The J.E.& Z.B. Butler Foundation is committed to aiding at-risk youth and individuals with special needs. The Foundation supports programs and services that enable individuals to reach their fullest potential and empowers them to make positive changes in their lives.

Because the founders, Jack and Zella Butler, had a developmentally disabled daughter, they became sensitized to the needs of people with multiple disabilities. As residents of New York City, they chose to focus a large percentage of their grant making to the New York area. In addition, the foundation awards grants to organizations in Boston, Cincinnati, and Phoenix.

The foundation has a special interest in “at-risk” urban youth and supports after-school and summer programming. It was instrumental in starting a suicide prevention program in Cincinnati, and now is committed to exploring the needs of girls engaging in high-risk behavior. The Butler Foundation is partnering with the Girls' Coalition for the first time in 2004-5 to fund a project exploring the needs and resources of “invisible” girls—specifically, girls who are prostituted and exploited in the commercial sex trade. The goal is to work with community partners to raise public awareness; to train mainstream youth providers about issues related to the sexual exploitation of girls including how to better meet the needs of these girls and recognize girls most at risk of being unwittingly recruited for prostitution; to identify existing gaps in services and legal protection; and then to advocate for change that fill these gaps and improve girls’ lives.