The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation is an independent private foundation that seeks to help people in need in metro Atlanta, particularly children, by investing in education, health and economic opportunity.
The Foundation’s grantmaking is inspired by the legacy of Joseph Brown Whitehead, one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. Together with Benjamin F. Thomas, Mr. Whitehead secured the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in most of the United States. He went on to establish the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company, later The Coca-Cola Bottling Company, in Atlanta with business partner John T. Lupton.
Mr. Whitehead worked tirelessly to develop the bottling business, making a small fortune before his death at the age of 42. During his life, Mr. Whitehead was active in civic and religious affairs and gave generously to local churches, orphanages and human service organizations in Atlanta. The Christian Indexsummed up his life thus: “Nobly did he accomplish life’s mission, doing more in 42 years than even good men accomplish in a long life of 70 or 80 years.”
Joseph B. Whitehead Jr. established the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation in 1937 as a memorial to his father. He specified that the Foundation’s giving should aid the poor and needy in Atlanta, and children in particular. The Foundation has awarded more than $866 million in grants since inception. Grants are limited to organizations located and operating in metro Atlanta, as defined by the United Way of Greater Atlanta to include Butts, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding and Rockdale counties.
The Foundation shares an office and staff with other Whitehead family philanthropies – the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation and the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation – as well as with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. This arrangement came about through the friendship and business relationship between Mrs. Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, widow of Joseph B. Whitehead, and Mr. Robert W. Woodruff, longtime leader of The Coca-Cola Company. Each foundation is governed by its own board and charter. Grant proposals addressed to the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation may also be considered by the Woodruff and Evans Foundations.
