Engaged in an Ever-Changing World
The Hackerman Foundation is a private Maryland-based philanthropy that helps facilitate significant advancement for underrepresented groups who need additional funding to create impactful economic and social change.
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Arts and Education
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Health
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Housing
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Economic Empowerment
Our Areas
of Focus
Share Your Initiative
We partner with Maryland-based nonprofit organizations to make meaningful contributions that honor our legacy and resonate with our foundation’s mission. Our main areas of focus currently live within underserved populations including arts and education, health, housing, and economic empowerment.
There is no set formula when it comes to gifts and grants from our foundation. If we connect with a cause, we will proudly partner to help create real outcomes. By staying open to opportunities that resonate with us, as well as employing an expedient approval process, we can react more effectively—since time is often of the essence.
Impact
Spotlight
The Foundation believes strongly in its ability to make a meaningful change through its giving efforts. Here are a few cases of notable impact in and around our communities.
Neighborhood Care Pathway
The Foundation made a $4M, 3-year grant to create Neighborhood Care Pathway, which will provide 900 seniors the support they need to age in their community of Johnston Square. The initiative launched in 2025 with home visits to senior residents and began working with PHI to enhance community-based workforce capacity, piloting the delivery of services and supports that match each individual’s needs.
Affordable Housing & Eviction Prevention
Increased housing costs have created a greater need than ever for housing support in Baltimore City. In 2025, the Hackerman Foundation’s three key eviction prevention partners, Samaritan Center, Samaritan Community and Southeast Community Development Corporation delivered stabilizing support to 149 families, representing 347 individuals at risk of losing their homes. The Foundation also made grants to Habitat for Humanity, Rebuild Metro, Healthcare for the Homeless and Black Women Build to support creation of more affordable housing units in Baltimore.
Summer Funding Collaborative
When government funding for summer learning was cut, The Hackerman Foundation stepped forward to help keep opportunities available for Baltimore City families. Acting as a catalyst, the Foundation convened private funders to reignite the Summer Funding Collaborative and preserve high quality, free summer programs. Together, the Collaborative mobilized nearly $5 million to support 57 programs serving 8,500 youth. The Hackerman Foundation alone invested more than $1 million across 16 programs, reaching over 4,000 young people across the city.
Breitlight Justice Project
A GBMC physician preserved slide evidence of more than 2,000 sexual assaults dating back to 1977. The Hackerman Foundation’s five-year, unwavering commitment to seek closure and justice has resulted in DNA testing for all of these cases and outreach to survivors. While further testing and investigations are ongoing, early efforts have resulted in the identification of seven suspects, including one individual charged with five rapes.
A Legacy of Giving
The Hackerman Foundation comes from a long line of generational giving that began with a vision from husband and wife team, Willard Hackerman and Lillian Patz Hackerman in the spirit of their parents, and even their parents’ parents.
Each generation has devoted generous amounts of time and funding to various institutions with a particular focus on underserved and underseen communities. Since her parents’ passing, their daughter Nancy Hackerman has taken the helm. She remains steadfast in honoring the vision of her parents while also staying nimble enough to meet the needs of communities today.