About Us

The Achelis and Bodman Foundation was formally established on November 25, 2015, from the merger of The Achelis Foundation (established in 1940) and The Bodman Foundation (established in 1945).

Program Areas

In keeping with the broad purposes in its charter documents, the Foundation has chosen to spread its grants over six program areas. Most grants are made in New York City, reflecting its dynamic not-for-profit sector, large and persistent needs, and the staff's and Trustees' "local knowledge." The Foundation also makes grants in northern New Jersey in recognition of the Bodman family's ties to that state, with an emphasis on Newark and Monmouth County. Over 90% of grants fall into one of the following categories:

Arts and Culture

Cultural institutions are among New York City’s most valued resources. They attract visitors from around the world and are one reason why so many people choose to live here. They are also major employers and vital to the City’s economy. The arts were important to Miss Achelis and Mr. and Mrs. Bodman, and so the Foundation has continued to support this area, generally through operating grants to the City’s prominent cultural institutions. The Foundation is most likely to support organizations that promote and sustain traditional concepts of artistic excellence. 

Education

The failure of inner-city public education is a national tragedy with enormous consequences for the children in these schools and for society as a whole. The Foundation has long believed that accountability and competition can contribute to the improvement of urban public schools. Therefore, the Foundation has funded charter schools, voucher programs, scholarships to parochial schools, and research that examines the impact of competition and other factors on K-12 educational performance. The Foundation also has an interest in helping young people and adults to realize their dreams of a college education. Finally, the Foundation seeks to promote intellectual excellence and balance at American colleges and universities.

Employment

Chronic unemployment or underemployment is a harsh and demoralizing burden. The welfare reforms of the mid-1990s increased the need for effective job training and placement programs. Such programs are especially critical for ex-offenders, chronic substance abusers, those with low educational attainments, and those suffering from mental or physical disabilities. The Foundation is particularly interested in supporting programs that emphasize the private sector and entrepreneurship.

Health

It is difficult for small grantmakers to make a significant impact in a field as large and complex as healthcare. Therefore, the focus of the Foundation's grants has been on the health needs of poor children, the disabled, and other disadvantaged populations, as well as on basic biomedical research, where a small grant at a pivotal time in a scientist's research can have a disproportionate impact. The Foundation has also supported the work of policy experts evaluating reforms that would improve the healthcare system and make it more accessible and efficient.

Public Policy

Funding in this category covers a broad range of issues including: K-12 education (listed under Education), healthcare, families and marriage, crime prevention, prisoner reentry, philanthropy, the environment, welfare reform, and faith and religion. In all areas, the Foundation's grantmaking is guided by a belief in the merits of economic and political liberty, free enterprise, and personal responsibility.

Youth and Families

The disparate needs of New York City's disadvantaged youth and families are served by hundreds, even thousands, of charitable institutions, ranging from established settlement houses to small neighborhood organizations to local houses of worship. The Foundation supports programs that boost academic achievement, provide positive recreational and educational activities for disadvantaged young people, promote good character and values, preserve families, and encourage responsible parenting. In addition, the Foundation has a special interest in programs that prevent criminal behavior, discourage pre-marital sexual activity among teens, and assist vulnerable populations, such as disconnected youth, children who have been in foster care or suffered abuse, the disabled, and the homebound elderly. The Foundation is particularly interested in funding smaller, neighborhood-based organizations that choose to rely on private support rather than government grants or contracts.

NOTE: Typically, the Altman Foundation uses letters of inquiry to learn more about organizations working in its five program areas. When openings in the Foundation’s portfolio become available, candidates that are a strong fit receive more in-depth reviews by the Foundation’s staff and, potentially, are invited to submit a full application for funding. Given the volume of proposals in the Foundation's current pipeline, including active grantees that are eligible for renewal consideration, we have modified our LOI process and identified areas of specific interest (see below). These interests reflect our overall commitment to advancing racial and economic equity and promoting a sound and just recovery from the impact of the pandemic. While opportunities for new grants are limited, our priorities for new grantmaking in the upcoming period are outlined below under the corresponding long-term objectives for each program area.

