Doris Duke Foundation
The Doris Duke Foundation seeks to build a more creative, equitable, and sustainable future, working across three main domains: Arts & Culture; Nature; and Health & Well-being. The National Arts Program seeks to support the performing arts as a means of sparking public imagination to enhance the collective quality of life.
The Doris Duke Foundation uses a research-driven grantmaking process focused on identifying unmet needs and funding gaps within the fields it supports. Rather than relying primarily on open applications, the foundation typically develops targeted grant initiatives and awards funding through invited proposals, partnerships with service organizations, request-for-proposal competitions, and occasional mission-aligned opportunistic grants. When reviewing projects, the foundation considers factors such as alignment with its mission, long-term impact potential, organizational capacity, and opportunities to leverage additional resources. DDF also places strong emphasis on ongoing evaluation, using site visits, progress reports, initiative reviews, and external field assessments to measure effectiveness and refine future funding strategies over time.