OVERVIEW: The Chicago-based Irving Harris Foundation’s mental health grants support groups that address social and emotional well-being of young children ages birth to three.
IP TAKE: While this is not the most approachable foundation, it does tend to give multi-year grants to groups with which it is already familiar. It likes to invest in its grantees long-term, making this a more crowded grant space. Harris also supports organizations that have a long-term impact in their respective fields of work. This is not an accessible funder. It’s also razor-focused on its geographic and interest areas.
PROFILE: The Irving Harris Foundation was established in 1946 by businessman Irving Harris. The foundation operates in accordance with his traditional Jewish values, specifically that of giving back to one’s community. To this end, the foundation seeks to enhance “the quality of life for children, families and communities by advancing human potential, social justice and equity, and creative experience and expression.” The foundation originally focused on early childhood and middle-school education, before expanding into arts, community and social justice efforts. It currently has four giving areas: Arts and Culture, Jewish Values, Early Childhood and Reproductive Health and Justice.
Grants for Early Childhood Education and Mental Health
The Irving Harris Foundation’s Early Childhood giving area prioritizes the mental health and emotional well-being of infants and young children. Infant mental health refers to the social and emotional development of children ages birth to three. The foundation addresses racial and economic disparities as well as gender inequality with respect to the reproductive, maternal, and infant health outcomes of families. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the Irving Harris Foundation does prioritize organizations that work in its hometown.
The foundation’s Reproductive Health and Justice grantmaking also ties into its early childhood work by promoting “respect and dignity in decision making about family planning, birthing, becoming parents, forming families, and raising children.”
Grants for Public Health and Women and Girls
The Irving Harris Foundation’s Reproductive Health and Justice giving area approaches family planning and maternal health as a “critical component to promoting social and emotional health and to creating a more equitable world for very young children and their families.” It supports organizations and programs that advocate for reproductive justice and promote “respect and dignity in decision making about family planning, birthing, becoming parents, forming families, and raising children,” especially as it relates to its Early Childhood work and infant well-being.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Irving Harris Foundation’s Arts and Culture giving area works to create “a vibrant and accessible cultural life for all” in Chicago and beyond. It generally makes unrestricted grants to arts organizations and cultural institutions in order to promote “an environment where artists have the opportunity to create works that shift expectations, provide social and political context through creative acts, and contribute to new ways of experiencing the world.” It especially seeks to support individual artists, composers, choreographers, and “media makers,” as well as projects that engage underrepresented audiences and produce “politically and socially engaged exhibits, films and performances.”
In 1993, Joan and Irving Harris established the Harris Theater in Chicago, a multipurpose performing arts venue that houses local, national, and international artists. In addition to resident companies such as Hubbard Street Dance, Music of the Baroque and the Chicago Opera Theater. The Harris Theater also engages in collaborations with institutions like the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
Important Grant Details:
Grant amounts range from $100 to over $1 million. But most tend to fall in the $10,000 to $100,000 range. While much of the foundation’s giving centers around the Chicago area, it also supports national initiatives and groups based in other cities. Past grantees are listed on the foundation’s grantmaking page.
The Irving Harris Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding. Instead, it prefers to contribute to organizations with which it is already familiar. Submit general inquiries to the foundation’s staff at the contact page.
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