John Howard began his career as an architect with a degree from the University of Notre Dame, which included a year of study in Rome, Italy.  He later earned an MBA in international finance from the University of Chicago, prompting his career in international business, which lead him to more than 70 countries.  He worked in Japan, lead a central European real estate business and eventually headed a pan-European real estate investment fund.  For more than 20 years, he designed, constructed, developed, and invested in real property in more than 15 countries.  

Marty Howard graduated with honors in english and art from Northern Illinois University and worked for five years as a graphic designer and technical writer.  Then, looking for new challenges, she embarked on a 24-year career in marketing, sales, customer care, and senior management, primarily working in the telecommunications arena for AT&T and IBM.   
After an early retirement in 2004, Marty went back to school earning a masters degree in general psychology.  

Close Friend Foundation was established in 2009 by John and Marty Howard as the John and Martha Howard Foundation. Soon after, the Howards were traveling in Cambodia and encountered the painting "Close Friend" by artist Thana Chuong. The painting depicts a young boy reaching up to his family's buffalo, residing beneath the home constructed on stilts per the custom. The water buffalo, the artist's "close friend," symbolizes the causes that the Howards identify as close friends, organizations that can benefit from their financial resources and business expertise.

Having worked internationally for a large part of their careers, the founders felt initially driven to help international causes and to give Close Friend Foundation a global reach.  After a few years of supporting causes in Cambodia they came to realize what now seems obvious – being involved in more local causes enables them to achieve better results.  We also learned that we could have a more meaningful positive impact for small and underserved causes.  These principles of being more local, more involved and focusing on underserved needs, guide our Foundation’s philosophy.

Based in Southwest Florida, Close Friend focuses on local issues affecting quality of life in the greater Naples area and Ft. Myers.  We support initiatives in the environment, health care, women and children's well-being, and cultural arts. A unifying thread of our work is the support of educational initiatives within each area. We adopt the broad interpretation of "education" to mean awareness raising, science, research and training, and counseling those in need. Programs and organizations we support have a strong educational component within at least one of our areas of interest.

In 2015 John and Marty started to spend their summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  This change of venue has provided opportunity for us to support local health care and a local university art center and its program to bring art to those who might not be able to access art education.

In several of our causes, our initiating contributions have positioned us to shape the scope and focus of the program and to bring the support of others to the cause.  Thus, this year we have added a new slogan to our brand - " Together we Can ! "