D.E.A.F. Inc. awarded $2 million grant 

D.E.A.F. Inc., a Watertown, Massachusetts community-based, multi-service nonprofit run by and for Deaf adults, has been awarded a $2 million gift in this year’s Yield Giving Open Call grant competition. Gallaudet University alumna and Board of Trustees member Darian Burwell Gambrell, ’97 & G-’04, the agency’s executive director, announced the award on March 19. 

“This gift will enable our organization to focus on increasing the capacity to provide services and engage in the community by providing self-advocacy training and improving access to information across underserved languages and educational backgrounds, providing awareness of the Deaf, DeafBlind, hard of hearing and late-deafened communities which are historically excluded and overlooked, and reducing misconceptions by fostering a more inclusive society through resources, training, classes, and community events,” Gambrell said. 

D.E.A.F. Inc., founded in 1977, is one of 361 organizations selected this year from a pool of over 6,000 applicants.  

Yield Giving was established by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott “to share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people.” Yield is named after a belief in adding value by giving up control. To date, Yield Giving’s network of staff and advisors has yielded over $17,300,000,000 to 2,300+ non-profit teams to use as they see fit for the benefit of others. 

Read and watch the official D.E.A.F. Inc. news release. 

Congratulations!