OVERVIEW: The New York-based Arnhold Foundation funds performing arts, higher education, environmental, and health programs, especially where these focuses overlap to some degree.
IP TAKE: The Arnhold Foundation is a major New York City funder, but it lacks transparency and does not maintain a web presence, which limits information and grant guidelines and strategies. This is neither an approachable or accessible funder. Funding requires networking here and/or work that is big enough and established enough to grab this funder’s attention.
Note that this funder prioritizes organizations in New York City, where it is headquartered; however, this is not a hard and fast rule, many grantees exist across the U.S. If you can secure funding here,
PROFILE: Henry H. Arnhold was born in Dresden, Germany in 1921, and comes from a banking family. His Jewish family's bank fell victim to "Aryanization," so Arnhold left for the United States in 1942. In the United States, Arnhold studied at UCLA, had a stint in the U.S. Army, and joined his family's investment bank, Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, where he served as chairman starting in 1960. Arnhold currently conducts his philanthropy through the Arnhold Foundation, which held more than $350 million in assets in a recent year. According to tax filings, the Arnhold Foundation prioritizes arts and culture, but it also funds higher education, particularly in New York.
Grants for Higher Education and Humanities Research
Arnhold broadly funds university education, including business, journalism, medical and art schools. It also supports medical research. Working jointly with the Mulago Foundation, in 2014 Arnhold “made a visionary gift to establish The Arnhold Global Health Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As per the institute, its mission is “to broaden the understanding and purview of global health, making its hidden infrastructure visible so that new solutions can be developed, and impact can be scaled.”
For instance, past grantees include New York-based institutions such as the Bank Street College of Education, Columbia Business School, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the Hunter College Foundation, Icahn School of Medicine, and New School. Arnhold himself also serves as a trustee for the New School, where he provided an endowment for the Willy Brandt Professorship and recently made a $7 million gift to the school's Zohlberg Institute on Migration and Mobility. The foundation also supports universities beyond New York. For instance, past grantees include Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California Santa Barbara, where the foundation previously helped establish the John P. Arnhold Presidential Chair in English.
Grants for New York City, Arts and Culture
The Arnhold Foundation's New York City grantmaking focuses on arts and culture. The foundation supports the Frick Collection, where some of Arnhold's collection of 18th-century porcelain is housed, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Guggenheim Museum, Jazz at Lincoln Center (which received $2.5 million in 2015), Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Manhattan Theater Club, Manhattan Youth Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Arts & Design, New Amsterdam Singers, Theater for the New City, and others.
Grants for Dance
Arnhold’s dance grantmaking is likely driven, in part, by Arnhold's daughter-in-law Jody Gottfried Arnhold, who is a dance educator and arts advocate. Jody serves as honorary chair of Ballet Hispanico, which "explores, preserves, and celebrates Latino culture." The ballet has received some $2.5 million in past tax years. It is also worth noting that the foundation has supported higher education institutions including Juilliard School and Hunter College, which is home to the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program. There's also the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street Y which Jody founded. Other grantees include many local dance organizations such as Ballet Hispanico on the Upper West Side, which received $2.5 million according to 2015 tax records. Other dance grantees include Dance/NYC, Dances By Isadora, Dance Theater of Harlem, Dancewave, Gallim Dance, Gibney Dance, Elisa Monte Dance, and Eye on Dance.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Climate Change
While it is not a main priority, the Arnhold Foundation also conducts some giving for the environment. While the foundation's largest grantee in this area is Conservation International, it also supports the Central Park Conservancy in New York, as the Climate Leadership Council and the Hunts Point Alliance for Children.
Grants for Public Health
While it is not a main priority, the Arnhold Foundation also conducts some grantmaking for public health in New York and beyond. Grantees include the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Mount Sinai Hospital Center, Foundation Fighting Blindness, and International Rescue Committee. It also supports community organizations providing basic human services in New York City, such as Citymeals-on-Wheels, 92nd Street Y, and Broadway Housing Communities have also been funded.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from about $50,000 to $200,000, although select grantees may receive $500,000 to $2 million dollar range. The Arnhold Foundation’s grantmaking centers around New York City, although it has been known to give to major national or international organizations.
The Arnhold Foundation has a minimal web presence and its grantmaking policies are not clear. Note also that Arnhold Foundation, Inc. is not to be confused with the John and Jody Arnhold Foundation, a separate organization headed by Arnhold's son John and daughter-in-law Jody.
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CONTACT:
Arnhold Foundation, Inc.
15 Maiden Ln., Ste. 500
New York City, NY United States 10038-5117
Telephone: (212) 269-8628