The Stocker Foundation

**The Stocker Foundation History** With the help of her three daughters, Beth K. Stocker established The Stocker Foundation in 1979 as a way to formalize the philanthropy she and her husband, Paul, practiced during their life together. Mrs. Stocker remained an active and highly influential member of the Board until her death at age 97 in 2005. Between 1979 and 2009, The Stocker Foundation awarded more than $46 million to a wide variety of nonprofit organizations in the fields of arts and culture, community needs, education, health, social services, women’s issues as well as other discretionary grant making programs. Then, in 2009, The Stocker Foundation announced a significant shift in competitive grant making. This change resulted from a multi-year strategic planning process that began a few years earlier. The Stocker Foundation’s Board decided unanimously to focus competitive grant making on early education. Specifically, lessening the reading achievement gap for under-resourced prekindergarten through third grade public school students. Focus areas included preschool emerging literacy, book distribution, student reading enrichment and/or tutoring programs, parental engagement, whole school improvement, and some limited other services for students that remove barriers to academic achievement (i.e., childhood hunger programs offered by food banks). An expansion of the existing competitive grant making strategy to include a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) approach occurred in spring 2019. Note: Total amount awarded 1979-2018 is $60 million. The Stocker Foundation remains an all-family board, headquartered in Lorain County, Ohio. The Foundation’s office is location on the campus of Lorain County Community College in the Spitzer Center. Annual grant distributions focus first on Lorain County the place where assets were generated. Then, in communities where other trustees reside (Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Pima County, Arizona; King County, Washington; Alameda and San Francisco counties, California; and Hartford, County Connecticut). Over the years, The Stocker Foundation’s grantmaking has been chronicled in articles by the Smithsonian magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and Philanthropy Ohio, The State of Philanthropy. All of the articles were written to highlight how modest-sized grants improve the quality of life for individuals and systems. **Mission** To invest in literacy and STEAM-focused programming for students to become creative, contributing members of their communities. **Vision** A world where equitable access to quality education creates strong communities & curious, lifelong learners. **Values ** **Equity:** We believe in eliminating barriers created by systemic inequities that prevent students from improving their lives. **Access:** We believe in high-quality academic opportunities for all students. **Collaboration:** We believe in the power of working with others to ensure that students achieve their educational and lifelong potential.