The Welfare Foundation employs grantmaking as its core philanthropic strategy, aiming to award approximately $5 million annually based on its investment performance. Over the past 25 years, it has distributed around $130 million in grants. The foundation concentrates on enhancing various nonprofit sub-sectors to make significant impacts in communities.
The Welfare Foundation's grant program primarily supports capital grants across seven nonprofit sub-sectors: Social Services, Housing, Health/Hospitals, Education, Environment, Civic, and Arts/Humanities. While traditionally focusing on capital grants, the foundation occasionally provides operating support, though this remains an exception rather than a regular practice. The overall goal is to support these sectors in ways that foster substantial and sustainable improvements within communities they serve.