OVERVIEW: The Annenberg Foundation makes grants across the United States, but primarily in Southern California, to support the arts, community, education, global issues, development of nonprofit organizations, the humanities, civic and community, environment, education, military veterans, and human health and wellness.
IP TAKE: Annenberg prioritizes funding for organizations with name recognition in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino, and Ventura. Annenberg is willing to take risks— with "occasional failure" — and the foundation provides support for organizations that provide collaborative and visionary solutions to complex problems, but grant seekers must have a budget of $5 million or more to be considered for the standard grant program. The Annenberg Foundation supports both small and large organizations.
Due to COVID-19’s strain on its staff, the foundation is suspending online applications for the time being; however, this could change, so check back often. The below reflects past giving that Annenberg may be conducting despite its website’s current redirection to its general grantmaking statement.
PROFILE: The Annenberg Foundation was founded in 1989 by Walter Annenberg with about $1.2 billion of wealth from his media enterprise, based in Pennsylvania. While it was primarily an East Coast funder at first, it gradually began to focus more on the West Coast. Walter Annenberg, former Ambassador to the Court of St. James from 1969 to 1974, enjoyed a distinguished career as a publisher, broadcaster, diplomat and philanthropist. He was President and Chairman of the Board for Triangle Publications, which included TV Guide and Seventeen magazine, as well as radio and TV stations nationwide. Following the death of wife Leonore in 2009 (Walter passed in 2002), the new head of the foundation Wallis Annenberg relocated it to the Los Angeles area. Annenberg, a private foundation, makes about $100 million in grants annually to Los Angeles metro-area foundations. Its funding areas include animal services and the environment, the arts, culture and humanities, civic and community, education and youth, and health and human services.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Annenberg Foundation’s arts grantmaking primarily supports a select few institutions in Los Angeles and Southern California, such as the Annenberg Space for Photography, the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, Lauren Bon’s Metabolic Studio, and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands. The foundation describes itself as "willing to take measured risks with a tolerance for occasional failure," if that is what it takes to find the truly worthy grantees. Also worth noting is that Annenberg states that it prioritizes "nonprofit organizations serving Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties."
Annenberg gives the majority of its big grantmaking funding to large institutions with buildings that will (eventually) bear the Annenberg name. For instance, the foundation awarded the University of Southern California a total of $100 million in two grants — $50 million for the Annenberg Academic Building that will house classes in journalism and media to "foster creativity" and another $50 million to support the construction of the Annenberg Academic Building. The foundation awarded a smaller grant of $5 million a few years ago for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Such big grantmaking numbers may cause one to believe that the Annenberg Foundation will only make grants to projects that will bear its name. Fortunately, that is not true: the foundation awards arts grants each year, large and small. What is better is that its artistic interests are very widespread. Past grantees include: $25,000 to MoMA for the exhibition Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light; $100,000 to the World Monument Fund to restore the Church of San Pedro Apostol; $16,000 to Theatre of Note for three productions of A Mulholland Christmas Carol; $200,000 to Opera Fuoco to support the cost of a period instrument orchestra; $300,000 to the Museum of Jurassic Technology for a Goran Djordjevic collaboration and for general operating support; $1 million to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; $250,000 to the Delta Music Institute for the support of its Mobile Music Lab.
Grants for Animal Welfare, Wildlife, and Marine Conservation
Through its animal protection grantmaking, Anneberg has supported a combination of urban or domestic animal protection, along with some wildlife groups, such as the Association for Parrot Care, Conservation Adoptions Rescue, and Hope Veterinary Center. Annenberg has also made a number of smaller grants to groups like Ocean Defenders Alliance, Heal the Bay, Friends of the Sea Lion, Boxer Rescue Fund, Inc. of Los Angeles, and the Stray Cat Alliance.
While Annenberg's global grantmaking is limited, it still offers about a million annually to animal welfare initiatives outside of the United States. For instance, it has funded Orangutan Foundation International and the World Wildlife Fund in the past.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
The Annenberg Foundation’s education initiatives include innovative educational solutions, as well as support for centers and institutes at American universities. In 1993, Walter Annenberg made the then-largest ever gift toward public education with the Annenberg Challenge, a $500 million commitment to over two thousand public schools in 35 states. The Annenberg Learner initiative—previously known as the Annenberg/CPB Project and then Annenberg Media—uses “media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools.” This generally consists of educational video programs, web content, and print materials for K-12 teachers. The Annenberg’s have also lent their name to the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at USC, and University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and Annenberg Public Policy Center. Other education and youth grantees, generally centering around Southern California, include 826LA, A Place Called Home, A-PLACE, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School Foundation, and Advancement Through Opportunity and Knowledge.
Grants for Public Health
While it is not a main priority, the Annenberg Foundation does make some gifts to health-related organizations in Southern California and beyond. These grants generally center around access to quality and affordable health care, public accessibility for the disabled, health care for the aging, addiction and alcoholism, child welfare, and chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and AIDS. Grantees include ACCESS OC, AIDS Assistance Program, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, Brigadoon Service Dogs, and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Important Grant Details:
Annenberg grants are for one year, and range from $10,000 to $100,000. General operating support grants are limited to ten percent or less of an organization's total budget. Organizations with budgets larger than $10 million are not eligible for general operating support, but may apply for project support. Grantseekers may browse the foundation’s community grantmaking or newsroom pages for more information on its past grantmaking habits.
The Annenberg Foundation typically accepts applications on a rolling basis, but due to the current coronavirus crisis, it has temporary ceased reviewing proposals. Grantseekers should check back with the foundation after some time has passed to review its application process.
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