Mission:
To support and encourage those educational, cultural, social, and environmental values that contribute to making our society more humane and our world more livable.

Background:
Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge was the daughter of William and Almira Rockefeller, and the niece of John D. Rockefeller Sr. She married Marcellus Hartley Dodge, scion of the Remington Arms Company, and they lived on an estate in Madison, New Jersey, where she pursued an interest in raising and showing dogs. Dodge was a philanthropist until her death in 1973, and the foundation bearing her name was created in 1974. Her will provided for the trustees to set the policies and direction of the foundation's work, but it also contained suggestions, which the trustees have followed, in establishing three areas of giving: animal welfare, encouragement of the arts, and local projects in Morris County, New Jersey. The trustees have developed grantmaking in two additional areas: elementary and secondary education and the environment. Grants are awarded primarily in New Jersey, and in 2003, they totaled more than $20 million.

Outstanding Features:
The Web site provides a short biography of Geraldine R. Dodge, and descriptions of foundation programs and initiatives, including the Dodge poetry program (the biennial Geraldine R. Dodge poetry festival is the largest poetry event in North America), frontiers for veterinary medicine fellowships, teacher fellowships, and visual arts initiative grants. The site supplies application guidelines and information about the Dodge assessment initiative, the mission of which is to improve the performance of nonprofit organizations ("including our own") through a more thoughtful, sustained, and sophisticated approach to assessment.