Thank you for taking the time to learn about The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. For over 50 years, our family’s Foundation has been dedicated to helping others by supporting extraordinary nonprofit organizations that:
- Provide civic and human services;
- Foster educational achievement;
- Expand opportunities for youth and adults;
- Develop the next generation of hospitality leaders; and
- Lead innovation in health and medicine.
Our father was a sheep herder in Utah in the early 1920s when an English professor, Aaron Tracy, saw his potential and helped him enroll in college and find jobs to pay his way while earning his degree. Without his college education, he might never have traveled to Washington, D.C., to open the nine-seat A&W root beer stand that grew into one of the world’s leading hospitality companies. Our parents, for whom the Foundation is named, were generous, giving of their means and themselves. We are committed to carrying on their legacy by giving others opportunity—like Aaron Tracy gave our father—to achieve their most ambitious dreams.
We know that giving people opportunity involves education, and much more. It’s ensuring that all people, regardless of their physical or intellectual abilities, can lead independent lives. It’s having access to quality medical care and lifesaving medicine. It’s being able to raise your family in a secure home and provide your children with nutritious food. This is the work our grantees and partners are passionately engaged in, inspiring us and honoring the legacy of our parents.
Thank you for your interest in our family’s Foundation.
Warm regards,
Bill and Dick Marriott