Mission:
To enable institutions to expand learning and enrichment opportunities for all people.

Background:
The Wallace Foundation resulted from the merger of the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund in 2003. The funds had been established in the 1950s by Reader's Digest founders DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace. The former fund focused on education; the latter, on the arts. By 1990, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund was recognized as the largest private funder of the arts in the United States. When the funds merged, the foundation divested all of its Reader's Digest stock, marking its complete independence from the corporation. Today foundation assets total $1.25 billion. To achieve its mission, the foundation pursues three objectives: Strengthen education leadership to improve student achievement; improve after-school learning opportunities; and expand participation in arts and culture.

Outstanding Features:
The foundation's Web site showcases its Knowledge Center, a repository of formal reports produced by researchers on behalf of the foundation, including State Arts Agencies at a Crossroads: The Search for Public Benefit and A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts; and it provides information on the foundation's grants and programs.