Our Approach

Created in 1913 under the will of Benjamin Altman (see History for further information), the Altman Foundation has kept our founder’s values and interests as our touchstone, while also responding to emerging needs and issues. We strive to:

• Take chances on promising ideas without being too prescriptive;
• Stay the course with an issue and with high-performing grantees; and
• Learn alongside our grantees to drive improvement in practice.

Results Orientation

At the Altman Foundation we think of ourselves not only as distributors of resources (“grantmakers”) but also as “investors” in human gain for the individuals, families, and communities we serve. In that mode, we review proposals with the following questions in mind:

• What are the results or outcomes from the project—short- and longer-term—that provide the return on our investment?
• What are the chances that the nonprofit applying to us will achieve these results?
• If things get off track, is this a learning organization that can make meaningful adjustments based on quantitative and/or qualitative data (Or “based on good information”)?
• Given all the opportunities in front of us, is this the best possible use of our money?

Our interest in “results” rather than “activities” is reflected in our guidelines, applications and due diligence, reporting forms, and post-grant analysis. Within the five Program Areas that the Foundation has established, we ask organizations seeking support to describe the results that they themselves have made a priority:

• How do you define success—meaning what are the results you hope to achieve for the people you serve?
• How do you know for certain when success has been achieved?
• What information are you gathering along the way that will tell you whether you are on track or that will allow you to make course corrections as needed?

A Focus on Learning

In implementing this approach, our goal is to gather information on our grantees’ success in a consistent way that will allow us to:

• Learn with and from our grantees about challenges and opportunities on the ground;
• Assess the performance of our portfolio and make informed decisions about the allocation of resources; and
• Look more easily across types of grants and program areas and identify the common barriers that keep organizations from achieving their desired results, so that we can determine if the Foundation can help address these shared challenges.

Specific Interests

Services to Non-profits

Significantly enhance the ability of key umbrella organizations to help their member or constituent agencies address critical community issues in the Foundation’s areas of interest.

Here, a particular focus will be:

• Efforts that help multiple organizations or service sectors improve their capacity to address the impact of COVID-19 on their communities and constituents, and/or realign their work in ways that support a more equitable recovery.

Cultural Engagement, Youth Development, and the Arts

Strengthen the arts infrastructure in the city and build capacity at critical junctures for organizations providing high-quality arts and cultural programming.

Here, a particular focus will be:

• Neighborhood-based arts and cultural organizations that serve as anchors for arts, culture, community-building and youth development; and
• Efforts that help multiple institutions or segments of the arts sector improve their capacity to meet new operating demands.

Health

Expand and strengthen quality out-of-hospital health care for the most underserved and vulnerable populations.

Expand access to health care for underserved, uninsured, or vulnerable populations or communities.

Here, a particular focus will be:

• Projects that utilize lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to inform or create momentum around efforts to address both new and long-standing priorities, including:
  • Tackling social determinants of health and barriers to health and healthcare that -- at a structural, community, or individual level -- contribute to inequity and result in health disparities;
  • Strengthening and expanding access to home- and community-based coordinated physical, mental, and social care for vulnerable low-income New Yorkers;
  • The need to invest in and embrace the role of trusted and culturally/linguistically competent messengers/service providers in advancing public health priorities.

Education

We give priority to programs/initiatives in our areas of interest that expand or enhance multiple programs or schools across a system or network. (Generally, we do not provide support for individual early childhood programs, or individual district schools, charter schools, public universities, or private colleges/universities.)

Provide disadvantaged children and youth with more high-quality learning time through early childhood education and afterschool, summer, and expanded learning programs.

