North Texas Community Foundation (NTCF; formerly known as the Community Foundation of Metropolitan Tarrant County) is a Texas-based grantmaking organization. Founded in 1981, the group began as a division of the United Way of Tarrant County before branching off into its own charitable organization in 1989. ¹ NTCF directs dozens of endowment funds that support a variety of causes such as public housing, support for child abuse victims, and land conservation initiatives. It also offers philanthropic consultation and financial management services. ²

Grantmaking

Toolbox Grants

Toolbox Grants are a 2014 initiative developed by North Texas Community Foundation to support the infrastructure needs of local nonprofits. The grants are provided on a three-year cycle; in 2023 NTCF distributed $275,300 from this project. Recipients included child abuse prevention group Safe Families for Children, single mother support group Justin’s Place, and the faith-based afterschool nonprofit A B Christian Learning Center. NTCF Toolbox Grants also fund the Texas branch of teacher placement organization Teach for America. ³

Fund to Advance Racial Equity (FARE)

In 2020, NTCF launched the Fund to Advance Racial Equity (FARE). In 2021, this project provided a grant to the City of Forth Worth Office of Police Oversight Monitor to fund two research interns examining policing policies and resident-officer mediation programs. That same year it also gave money to Refugee Services of Texas. In 2023, FARE donated to BarbaraCares for its mammogram awareness project, and to nonprofit BoardBuild which encourages recruitment of minorities to executive and corporate board positions. Other projects included an exhibit for the Forth Worth Museum of Science and History called The Bias Inside Us, and “racial equity impact programming” for the Fort Worth Opera’s 2023-2024 season. ⁴

Among other supporters, FARE receives funds from the Esch Family Charitable Fund. This initiative also funds the Civic Voices Fellowship, a program to train twenty “changemakers” in Tarrant County, Texas. ⁵

In July 2023, NTCF announced a $477,000 bump in new FARE grants, bringing the total funds distributed to over $1.8 million. ⁶

Scholarships

NTCF supports over a dozen scholarship funds for graduating seniors. Some of these awards, such as the Alyson Adams Scholarship, are available to any high school senior. Others, such as the Mary Lillian Blackstock Poetry Award or the Hughes Tarrant County Nursing Program Scholarship are more specified. For example, the James Earle Johnson is only available to graduates of Fort Worth’s Trimble High school who are pursuing studies in architecture. ⁷

NTCF also funds a scholarship for young men who have completed the H.O.P.E. Farm program, a Christian faith-based internship designed to mentor at-risk boys growing up in homes without a father figure. ⁸

WORTH

In 2015, NTCF spearheaded the WORTH Endowment Fund, an initiative designed to encourage philanthropic giving among young urban professionals in Texas. To join, donors must give at least $300, or $500 for couples, and NTCF provides matched-fund incentives to all donations. This program funds a single initiative each year; past recipients include equine therapy nonprofit S.T.E.P.S. with Horses and homelessness relief agency LegUP. ⁹

Animal Rescue and Land Conservation

In 2022, NTCF gave $373,300 toward land conservation and animal rescue programs. Recipients included the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) monarch butterfly conservation plan, which utilized Fort Worth volunteers for the planting of milkweed to facilitate butterflies’ migration. That same year, NTCF partnered with the University of North Texas Foundation in its plan to set aside 85 acres of “protected” prairie land near Lewisville Lake. ¹⁰

Grant funds were also issued to the Great Plains Restoration Council for its “Restoration Not Incarceration” initiative, a program which offers “work therapy in nature” to juvenile offenders in the hopes of reducing criminal recidivism and stimulating societal rehabilitation. ¹¹

People

Rose Bradshaw is president and CEO of North Texas Community Foundation. She is also the former COO of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and a former philanthropy consultant for Bradshaw Consulting. ¹²

1. “Our History.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/our-history/
2.  “Client Solutions.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023.  https://northtexascf.org/advisors/client-solutions/
3. “2023 Toolbox Grantees.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-ToolBox-Grantees.pdf
4. “Fund to Advance Racial Equity: 2023 Grantees.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-FARE-grantees.pdf
5. “Fund to Advance Racial Equity: 2023 Grantees.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-FARE-grantees.pdf
6.   “North Texas Community Foundation Awards $477,000 in Support of Racial Equity.” FortWorth. July 13, 2023. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://fwtx.com/news/north-texas-community-foundation-awards-477-000-in-support-o/.
7.  “Scholarships.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/nonprofits/scholarships/
8. “Our Programs.” HOPE Farm. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://hopefarmfw.org/programs/.
9. “Young Professionals Investing in Our Community.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://northtexascf.org/worth/
10.  “2022 Animal Welfare, Equine Therapy, and Land Conservation Grantees.” NTCF. Accessed July 17, 2023.  chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://northtexascf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-Animal-Welfare-Equine-Therapy-and-Land-Conservation-Grantees.pdf.
11. “Restoration Not Incarceration.” Great Plains Restoration Council. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://gprc.org/our-work/restoration-not-incarceration/#:~:text=Restoration%20Not%20Incarceration%E2%84%A2%20(RNI,of%20young%20adults%20and%20juveniles.
12. “Rose Bradshaw.” Linkedin. Accessed July 17, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-bradshaw-aa363350/.