IP Funder Spotlights offer quick rundowns of the grantmakers that are on our radar, including a few key details on how they operate and what they’re up to right now. Today, we take a look at a family foundation dedicated to supporting early-career biomedical scholars and organizations fostering civic engagement.
What this funder cares about
Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the Rita Allen Foundation (RAF) makes grants in two primary areas: young leaders in science and social innovation, and organizations promoting civic literacy and engagement.
The foundation awards grants to early-career Rita Allen Foundation Scholars for research in the fields of cancer, immunology and neuroscience, as well as pain research, through the Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain. Scholars can receive up to $110,000 per year for a maximum of five years, while recipients of the award in pain can get $50,000 per year for up to three years.
The foundation also funds organizations deploying “new ideas and approaches in the field of civic engagement, believing that aware, informed and engaged citizens are our greatest assets for solving the most critical problems in our communities.”
Why you should care
Picture a Venn diagram consisting of two of the most important issues facing society today. One is advancing innovative scientific breakthroughs while the other is boosting civic participation and literacy in our dangerously polarized climate. The Rita Allen Foundation exists in the area of overlap.
But there’s more. Developments over the past two years have underscored the importance of cross-sector collaboration, information sharing and engaging diverse communities. Cognizant of this fact, RAF has joined other funders in supporting the Civic Science Fellows program, an initiative that backs partnerships to develop inclusive problem solving using science and technology.
Where the money comes from
The foundation’s namesake, Rita Allen Cassel, was an internationally renowned theater producer who made her mark throughout the 1950s and 1960s. For instance, in 1955, she co-produced a Spanish version of “The Teahouse of the August Moon,” which was later sent on a tour of Latin America by the U.S. State Department’s International Exchange Program. Allen Cassel also co-produced plays with her second husband, Milton Cassel.
She established the Rita Allen Foundation in 1953. The foundation’s assets grew over time thanks to contributions from the Allen and Cassel families. Allen Cassel served as the foundation’s president from its inception until her passing in 1968, when Milton Cassel assumed the role.
Where the money goes
The foundation’s grants database shows that it awarded $5.2 million in 2020. Of that total, $2.9 million (54%) flowed to the foundation’s scholarship program, while $2.3 million (43%) was earmarked for civic literacy and engagement projects at 30 organizations. Grants within this area included $30,000 to support the Center for Disaster Recovery’s virtual learning series on diversity, equity and inclusion, and $150,000 to the WGBH Educational Foundation for its Civic Science Fellow in Science Communication.
The foundation classified $125,000—or 2% of its total 2020 grantmaking—as “other,” which took the form of one grant to the fiscal sponsor New Venture Fund’s Science Philanthropy Alliance. The foundation does not provide general operating support except in limited cases for smaller start-up organizations.
Open door or barbed wire?
Organizations looking for funding for civic literacy and engagement projects will encounter a welcoming process. The foundation encourages organizations to submit a letter of inquiry and lays out what the letter should include on its site.
However, to quote the foundation, “the number of requests for support far exceeds the foundation’s available funding.” But readers may find solace in two data points. First, the $5.2 million the foundation disbursed in 2019 was a 24% increase over 2019, when it granted $4.2 million. And second, the number of organizations it funded jumped from 19 to 31 during this same period.
For information on eligibility and the application process for the Rita Allen Foundation Scholars program, click here. Individuals interested in applying for the Rita Allen Foundation Award in Pain should click here for guidelines and timelines.
In addition to a grants database, RAF’s site lists its board of directors and staff (sans biographies) and includes “Reports to Community,” which provides snapshots of its work in previous years, although the most recent report on the site is dated 2017. The site does not include links to Form 990s.
Latest moves
The RAF announced its 2021 scholars last July. Three months later, the Civic Science Fellows program announced its updated roster of 23 host partners and 12 funding partners, including RAF (naturally), along with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Kavli Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. According to RAF’s site, the 2021 class of fellows “will be announced soon.”
One cool thing to know
Rita Allen Foundation Scholars have received worldwide recognition, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Bonus cool thing: Last fall, RAF President Elizabeth Good Christopherson co-authored a piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review titled “How Science Philanthropy Can Build Equity.”
