Our Grant Partners
We collaborate with idea generators who have the courage to try something new.
The Gambrell Foundation partners with dreamers, thinkers, and tinkerers committed to testing promising ideas that help people truly live greatly.
We fund partners who have solid concepts worth trying, rather than waiting for perfect solutions.
Our grant partners span various fields of study and experience but share our vision of communities where people find purpose, experience awe, and build meaningful connections.
Together with our grant partners, we’re transforming Charlotte and beyond into places where everyone has access to the resources needed to build a life worth living.
Check out some of the visionary ideas our partners bring to help their communities build better lives.
DifferenceMakers CLT
DifferenceMakers® CLT is an intergenerational leadership program that brings student leaders and community members in Charlotte together. This student-centered experience provides connections with community leaders, intentional workshops, a social justice capstone project, and a transformational trip to Washington, D.C.
Upon completion of the program, students will receive a full year of support and life design planning in their senior year, and continued resources post-graduation, in the DifferenceMakers® Alumni Program. Over 133 students are now in the DifferenceMakers network!
Gehl
Gehl partnered with BUILD to bring together Charlotte and Copenhagen experts to study how physical spaces affect your sense of belonging. The project uses Danish data to create actionable solutions for Charlotte neighborhoods. The team researched Charlotte’s specific needs, analyzed Copenhagen data about how buildings and spaces affect wellbeing, and created Charlotte-specific recommendations for policy and design changes. They also developed new models for community participation and shared findings with local and international audiences. This data-driven approach helps create neighborhoods where you feel valued and supported by your surroundings.
German Marshall Fund
German Marshall Fund (GMF) and d|part are connecting young people (ages 14-21) with city administrators in Charlotte and Düsseldorf to improve youth engagement through Citizen Science. Teams in both cities are actively researching what young people actually want versus what cities currently offer. The results aim to be practical solutions created by youth themselves for better communities. Young people are leading research about their own needs while working directly with city officials in a cross-cultural exchange between U.S. and German participants. Their work will lead to youth-created recommendations for making cities more responsive to what young residents need.
#HalfTheStory
As the first youth-led non-profit of its kind, #HalfTheStory focuses on progressing education and advocacy work surrounding social media and tech use. Through its evidence-based education program, Social Media U, students in rural and urban communities across the U.S., U.K., and Canada are taught the skills needed to have a healthy relationship with their screens and are empowered to understand and advocate for their digital health. In 2024, #HalfTheStory announced a new national education partnership with Girls Inc. to support girls in underserved communities across the country.
Purpose Commons
Purpose Commons links researchers with youth-serving organizations (YSOs) to put purpose science into action. When young people find purpose, they improve their well-being and change their communities for the better. This network creates a space where researchers and youth programs work together to help teens and young adults discover what drives them. The network focuses on three main goals: coordinate cross-lab research to speed up discoveries, test findings in real programs that help youth immediately and share purpose science in accessible ways.
American Institute for Boys and Men
The American Institute for Boys and Men tackles real challenges facing males today. Data shows a 28-point swing in college degree attainment and declining workforce participation among men, with one in five fathers not living with their children. AIBM focuses on three key areas: education, where boys lag in school performance; work, where men with high school diplomas earn 14% less than in 1979; and family, where traditional provider roles have eroded without meaningful alternatives. Their work promotes policy reforms, community mentoring programs, and stronger male relationships to combat isolation, with research showing 15% of men have no close friends. The Gambrell Foundation partners with AIBM to shift policies and conversations that improve well-being for boys and men.
American Institute for Boys and Men
Central Piedmont Community College
Central Piedmont provides a real-world, affordable, hands-on education that will transform students, change their lives, and impact communities. A $1 million grant over 3 years funded 75 students to participate in the Gambrell Opportunity Scholars Program. The program provided post-secondary education and career-focused training opportunities to first-generation college students. The scholarship covered not only tuition, books and fees for two years to earn an associate degree, in addition, the scholarship provided each recipient with a laptop computer, participation in the Summer Bridge Program, transportation and food vouchers, and academic counselor-career coaching.
An additional $875,000 grant over 5 years provided 13,500 Google Chromebook laptop computers and computer skills training to first-time, full-time students attending Central Piedmont. This revolutionary project was the first in the nation and provides a model for assessing the impact of access to technology for students.
Central Piedmont Community College
Queens University
Queens University provides transformative educational experiences that nurture intellectual curiosity, promote global understanding, encourage ethical living and prepare individuals for purposeful and fulfilling lives. A $10MM gift over five years was given for the establishment of the Sarah Belk Gambrell Center for the Arts and Civic Engagement, a renovation project of a 50-year-old building dedicated to arts, creativity and community. The Foundation honored its founder through the naming of this new center.
Camp Blue Skies
Camp Blue Skies provides overnight camp for adults with development disabilities including Down syndrome, Autism, Williams syndrome, and other cognitive disabilities. Their focus on health and nutrition, exercise and life skills education is provided with the intention that these participants can return home to live more independently and lead fulfilling and productive lives. A $1MM gift over 5 years will ensure the unique camp experience will continue and grow.
