GWP History

Organizing for the purpose of learning and exchange is a long-established practice in our region.  In the 1960s, Pittsburgh’s senior corporate leaders met regularly to discuss philanthropic interests; private foundation leaders held a similar discussion group.  After meeting separately for some years, the two groups merged to form the Pittsburgh Contributions Group, GWP’s predecessor.  In the early 1980s, a group of local grantmakers created a new nonprofit where local grantmakers could exchange knowledge, learn together and collaborate for higher impact.  More than 35 years later, that visionary group has become Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania, a Philanthropy Supporting Organization (PSO) representing 80+ grantmakers of all types. Today's GWP builds on a legacy of supporting a strong, vibrant philanthropic community and we continue to work to enhance the impact of philanthropy – as individual practitioners, as funding organizations and as a community of grantmakers – on behalf of serving the public good.

 

GWP Founding Organizations

Alcoa Foundation
Allegheny International Foundation
Bell of Pennsylvania
Buncher Family Foundation
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation
CNG Gas Company
Copperweld Corporation
Cyclops Foundation
Dollar Bank
Dravo Corporation
Duquesne Light
Edith C. Justus Trust
Erie Community Foundation
Gulf Oil Corporation
H. J. Heinz Company Foundation
Henry C. Frick Education Commission
Howard Heinz Endowment
Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation
Koppers Company, Inc.
Laurel Foundation
Mary Hillman Jennings Foundation

 

Maurice Falk Medical Fund
McCune Foundation
Mellon Bank
Mellon Charitable Trust
Pittsburgh Bridge & Iron Works Charitable Trust
Pittsburgh National Foundation
POISE Foundation
PPG Industries Foundation
Richard King Mellon Foundation
Rockwell International Corporation
Roy A. Hunt Foundation
Stackpole-Hall Foundation
The Buhl Foundation
The Grable Foundation
The Hillman Foundation
The Hunt Foundation
The Ideal Foundation
The Peoples Natural Gas Company
The Pittsburgh Foundation
​​​​​Westinghouse Electric Fund

 

Related Materials
PDF icon GWP History 1985-2015