The Links Foundation, Incorporated

The Links Foundation, Incorporated is the philanthropic arm of The Links, Incorporated, an organization of professional women of color located throughout the United States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The Foundation was established in 1979 to enhance and expand the philanthropic endeavors of The Links, Incorporated. The Links, Incorporated has a long tradition of promoting and engaging in educational, civic and inter-cultural activities in order to enrich the lives of members of the African-American community.

The Foundation provides grants to innovative programs that address problems to be solved, or opportunities to be seized, that are of regional, national or international significance. It has served The Links, Incorporated well as the conduit for grant support for special programs. Under Foundation guidelines, grants are made to support the five program facets of The Links, Incorporated which include Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services.

The Links Foundation, Incorporated has contributed more than $25 million to charitable causes since its founding. In 2006, at its 60th Anniversary National Assembly in Philadelphia, The Links Foundation, Incorporated named its third $1 million grantee – the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Other million-dollar grantees include the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

In recent years, The Links Foundation, Incorporated has made donations to such entities as: Habitat for Humanity, for the rebuilding of homes in Haiti; Africare, for the construction of The Links maternal waiting homes and the assemblage of Mama Kits; and, National Cares Mentoring Movement, for the advancement of mentoring opportunities across the nation. Through its 2012 Grants-in-Aid program, $100,000 in grants was awarded to four non-profits – Club Esteem, Melbourne, Fla.; Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, Kansas City, Kan.; Legacy Media Institute, Petersburg, Va.; and the National Dental Association, headquartered in Washington, DC.

The Foundation also accepts and distributes chapter grants to support innovative programs that provide creative responses to changing needs, in the general fields of health, education, social services, and cultural and international affairs, in communities of African descent. Since 2010, more than $500,000 has been awarded to chapters in support of programming in the areas of STEM education, childhood obesity, heart health awareness, and financial literacy.

The Foundation is a non-profit corporation operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.