Our History

In 1989, private-sector leaders convened to raise money to create an endowment to support public education. They launched a Campaign for Academic Excellence. The Academic Distinction Fund (ADF) was born weighing in at $2.7 million. To celebrate ten years of successful programs, a second campaign was launched in 1999 and raised an additional $1.3 million. The ADF endowment is permanently managed by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The earnings from the endowment fund ADF grants, programs, and special projects. ADF continues to keep the endowment corpus whole.

Thanks to these efforts, ADF has awarded over 2,000 grants totaling more than $2.4 million.