History
We are the Adam and Maria Sarah Seybert Foundation for Poor Boys and Girls of Philadelphia, or “The Seybert Foundation” for short.
Founded in 1914 as the Adam and Maria Sarah Seybert Institution for Poor Boys and Girls, an independent foundation that makes grants to nonprofits serving disadvantaged children and youth in the city of Philadelphia.
Ten-member volunteer Board of Directors and one staff member
In 2013, the Board voted to make all grants in the form of General Operating Support, in recognition of the scarcity of this type of funding for nonprofits. (Seybert works to encourage other funders to consider providing Gen Op funding)
From the earliest days…
In the 1910s, Seybert Trustees worked in partnership with Children’s Aid Society and the Society to Protect Children from Cruelty to address homelessness among Philadelphia’s children, founding a permanent home known as Children’s Village. Seybert’s Board determined “to help, rather than to compete, with existing agencies and to meet, if possible, the demands for immediate care for short periods,” working with children in crisis and seeking placements in stable home situations.
In 1918, Seybert’s Board recognized that there was a need for better diagnosis and treatment of the mental health of traumatized children in its temporary shelters, and it worked to establish and fund a Department of Child Study in Philadelphia, consisting of a psychological clinic and a day school for children in the shelter system, an effort that continued through 1924, and led to developments in child guidance throughout the city.