The 2021 Renassiance recipient is the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The Woodruff Foundation has played a significant fole in the success of the Georgia Cities Foundation (GCF). Georgia Cities Foundation was started in 1999 and in the year 2000, the Woodruff Foundation provided a challenge grant funding in the amount of $9 million dollars to the Georgia Cities Foundation. The state matched this grant over a period of three years. Without the leadership and lead challenge grant of the Woodruff Foundation, the Georgia Cities Foundation would not have enjoyed the success it has experienced over these past two decades.Funded projects are spread all over the state and many, without the GCF funding to fill the gap, would not have been feasible and viable. These projects include commercial, restaurant, brew pubs, housing, hotels, event space, cultural facilities and more. The Woodruff Foundations' financial commitment put in place the funding and the credibility for others to invest and has resulted in downtown revitalization, private investment, job creation and quality of life improvements in cities and downtowns of all sizes all across the state.