OVERVIEW: The Wagner Foundation supports global health and development efforts in resource poor and rural communities around the world. It also supports economic opportunity, arts and culture, and criminal justice reform programs combating a number of institutional and systemic challenges across the United States.
IP TAKE: This foundation is not accessible, but it is approachable, so make contact to learn more about how its grantmaking is evolving. While it does not impose geographical limitations on its global giving, national giving tends to center on the Boston area, and funding a handful of national organizations. This foundation invests in both small and larger organizations that maintain a close relationship for the communities in which they serve.
PROFILE: Established in 2005 by Charlotte Wagner, wife of investment banker Herbert Wagner III, the Boston-based Wagner Foundation works to “build a just and robust community where all people have equitable access to opportunity and the ability to live a life of purpose and dignity.” Herbert S. Wagner III spent 13 years at Baupost Group, becoming portfolio manager of the Boston-based firm. Wagner founded Finepoint Capital LP, which he runs. The Wagner Foundation’s grantmaking initially focused on education and human service organizations based in the Boston area, but expanded nationally and internationally with an eye towards social justice. The foundation focuses its grantmaking on improving health equity, increasing economic mobility, expanding institutional fairness and advocating for cultural transformation.
Grants for Global Health
The Wagner Foundation’s Improving Health Equity grantmaking supports access to quality healthcare services, health infrastructure and medical training. Calling the lack of adequate healthcare “profoundly destabilizing to society as a whole,” the foundation makes long-term investments in public health and development and global healthcare networks. Wagner often focuses its global health investments on resource-poor communities and developing countries. One past grantee in the global health space is Integrate Health, which received funding for its work providing a better standard of healthcare in poor and forgotten communities and ending preventable deaths. Seed Global Health is also a Wagner grantee, having received funding for its work strengthening health education and delivery in areas of the world experiencing shortages in health professionals.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
The Wagner Foundation’s Expanding Institutional Fairness program “supports institutional change in the interest of overcoming historical and cultural bias.” Areas of interest include criminal justice reform, policies protecting basic human rights, equitable education opportunities and “[p]rograms which confront barriers to historically disenfranchised communities. One past grantee in the crime and violence space is the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). EJI received a grant from Wagner in support of its work providing legal representation to individuals who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI is also committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the U.S.
Grants for Economic Opportunity
The Wagner Foundation’s Economic Mobility program supports “access to economic opportunity through training, apprenticeships, and other employment programs.” The foundation believes the key to opportunity is “greater investments in training and skill-building” and “challenging systemic barriers while augmenting existing pathways to economic mobility.” Year Up is one of the foundation’s biggest beneficiaries. Another is Root Capital, which promotes “inclusive agriculture” practices that “balance local conditions with broader goals like child poverty, economic mobility, and peace.” Other grantees include Summer Search Boston, Steppingstone Foundation, and Silver Lining Mentoring.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Wagner Foundation’s Cultural Transformation grantmaking is committed to “encouraging visionary individuals, as well as arts institutions that expand cultural access.” It particularly prioritizes work involving “disadvantaged groups questioning fundamental issues impacting their lives.” In partnership with the VIA Art Fund, the Wagner Foundation’s Art Incubator Grant aims to promote the role of local cultural spaces as “vital gathering places which build stronger civic bonds, help people discover their own voice, and hear the voices of others.” Other grantees include The Drawing Center, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Hope on a String, and the Boston Book Festival.
Important Grant Details:
Though the foundation awards grants ranging from $300,000 to $600,000, most awards fall in the $10,000 to $100,000 range. To learn more about the types of organizations the foundation supports, explore its grants list.
The Wagner Foundation does not apply geographic restrictions to its global health grantmaking and does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding.
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