Gifting Programs: The Rising Tide Gift Grant

The Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin Foundation supports women and girls through its significant gifting program, the Rising Tide Gift, which offers up to $400,000 annually to a chosen nonprofit. Established in honor of Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin, the Foundation focuses on humanitarian aid and educational initiatives, ensuring impactful contributions in Fort Worth, Texas, and globally. Its commitment to integrity and positive change continues to inspire organizations dedicated to women's empowerment.

In 2010, Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin went on a trip to Cambodia with her husband, David Diesslin, to see the work a nonprofit had been doing to promote children’s education. As the nonprofit representatives toured Deena and David around, they touted their great success in how many boys had been able to go to school. “What about the girls?” asked Deena. “What about them?” was the reply. That wasn’t good enough for Deena.
One year later, the Heide-Diesslin Foundation was created to promote charities and nonprofits that benefit women and girls, as well as to provide funds for general and emergency humanitarian aid. The Foundation was based upon the desire to see real change in the world, while maintaining an eye for the future. The goal was to create gifts and grants that could fully fund projects that could directly benefit people in both the Heide-Diesslin Foundation’s hometown of Fort Worth, Texas and across the globe.
Sadly, in 2011, Deena passed away, and the Foundation was renamed in her honor to the Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin Foundation. The Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff all continue to uphold the values that Deena has left behind - doing the most good with the most integrity possible to help the lives of those society can so easily leave behind.
Now, the Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin Foundation continues to give with its two biggest gifting programs, Rising Tide and Uplift, and focuses on supporting organizations that aid women, through education and humanitarian initiatives including The Ladder Alliance, the CFP Board, and Doctors Without Borders.
The Rising Tide gift is our largest gift. We only give one of these gifts of up to $400,000 each year to an organization chosen by our Board of Directors. This is our largest example of our dedication to our mandate of helping organizations that benefit women and humanitarian causes.