About Longwood Foundation
The Longwood Foundation concentrates almost all of its giving on sustaining and capital-supporting a signature public garden and related local community facilities. The foundation makes very large, mission-focused grants for operating support and capital/debt needs—primarily to Longwood Gardens—with additional targeted support for a community education building and early childhood programming housed there. Its giving is highly place-based and oriented toward cultural amenities and community infrastructure in the Wilmington/Delaware region.
Focus Areas
Longwood Gardens – core operating support and capital endowmentPublic botanical garden maintenance and program sustainabilityCommunity Education Building capital and debt service supportEarly childhood/early learning programs located in foundation-supported community facilities (e.g., YMCA in the Community Education Building)
Who They Fund
children and youth (including foster children and early learners)low-income and underserved Delaware residents / neighborhoodspeople experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness
About Longwood Foundation
Longwood Foundation Inc centers its giving on one place-defining institution: Longwood Gardens. In the recent grants list, the largest awards are repeated multimillion-dollar commitments to Longwood Gardens Inc for operating support and the Longwood Reimagined campaign, showing a sustained emphasis on the garden’s core operations and capital needs. That pattern extends to related local facilities as well. The foundation has backed the Community Education Building for debt service, and it has funded programming inside that building through the YMCA of Delaware’s early learning center. Beyond those anchor grants, Longwood Foundation Inc supports a broad set of Delaware nonprofits through large, catalytic awards tied to facility expansion, program growth, and organizational strengthening. Recipients include organizations serving children and families, education and workforce pathways, housing and shelter, public health, arts and culture, and community economic mobility. The scale of its recent grants is notably large, with many awards in the seven-figure range, but the pattern is less about broad dispersion than about concentrated support for local institutions and infrastructure in Wilmington and nearby Delaware communities.
What Longwood Foundation Funds
A major theme in the portfolio is early childhood and family support. Longwood Foundation Inc gave $2,000,000 to YMCA of Delaware for the early learning center in the Community Education Building, and $1,800,000 to Children & Families First Delaware Inc for the Nurse Family Partnership program. Education and workforce development also appear repeatedly: the foundation awarded $1,750,000 to Delaware State University Foundation for DSU WCHBS growth and strategic expansion, and $1,200,000 to Delaware Technical & Community College Educational Foundation for a culinary arts kitchen expansion. In K–12 and school-enrichment work, it supported Newark Charter School with $1,000,000 for an auditorium and Aspira of Delaware with $1,001,442 for an academy expansion project. Cultural and community infrastructure are another clear line of support, including $1,250,000 to Joshua M Freeman Foundation for Freeman Arts Pavilion.
How Longwood Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is substantial: the p25 is $107,500, the median is $250,000, and the p75 is $498,137. The recent grant list shows repeated awards to the same anchor institution across multiple years, especially Longwood Gardens Inc, which received major operating and campaign support in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The foundation is a regular funder, not a DAF, and it funds individuals. Its active grantmaking includes open, unsolicited competitive cycles for operating, program, and capital requests, plus a leadership cohort with a $10,000 capacity-building wallet. Grants are structured around catalytic support rather than routine small-dollar giving.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$111.3M
Total Assets
$967.5M
Total Revenue
$15.5M
Total Expenses
$39.4M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $108K and $498K, with a median of $250K.
25th Percentile
$108K
Median
$250K
75th Percentile
$498K
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
About 100% of grants go to recipients in DE.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
ELEUTHERE I DU PONT II
PRESIDENT (NON-VOTING/NON-TRUSTEE)
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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