GFT Charity was founded in 2012 by Lilli Gober to formalize her ongoing philanthropic initiatives with an emphasis on quality-of-life issues. 

Among the types of programs GFT donates to include children’s hospitals, school lunch programs, livestock showings, scientific research, senior centers and retirement communities, hospices, recreation centers and summer music programs. 

Specifically, GFT Charity has provided grants to the Arlington Tennis Center for tennis and pickleball court improvements, equipment, and tournaments. GFT Charity provided grants to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Beach Haven for summer music in the park programs. 

Partial List of Projects

Education

  • A scholarship program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which has a long and rich history of excellence in the oral health professions.

  • Hua-Xia Edison, N.J. Chinese school for a special program to celebrate Chinese New Year.

  • A Jersey City, N.J. charter school for the purchase of musical instruments and a field trip program.  

  • A Sussex, N.J. elementary school to promote a basketball league for the students. 

  • Westminster Nursery School to further its multicultural curriculum.

Research

  • An award to an outstanding scientist at the University of Maryland to promote basic research.

Civic Recreation Centers

  • Cedar Hill Recreation Center to support dance program.

  • Cedar Hill Senior Center for new dance program and lessons.

  • Kidd Spring Recreation Center (Dallas) to sponsor dance recitals and special holiday performances.

  • CERA in Fort Worth to assist in maintaining and refinishing the pickleball courts. In addition, GFT made a grant to CERA to support its future sports complex development plan.

Music and Art

  • Princeton Ballet to help support performances of "The Nutcracker."

  • Joined the N.J. State Department of Education to provide theater tickets to school teachers and students in New Brunswick, N.J.  In Trenton, N.J. tickets were distributed to the N.J. Dance Society and retirement communities. 

  • Rider College dance school for student programs.

  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Contemporary Dallas Ballet to provide tickets to their Christmas program to the dance teachers, students and the nearby community centers. 

  • Support for the opera "La Petite Carmen" at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City.

  • Dallas Museum of Art

  • Kimbell Art Museum

  • Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Fundraising

  • Held fundraising dance parties to raise money for the Central Jersey Dance Society and Shine and Inspire. Both are 501(c)(3) organizations.

Retirement Communities, Assisted Living and Nursing Homes

  • Sponsored 18 activity programs in communities like Monroe Village, Basking Ridge Fellowship and Princeton Windrows in New Jersey and Cresent Place in Cedar Hill, Texas.

Churches

  • Churches receiving support included Methodist Church and Hillcrest Church in Cedar Hill, Texas; Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas; and Orange County Christian Evangelical Church, Irvine, Calif.

Performing Artists

  • Sponsored four programs for Joy Bechler, solo soprano for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

  • Sponsored four programs for Elaine Christy, a harpist and instructor at Princeton University.

  • Sponsored two programs for Mei-lu Wu, a concert pianist a star from China now living in New Jersey.

Libraries

  • Working to restore the Plastic Museum from the Smithsonian Institute. (An American Culture).  Collecting early plastic artifacts for future display.

Other Charitable Organizations

  • Donations to the New Jersey State Fair, the Annual Sussex County Farm and Horse Show, YWCA, The Leukemia and Kidney Foundation, Kendal Park Rescue Squad, and Wild Baby Rescue Squad. A special donation was made to the Northern California Chinese Association to promote Chinese music and a touring program in the Silicon Valley.