United for Justice | Rooted in Compassion for a Vibrant Greenville
United for Justice Rooted in Compassion for a Vibrant Greenville
The Jolley Foundation’s mission is to advance efforts to eliminate the root causes and effects of poverty and discrimination.
We support community initiatives and organizations that:
Empower
those with proximity to and lived experience with inequity to effect change.
Invest
in advocacy, policy change, and movement-building to advance equity.
Build
capacity, leadership, and innovation, particularly within systemically under-resourced populations.
Strengthen
collective impact through partnerships and coalitions designed to address inequity.
Elevate
equitable economic development.
Empower
those with proximity to and lived experience with inequity to effect change.
Invest
in advocacy, policy change, and movement-building to advance equity.
Build
capacity, leadership, and innovation, particularly within systemically under-resourced populations.
Strengthen
collective impact through partnerships and coalitions designed to address inequity.
Elevate
equitable economic development.
Empower
those with proximity to and lived experience with inequity to effect change.
Invest
in advocacy, policy change, and movement-building to advance equity.
Build
capacity, leadership, and innovation, particularly within systemically under-resourced populations.
Strengthen
collective impact through partnerships and coalitions designed to address inequity.
Elevate
equitable economic development.
What We Do
By providing funding and supporting the efforts of community partners, we work to eliminate the root causes and effects of poverty and discrimination in Greenville County.
We seek out investments that will nurture the growth and development of a community where everyone - regardless of identity or characteristics – has the resources and support they need to lead safe and fulfilling lives.
We consider the nonprofit organizations that receive our funding as partners. They are dedicated to improving the lives of our community’s citizens in different ways, where everyone has what they need to thrive.
In our efforts to be as impactful as possible, we use all forms of philanthropic capital— —to combat the systems and structures perpetuating social, economic, and cultural barriers to equity in our community.
Our roots run deep.
Humble Beginnings
The Jolley Foundation was founded almost 80 years ago by husband and wife Bob and Rucker Jolley as an employee assistance fund. Albert’s success, first in the bottling industry and then the media industry, had a profound influence on the business community in the Upstate region of South Carolina.
A Family Legacy of Giving
With the family’s success in business came the desire and ability to have an equally profound impact on the community. The foundation has been largely family-run since its beginning, but the community's needs have always been the heart of our work. As the founding family dispersed from Greenville, outside leadership and expertise were brought in to help guide grantmaking decisions and eventually transform Jolley into a community-led philanthropic institution.
A New Era of Leadership
Meliah Bowers Jefferson, the first full-time executive director, was hired in 2022 and charged with expanding the web of interconnectedness deeper into the fabric of the family’s hometown of Greenville. With it, a new strategic map is created for what Jolley will become in the next 80 years.
