Back in the late 1980s, Richard W. Colburn and his wife created their own family foundation following the success of their family’s company, Consolidated Electrical Distributors. The Colburns’ Negaunee Foundation does not have a website and offers only limited transparency into its grantmaking strategies and priorities. Yet this is a Chicago-area funder to keep an eye on because of its tendency to award huge gifts to well-established local institutions.
Here’s an overview of how the Negaunee Foundation gives locally in Chicago.
Giving for music
By far, music and music education are top causes for the Colburns. Richard Colburn has followed in the footsteps of his father, who was also an arts philanthropist, awarding large grants to many Chicago music organizations. These include the Chicago Lyric Opera, Ravinia Festival, Chicago Youth Symphony and the Orchestral Society of Illinois. Some arts grants have gone toward dance and theater, such as donations to the Joffrey Ballet and Steppenwolf Theatre, but music continues to be this funder’s top focus.
Giving for museums
As part of the Negaunee Foundation’s commitment to arts and culture, the Colburns are steady supporters of museums in Chicago. Foundation grants have gone to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum, for example. Occasionally, grants go to museums outside the region, including multiple grants to the American Foundation for National Museums Scotland, which is devoted to the preservation of Scottish culture and is based in New York City.
Giving for the environment
Aside from the arts, the environment is also of interest to the Colburn family, and the Negaunee Foundation’s grantmaking reflects that. The foundation made news in 2019 for awarding a $10 million grant to support conservation science and research at the Chicago Botanical Garden. This was the largest gift in the garden’s history and established a Plant Conservation Synthesis Center to bring experts together to develop local and national solutions to environmental issues, such as controlling invasive species of plants.
Giving for conservative causes
When approaching the Negaunee Foundation for support, grantseekers should be aware that the Colburns lean to the right politically and have a habit of funding conservative causes. As a political donor, Richard Colburn has made contributions to the Republican Party of Illinois, Wisconsin Republican Party and 8th District Republican Central Committee. However, most of the foundation’s grantees are not heavily ideological.
A few other things to know about the Negaunee Foundation—it awards both restricted and unrestricted grants, it does not accept unsolicited grant applications, and its grantmaking has been increasing in recent years. More information can be found in IP’s full profile of the Negaunee Foundation, which is part of our Chicago & Great Lakes funding guide.