Here, a particular focus will be programs/initiatives that:

• Address the loss of learning time among underserved students at significant scale.
• Increase access to and success in high-quality post-secondary educational opportunities.
• Here, a particular focus will be robust counseling, training, and other initiatives that:
  • Provide non-college-going youth with credentials and/or in-demand skills that result in living-wage employment.

Strengthening Communities

Build and preserve economic security and independence among low-income individuals and families.

Here, a particular focus will be:

• Resources and services that help low-income young adults 18-24 to become employed or re-employed in jobs that support economic independence.

Promote and sustain the availability of, and equitable access to, essential community resources needed to support stable, healthy communities, with an emphasis on systemic efforts.

Here, a particular focus will be:

• Closing the digital divide for underserved students, families, and communities.

(Please note, we will not consider requests solely for the purchase of hardware and devices.)

Since 1977, The Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation has focused on charitable giving. Because we value the importance of enhancing and improving the lives of others, the Foundation supports diverse programs in the fields of human services, education, Jewish causes, health, performing arts, scientific research and animal advocacy. 

NOTE: This year, we are in the process of revising our guidelines to better reflect our two core commitments: advancing racial justice and emphasizing organizing, power shifting, and movement building in BIPOC communities across all our programs. During this transition, the Foundation is focused on providing final grants to current grantees that don’t fit this new direction and increased support for those grantees that do, as well as a very limited number of new organizations.

Scherman Foundation - Mission

The Scherman Foundation nurtures excellent nonprofit organizations and leaders in the fields of community development, environment, reproductive justice, human rights, the arts, and governmental accountability by providing long-term general operating support. It particularly values policy advocacy and grassroots organizing, believing that an engaged population creates multiple paths to equitable, sustainable, and structural social change. The Foundation has a special commitment to New York City, while also funding nationally and, in limited instances, internationally.

Core Fund – Arts

New York City’s world leading arts sector plays a critical role in the city’s life, enriching its spirit, attracting emerging and established artists from around the world, and creating significant economic activity and benefits. The Foundation funds a broad variety of professional performing arts organizations, as well as a limited number of visual arts groups. Its primary criteria are excellence, innovation, and intellectual relevance. Within those criteria, it values creative diversity without cultural boundaries. The Foundation seeks to support generative artistry—the composers, playwrights, and choreographers creating new work and the musicians, actors, dancers, and artist-driven companies that bring their work to life. The Core Fund Arts Program supports a wide range of organizations from small groups focused on the work of a single artist, to larger producing entities and museums, as well as groups providing the infrastructure to sustain the creative life, which is the focus of the project-based Rosin Fund Arts Program.

The Foundation emphasizes the provision of general operating support, believing that strong artistic leaders are empowered with flexible funding.

Type & Size of Grants

General operating and project grants considered. Grants average $35,000 over two-years.

NOTE: Our general application requires a Letter of Inquiry to be submitted and approved before being invited to submit a full grant application. If your LOI is approved by the Board, you will receive an e-mail in 6-8 weeks with a link to the full grant application.

Our Mission

Our Mission is to promote the arts, education, and initiatives that seek to better our world by utilizing nature and the sciences.

General Grants

Our Letter of Inquiry form is the first step in the general grant process. The letter of inquiry should be used for projects that fall outside our three programs' scope. Some additional areas of focus for our Foundation include:

Environmental Ingenuity

Working with organizations to reverse or lessen the human impact on the environment and increase water quality in both fresh and salt water.

Medical Research

Focusing on funding initiatives involving high-mortality, under-funded diseases, specifically, but not exclusively, pancreatic and colon cancer.

Visual and Performing Arts

We fund projects that provide opportunities for everyone to experience quality arts programming, both visual and performing, in the regions we serve.

Veterans Initiatives

We work with several veterans organizations to provide respite locations, therapeutic programming, and programs, as well as service animals for our wounded, recovering, and returning servicemen, women, and members.

About

The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation is a Florida-based private foundation focused on making grants to promote the arts, education and initiatives that seek to better our world utilizing nature and the sciences.

