Jackman Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Jackman Family Foundation broadly awards grants to a variety of organizations across the United States. It does not name specific funding interests.
IP TAKE: As it does not name specific areas of grantmaking focus, the Jackman Family Foundation’s grantmaking appears fairly open for those that overcome its lack of dedicated staff. Deborra-lee, a humanitarian and adoption advocate, is a strong force behind the couple’s grantmaking.
Fortunately, the foundation does not impose geographic restrictions on its grantmaking. The Jackman Foundation’s grantmaking largely prioritizes small and grassroots organizations. However, it’s not accessible, as it follows the personal interests of its celebrity founder and does not accept unsolicited applications. Though the foundation lacks a funding strategy, contact them by writing to them with a brief outline of your work, but don’t expect much of a response.
PROFILE: Established in 2006, the Jackman Family Foundation was established by actor Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness. Born in Sydney, Australia, Hugh Jackman began his acting career on stage, appearing in several Melbourne musicals, and later won a Tony Award for his role as Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz. In Hollywood, Jackman has gained international fame for his roles in films like Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Australia, and X-Men.
The foundation does not operate a website or employ a formal staff. Foundation Source, a Delaware based company specializing in support services for private, family, and corporate foundations nationwide, manages the Jackman Family Foundation. The foundation’s tax filings indicate a wide range of funding interests. Internationally, Jackman’s funding tends to focus on vulnerable and impoverished populations with a particular focus on children.
Grants for Global Development and Global Health
While Jackman’s grantmaking supports a wide variety of concerns, the foundation’s international giving is more pointed. It tends to support organizations that focus their efforts on vulnerable and impoverished populations around the world. Its giving reflects a particular focus on children. In the past, the foundation has awarded grants to organizations that provide surgical, health, and medical care for children living in extreme poverty. It has also supported organizations that provide holistic care for orphans.
Deborra-lee co-founded Hopeland, a platform established to raise awareness around vulnerable and abandoned children. Hopeland seeks to emphasize this issue globally across political and human rights agendas. The foundation further seeks to mobilize and influence leaders across government, business and civil society, to create innovative solutions and policies that will ensure children will belong in a safe loving home. The couple, via their foundation, have also supported Cambodian Children’s Fund, Worldwide Orphans Foundation, and Raincatcher, a nonprofit that provides clean drinking water solutions to impoverished regions around the world.
Past international grantees include Every Mother Counts, which received funding for its ongoing work helping women around the world access essential maternity care; and the Cambodian Children’s Fund, which received a grant to support its various programs.
Grants for Diseases
The foundation’s tax filings indicate broad support for disease related organizations and research institutions. Disease related organizations receiving funding from Jackman in the past include the American Brain Tumor Association, which received a grant to support a charitable event and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, which received funding for pediatric cancer research.
Grants for Human Services
Jackman and Deborra-lee also support organizations like Covenant House – Los Angeles, Broadway Housing Communities Foundation, Asphalt Green, and SAY Detroit , a “charity aimed at improving the lives of the neediest citizens, through shelter, food, medical care, volunteer efforts.”
Grants for Education and Youth
Deborra-lee is a prominent adoption advocate. In the couple’s native Australia, Deborra-lee founded National Adoption Awareness Week and Adopt Change, focusing on adoption programs, procedures and legislation, and more.
Via the Jackman Family Foundation, the couple has supported U.S. organizations like Gladney Center for Adoption, Donaldson Adoption Institute, and Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. Other grantees include Baby Buggy, The Windward School, Child Mind Institute, Churchill School and Center, The UCLA Foundation, and School of Practical Philosophy.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Jackman and Deborra-lee have been acting for years and so unsurprisingly arts and culture is one area that the couple funds via their foundation. This giving area extends beyond Los Angeles to include nationally recognized arts and culture organizations that are either museums or major institutions.
Grantees include American Museum of the Moving Image, American Theatre Wing, Film Forum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, and Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation. It is worth noting that the couple also launched the Jackman Furness Foundation for the Performing Arts in Australia a few years ago.
Important Grant Details:
This funder made over $200,000 in grants in a recent year. Grant amounts typically range between $1,000 and $15,000 and favor smaller, grassroots outfits that have strong plans to make the most of modest funds.
This funder’s low profile makes it difficult approach. It does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals, but reach out with a letter of phone call.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
CONTACT:
Jackman Family Foundation
c/o Foundation Source
501 Silverside Road, Suite 123
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
(800) 839-1754