Museum Founder Profiled

An article in the Fall 2012 issue of Philanthropy Magazine captures our founder’s vision and passion for the built environment, giving context to the mission of the Driehaus Museum today.

“Giving was part of my lessons in grammar school,” [Richard H. Driehaus] says in an energized cadence. “The nuns had three instructions for us: continue to learn; be responsible for your own actions; give back. I’m not a country-club guy. I can’t play golf. I don’t need nice plaques.” But he likes to immerse himself deeply in arts organizations. “I don’t like control for the sake of control, but I sometimes want control so that the money will be effective.”

So the founder of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has been asking questions about art, preservation, and beauty that few others are posing. While these questions “cannot always be answered,” as he wrote in a recent report, “they are important to ask. They animate the creative process, a blend of craft and faith, by which we seek to strengthen communities and enrich lives through our grants.”

Read the full article, “From Driehaus to Our House”, here.

< Back to overview