The Foundation was established in March, 2008. We make both program and operating grants in the Southeast and Northeast United States. 

P/Arts Program

P/Arts stands for Philanthropic Arts and is our Foundation’s own initiative launched in 2019 to help catalyze non-profit, tax-exempt public charities, accredited schools and universities, and government or public agencies to implement or enhance programs utilizing art and art education in daily curricula, early childhood education and to assist disadvantaged students.

The P/Arts Program was created to encourage partnerships within the philanthropic arts and education communities. Organizations applying for P/Arts funding must be using performing and/or visual arts education to help:

• Enhance and Transform Existing Outdated Public School Curricula
• Motivate & Engage Children and Students
• Deepen Professional Development for Teachers, Professors, and Childcare Workers
• Link School and Home
• Use Evidence-Based, Arts-Based Instruction
• Help to Lessen the Education Achievement Gap

Legends & Lore® Marker Grant Program

Does your community have a great piece of folklore that should be shared? Legends & Lore is designed to promote cultural tourism and commemorate legends and folklore as part of our heritage.

Generally speaking, folklore is the stories, customs, traditions, and expressive arts and crafts that are passed on from one person to another, often from generation to generation. Folklore is the knowledge that people share as members of a group or community. Our shared identities and sense of belonging are the result of shared traditions, stories, customs, and activities.

Legends & Folklore Guidelines

The most successful applications will likely include the following common genres of folklore:

Myths — traditional stories that usually concern the nature of the cosmos; they often involve divine and supernatural beings.

Legends — traditional stories that usually concern historical events; they often involve heroes, heroines, villains, and monsters, including ghosts or haunted places.

Tall tales — traditional stories similar to legends that exaggerate the lives of local people.

Folktales — traditional stories such as fables and fairy tales that occur “outside” of cosmic or human history; they often involve animals or symbolic creatures as the main characters.

Place-name anecdotes — traditional stories that explain the reason for the name of a location.

Folksongs and ballads — traditional stories told in song that often convey myths, legends, and related folklore.

Superstitions — folk beliefs that may or may not have scientific accuracy but that are important to the community that believes in them.

Festivals, holidays, parades, and rituals that represent a community.

Certain dances, music, architecture, foodways, arts, crafts and similar performances can be folklore if they distinguish the community or region as the “home” of the item or activity.

Subjects which are not successful include:

• Historical events lacking a folkloric aspect
• Purely literary creations
• Personal/family folklore which does not extend to the greater community

NOTE: Unsolicited requests should be in the form of a letter of inquiry. Solicitations will be accepted throughout the year and grants issued at convenient intervals thereafter. Solicitations received after October 31st will be held for consideration the following year.

Philosophy & Mission

The F. M. Kirby Foundation aims effectively to manage and utilize that which has been entrusted to it over multiple generations of the Kirby family. It strives to make thoughtful and prudent philanthropic commitments to highly selective grantee partners. The goal is to invest in opportunities that foster self-reliance or otherwise create strong, healthy communities.

The Board of Directors recognizes that achieving its philanthropic aspirations takes time, effort and perseverance that often result in sustained funding relationships.

The F.M. Kirby Foundation is a family foundation. Its grantees are largely in geographic areas of particular interest to five generations of family members and, in many cases, are organizations with which family members have been associated.

Scope

The F. M. Kirby Foundation is a family foundation. Its grantees are largely in geographic areas of particular interest to five generations of Kirby family members and, in many cases, are organizations with which family members have been associated. Successful new applicants tend to be organizations already well known to one or more of the directors of the Foundation, and/or other members of the family.

Programmatic Areas of Interest

The F. M. Kirby Foundation donates to organizations within 8 major funding program areas, listed below with brief descriptions:

Arts, Culture, & Humanities

Funding in Arts, Culture, and Humanities includes performing arts centers and programs, cultural community arts development, historical and educational museums, and fine art museums.

