Bainum Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: This funder makes grants for early childhood education, families, housing, economic development and faith-based giving.
IP TAKE: The Bainum Family Foundation conducts grantmaking through a racial justice lens, in the wake of May 2020. While the Bainums passed away in 20214 and 2021 respectively, their legacy continues through the philanthropic work of three generations — their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Grantmaking occurs at both the local and global levels and has expanded in recent years. While giving has increased in recent years, this is not an accessible funder as it does not accept unsolicited applications. The family prefers to take a proactive- hands-on approach to selecting grantees to fund. Your best bet is contacting the foundation and making an introduction, assuming your work is closely aligned.
PROFILE: Stewart and Sandy Bainum and family move philanthropy through the Bainum Family Foundation, establishedished in 1968. The foudnation is on a mission to “work alongside communities experiencing racial and economic disparities to create lasting systems change for the well-being of children and families.” According to the foundation, it’s approach aligns with it’s “commitment to becoming a more antiracist organization” in order to “create lasting change for communities.” Almost all of the foundation’s giving invests, in some degree, in children and families, whether at the local or global level. Grantmaking intersects with climate and faith-based giving.
The Bainums are Giving Pledge signatories. Stewart W. Bainum graduated from from Pacific Union College, where he received a B.A. in history in 1968, and received his M.B.A. from UCLA in 1970. Bainum served as delegate and as senator in the Maryland General Assembly from 1979 to 1987, where he was a member of each House’s budget and tax committee. He was chairman and CEO of Manor Care from 1987 to 1998, and went on to serve as chairman of Choice Hotels International.
Grants for Early Childhood Education, Health and Housing
Through the Early Childhood Education program, the foundation invests in “children’s healthy development and learning from birth to age 3.” Grantmaking through this area overlaps with giving for health and housing causes. Funding has expanded to include: Early Learning; Mental Health and Well-Being; Health, including Prenatal and Perinatal; Family Economic Security; and Housing Stability.
To achieve this, the foundation works with partners in two primary and overlapping categories: Practice/Direct Service and Policy and Advocacy.
In addition to grantmaking, the Bainum Family Foundation also conducts it’s own strategic projects to reinforce the work of its practice and policy partners in order to address the gaps partners have identified.
Bainum has donated $500,000 to support the expansion of the Lourie Center for Children’s Social and Emotional Wellness in nearby Rockville, Maryland. The center specializes in the mental health and well-being of young children. Before the foundation shifted its strategy a few years ago, a major focus of grants was providing scholarships to impoverished kids who wanted to attend faith-based schools.
Notably, the Bainum Family Foundation committed $12.75 million to help establish an early learning center serving approximately 150 infants and toddlers at a new facility to be built on 1.3 acres of vacant land near Orange Center Elementary School in Florida.
Other grantees have included Bright Beginnings, Compass Family Service, Dumbarton Concerts, Global Fund for Children, International Rescue Committee, Pathways LA, and Georgia-Cumberland Academy.
The foundation also makes early childhood and youth grants through its Seventh-Day Adventist interest area that invests in faith-based schools.
Grants for Global Development, Climate Change and Conservation
The foundation intersects global development work with advocacy for climate change and the environment, which both impact the well-being of families around the global as a rapidly changing climate multiplies several risk factors, through Bainum’s Family Philanthropy program, which reflects grantmaking flexibility in its giving priorities. In this vein, the foundation has created several subprograms:
The Global Education Fund prioritizes locally-led projects with the goal of serving children and families as well as sharing knowledge and innovation. Priorities change frequently here.
The G3 Fund, a fund established by Stewart Bainum Sr. for his grandchildren (Generation 3, or G3), reflects a collective familial grantmaking vehicle, which “currently focuses on climate change and environmental justice.”
The Family Fund, also established by Stewart Bainum Sr., encourages all of the Bainum family members to engage in philanthropy together. This fund prioritizes support for educational programs that assist children and youth, from birth to age 18, and their families.
Grants for Food Security
Bainum’s Food Security giving area is not a distinct program, so much as a theme across several initiatives. This focus appears concentrated on the Washington D.C. area and intersects with job creation. The Bainum Foundation Farm operates as a “separate entity but has also updated its strategy to ensure programmatic alignment with the foundation as one of its Legacy Programs.”
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. While the foundation’s grants tend to concentrate around the D.C. area, grantmaking occurs all over the world. The foundation does not accept unsolicited applications, but contact information has been provided below.
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