The Adolph Coors Foundation is a private family foundation established in October, 1975 with funds from the Adolph Coors, Jr. Trust. Adolph Coors, Jr. was the son of the founder of the Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado.

Three additional gifts have been made to the Foundation's corpus. In 1977, a bequest was received from the estate of Gertrude Steele Coors, and in 1988, Janet Coors, wife of the late Herman F. Coors, contributed funds to establish the Herman F. Coors Professorial Chair in Ceramics. That chair is currently held at the Colorado School of Mines. In 1995, Janet Coors bequeathed to the Foundation a portion of her estate.

The assets from the Adolph Coors, Jr. Trust have always been restricted for use within the state of Colorado. This geographic parameter and the funding priorities of the Foundation are in keeping with the family's philanthropic interests and desire to make an investment in the people and communities that have been so important to the Coors family since the 1800's.

The funds from the estate of Gertrude Steele Coors carried no restrictions and were used for limited grant-making activities outside the state until the end of the Foundation's 1993 fiscal year.

The Trustees decided, effective the beginning of fiscal year 1994, to spin off the unrestricted assets and endow a new foundation, the Castle Rock Foundation. Essentially all grants from the Adolph Coors Foundation are now restricted for use within the state of Colorado.

The Adolph Coors Foundation has awarded $154.1 million to community agencies in thirty-two years of making grants.

It should be noted that the Adolph Coors Foundation does not receive contributions from, act on behalf of, nor engage in activities for the benefit of the Coors Brewing Company, Graphic Packaging International Corporation, employees of those corporations or their distributors.