Mission

Our mission is to help expand artists’ access to resources by supporting organizations working to make creative expression, experimentation, public programming, and discourse accessible to all people, artists and non-artists alike. By supporting creative organizations and arts programming in diverse communities across the country, we hope to expand artistic practices of all kinds, deepen community engagement, further creative collaboration, and improve the quality of life of artists and all people.

We believe that equality, diversity, democracy, and environmental wellbeing are fundamental components of a healthy society and these tenants are what drive our work. We believe that self-expression and creative collaboration not only empower people to better understand themselves, but that art is a powerful tool for representing diverse voices, experiences, cultures, and opinions.

The Foundation’s grantmaking practices focus on funding nonprofit arts organizations of all types and sizes. The Foundation is interested in organizations and programming that similarly prioritize diversity, inclusiveness, community, and freedom of speech. We’re especially interested in organizations that utilize art and programming to engage diverse, marginalized, at-risk, or underserved communities of all kinds. We strive to help secure the longevity of creative organizations, their staff, creative practices, programming, and community resources, particularly in areas where gentrification and/or Covid-19 has forced the displacement of artists, nonprofit art spaces, and other marginalized peoples.

The Wilhelm Family Foundation is a continuation of the philanthropic spirit of our founder, Donald Wilhelm, who believed that art has the power to transform humanity through individual self-expression.

Board of Directors

Cascade Wilhelm
Director & Co-founder

Matthew O’Donnell
Secretary

Leland Evans
Treasurer

Photography by Cascade Wilhelm.
— Donald C. Wilhelm, Founder

Donald Wilhelm, and granddaughter Cascade, co-founded the Wilhelm Family Foundation in the years leading up to his death in 2013. Not just family, but inseparable friends, Donald and Cascade shared a lifelong passion for art and literature. Their mutual love of, and faith in, the power of creative expression are at the core of the Foundation’s philosophy and operations.