over $934 million! It has also awarded over $634 million to more than 2,000 grantees, all of which were made with the goal of improving the quality of life and welfare of residents in the region.

Its mission has changed through the years, too. The Foundation’s present mission is to put philanthropy into action for the creation of lasting solutions resulting in vibrant communities in the Greater Hartford region.

Its core values include leadership, responsiveness, inclusion, diversity, equity, and collaboration. By being a learning-focused and outcome-driven organization, it has achieved many positive benefits for the communities that it serves.