Education

The Foundation’s Educational interests include family alma mater support, equitable educational access, school choice, special education and educational support services, civics and history education, and programs fostering entrepreneurship.

Environment & Animals

Areas of interest in Environment and Animals include land conservation and stewardship, environmental law/advocacy organizations, and environmental community development.

Health

Cancer research, neuroscience and neurodegenerative disease research, Type I Diabetes research, and general biomedical research are all included in Foundational research interests. Also included in Health funding is support for medical centers in geographic areas of interest.

Human Services

Support in Human Services includes emergency and disaster services, child protection and domestic violence support, homeless services, food pantries, housing assistance programs, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, mental health services, adoption, health services, cancer support services, youth and family development programs, physical and cognitive disability services, veteran affairs, and community development.

Public Affairs & Society Benefit

Public policy areas of interest include higher education reform, drug and alcohol prevention policy, sexuality and reproductive health and rights, democratic capitalism, free enterprise think tanks, individual rights and free speech policy, immigration reform, and public news media support.

Religion

The F. M. Kirby Foundation provides support for select religious organizations and churches that are of familial special interest.

Mutual Membership Benefit

The F. M. Kirby Foundation belongs to several membership organizations that serve the non-profit and philanthropic sector.

NOTE: A Letter of Inquiry must first be submitted via the Online Grant Application System between November 1st and February 1st of the year in which a grant is requested. If the proposal meets the stated guidelines and priorities of the Foundation & Memorial Trust, Grant Application instructions will be sent to the applicant.

About The Memorial Trust

In 1975, two years after his death, The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust was established in New York. The four original trustees were a member of the Snow family, a lawyer, a publishing associate and a corporate trustee, the Irving Trust Company, now BNY Mellow N.A.. The current Trustees continue this legacy being well aware of the donor and his beliefs, values and ideals. The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas. They meet once a year, usually in June.

The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

The Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific geographic regions of the United States across a range of program areas (prioritized below and visually depicted here) while responding to the ever-changing needs of various segments of the population, especially to the needs of youth and people who are disadvantaged economically, emotionally, or physically.

Dating back to the inception of the Trust in 1973, the primary and overarching grant making priority has been and continues to be programs that focus on education.

• Education: This program area targets funds to organizations that provide educational opportunities or academic assistance to individuals who demonstrate an intellectual aptitude and a financial need. Examples include scholarships, fellowships, academic tutoring or counseling, literacy, and journalism.

Secondarily, the Trust considers proposals within the areas of Arts and Culture, Community Initiatives, and Youth Programs. The Trustee’s objective is to extend the primary educational focus by providing funding support within these additional program areas.

• Arts and Culture: This program offers grants that promote arts education and appreciation, particularly for young adults, via the development of educational curriculum and professional instruction including visiting artists and performance support for targeted populations.
• Community Initiatives: This program provides funding for programs or services that directly improve the quality of life within the geographic focus areas that we serve. Examples include support for libraries, food pantries and shelters, and neighborhood revitalization. Generally, the Trust does not seek proposals for health care initiatives or animal welfare programs.
• Youth Programs: This program area offers grants that provide character education or enrichment opportunities via mentoring or after-school programming. 

As a third priority, the Trust does consider proposals in the areas of Disabilities and Universal Access, Environmental, and Historic Preservation. As these are not core focus areas, funding is often limited. Priority will be given to proposals with an educational focus.

• Disabilities and Universal Access: This program offers grants to organizations in complying with ADA requirements within their facilities (e.g. elevator, handrails, automatic doors, and ramps) or offering services targeted for individuals with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.
• Environmental: This program provides funds for organizations that strive to protect strategic parcels of land and bodies of water as well as programs that educate the general public on key environmental issues such as conservation and water management.
• Historic Preservation: This program provides funding for organizations that preserve historical artifacts (e.g. sites, structures, objects) and accounts (e.g. events), and educate the greater community on their significance. Examples include museums, historical societies and educational programming.