Heartland Foundation (a.k.a. Wunderkinder Foundation)
OVERVIEW: Steven Spielberg’s Heartland Foundation supports arts and culture with a strong focus theater and film. Other areas of interest include arts and culture, civic engagement, journalism, racial justice, Jewish causes, education and health.
IP TAKE: The Heartland Foundation appears to prioritize Los Angeles and New York, but many national and regional organizations in other parts of the U.S. have also received support. Rebranded from the Wunderkinder Foundation, Spielberg’s giving vehicle is newly transparent. It takes a proactive approach and likes collaboration. It welcomes contact at the information is provided below. Grantmaking has decreased in recent years, but this could evolve as the foundation builds itself out. All funding occurs through a racial equity and social justice lens. Since the foundation is in the “early stages of learning and launching,” it currently accepts proposals by invitation only.
Steven Spielberg is also associated with the Righteous Persons Foundation. Like Wunderkinder, RRF is the largest recipient of Heartland’s grants for Jewish causes.
PROFILE: Founded in 2019 by Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, the Heartland Foundation — previously known as the Wunderkinder Foundation — has been rebranded from its original form, which the family created in 1985. The Heartland Foundation is on a mission to support “Justice. Equity. Connection. One creative act at a time.”
Kate Capshaw is an acclaimed American artist, while Spielberg is a film director, screenwriter and producer. Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler’s List and for Saving Private Ryan. Among his box office record breaking films are Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park. Time listed him as one of the “100 Most Important People of the Century.”
This Heartland Foundation maintains a low-profile, like it’s funding predecessor, but operates a website. Grantmaking, reflected as strategies rather than focus areas, include:
Building a shared democracy.
Telling an honest and generative narrative about the U.S.
Fostering a culture of accompaniment.
Grants for Arts and Culture
While not a dedicated grantmaking program, Heartland’s arts and culture grantmaking works “With (the) belief in the power of art, storytelling, and working together for the common good, we make grants and co-create projects that help build a shared democracy, tell an honest and generative narrative about this country, and foster a culture of accompaniment.”
Arts and culture grantees include the Academy of American Poets, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Firelight Media, Friends of the Brentwood Art Center, Geffen Playhouse, On Being Project and the Smithsonian, among others
Grants for Racial Justice, Civic Engagement, Journalism and Democracy
Heartland’s racial justice grants intersect with criminal justice reform and democracy work. The foundation made a $1 million grant to the American Exchange Project to “bridge divides.” It has also supported Color of Change Eduction Fund, Foundation for Social Impact, the Equal Justice Initiative, Storycorps, Rockefeller Philanthropy, and given $2 million to the Obama Foundation for civic engagement.
Given the foundation’s storytelling them across giving interests, Heartland also makes grants for journalism, which have funded the Robert Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and McClatchy Journalism Institute. One grantee partner in this area is Solutions Journalism Network.
Grants for Education
The Heartland Foundation’s grants for education appear to invest in education from early childhood education to higher education. Without a dedicated education program, we make conclusions from recent 990 filings, which reveal education grants to the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, Freedom Reads, and the University of Southern California.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Like the previous Wunderkinder Foundation, Heartland’s grants for Jewish causes center on Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, so it will be difficult for other organizations to get through the door here.
Important Grant Details:
The Heartland Foundation doesn’t have recent 990s posted yet, since it was so newly established, but it’s predecessor, the Wunderkinder Foundation, made about $10 million in grants in 2022. Wunderkinder’s grants ranged from $5,000 to over $1 million, with an average grant size of about $40,000.
The foundation names several grantee partners.
Grantmaking appears to prioritize the greater Los Angeles, the New York metropolitan and St. Louis areas, although Heartland has supported national organizations and organizations in other regions of the U.S., as well.
The foundation now has a small operating staff, a change from previous grantmaking reiterations.
Grantmaking FAQs show that the foundation does not accept unsolicited applications.
The Heartland Foundation’s sparse website offers expressionistic traces of information. The foundation may be reached at info@hearthlandfoundation.org or (310) 481-3513.
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