The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The Kennedy Library Foundation is not a grant-making foundation.
Through its Board of Directors, its committees and staff, the Foundation assists the Library in the planning and establishment of its long-term strategic goals and objectives and provides the Library with financial and creative resources with which to enrich its many educational programs, to expand its research and archival capacity and to enhance its museum and exhibits.
The Kennedy Library Foundation has its origins in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Inc., a non-profit corporation that was chartered in Massachusetts on December 5, 1963, to construct and equip the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Massachusetts.
The Corporation, under its first president, Robert F. Kennedy, raised more than $20 million in private funds for the construction of the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum by public subscription. Among the Corporation’s many responsibilities were the raising and management of all building funds, the selection of the Library site, the appointment of the architect and exhibit designers, the selection of the general contractor, and the actual supervision of all construction. The Kennedy Library Corporation transferred title of the completed library to the United States Government on October 20, 1979 at a dedication ceremony attended by President Jimmy Carter.
In 1984, the work of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Corporation was reorganized and incorporated under Massachusetts law as the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Foundation currently employs 26 full and part-time staff who work closely with the Library’s federal employees to help fulfill the mission of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
The private financial support provided by the Kennedy Library Foundation enables the federal government to expand the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s research and archival capacity, to undertake marketing and public information projects, to offer intern and research fellowship programs, to enhance its museum and exhibits, and to offer nationally recognized educational and public programming.
By sponsoring and administering programs such as the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, the New Frontier Award, and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students, the Foundation is united with the Library in a common mission to perpetuate President Kennedy's ideal that political and public service be conducted and exemplified as an honorable and patriotic profession. The close relationship between the Library and Foundation illustrates the benefits to society and the American taxpayer that accrue from such public/private partnerships.
For more information, contact:
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125
617-514-1550
foundation@jfklfoundation.org