Lauder Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Lauder Foundation provides ongoing support to the Aspen Institute and several New York City cultural institutions. Smaller areas of grantmaking include education, Jewish causes and disease research.
IP TAKE: The Lauder Foundation is a low-profile funder that is not transparent or accessible. However, Lauder is a very supportive funder if you receive funding from them. It tends to provide ongoing support to a handful of organizations with which its president, Leonard Lauder, is personally involved. It will be difficult for new organizations to get on this funder’s radar unless you can network and get on the president’s radar. Contact information is provided below, but you might also want to reach out to previous grantees to make an introduction — only if your work is a close fit for Lauder.
PROFILE: The New York City-based Lauder Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of Leonard A. Lauder, who, with his brother Ronald, is an heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetic fortune. Leonard Lauder headed his parents’ company until 1999, when he retired and handed the reins to his son William. Leonard Lauder and his wife, Evelyn, are widely known as collectors of modern art and supporters of New York City’s landmark art museums. Their foundation, which maintains a low-profile, makes grants in the areas of democracy, global development, education, arts and culture, Jewish causes and diseases.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy and Global Development
The Lauder Foundation’s largest grant recipient is recent years is the Aspen Institute, where Leonard Lauder serves as a trustee and has chaired the organization’s International Committee. The Aspen Institute is widely known for its conferences, fellowships and leadership development programs on a broad range of issues, including of global economic development, education, social enterprise, civic engagement and justice, to name a few. In a recent year, the Lauder Foundation made grants totaling about $780,000.
Grants for Arts and Culture
While the Lauder Foundation does not outline its grantmaking priorities in the areas of arts and culture, tax filings suggest a strong interest in this areas, with recent grantees representing a broad range of performing arts, visual arts and other cultural organizations. Grantmaking in these areas appears to prioritize the New York City area, with recent grants supporting the Frick Collection, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Botanical Gardens and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation. Outside of New York City, the foundation has given to the Glimmerglas Opera Theatre in Cooperstown, New York. It is worth mentioning that Leonard Lauder and his wife have privately provided ongoing support to New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which likely inherit Lauder’s large collection Cubist art.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Lauder Foundation does not name specific goals for its grantmaking for education, but recent tax filings reveal and strong interest in K-12 and higher education. Lauder’s K-12 grantees consist mainly of private, college preparatory schools that offer pre-K through grade 12 educational. Grantees include Los Angeles’s Pilgrim School, Lake Highland Preparatory School and First Academy, which both serve students in the Orlando, Florida area. The foundation has also supported educational programs at public libraries including the Greenwich Library in Connecticut and the Winter Park Public Library of Florida. In higher education, the Lauder Foundation has supported Hunter College, which is part of the City University of New York, and the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Jewish causes represent a smaller area of giving for the Lauder Foundation in recent years. Grants have, however, supported a broad range of Jewish organizations in the U.S., including the National Museum of American Jewish History, the Jewish Communal Fund, California’s Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, the American Jewish Committee and National Jewish Health, a research hospital based in Denver, Colorado.
Grants for Diseases
The Lauder Foundation makes only a few grants each year to organizations working in the areas of disease research, prevention and treatment. In recent years, the foundation has given to the Elton John Aids Foundation, and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, where Lauder serves a co-chair and where the family pledged $200 million by 2033 to help accelerate research into treatment and drugs aimed at preventing the disease.
Important Grant Details:
In recent years, the Lauder Foundation has given away between $3 and $4 million in grants annually. Grants range from $2,000 to $1 million, with larger sums going to organizations where Leonard Lauder maintains personal involvement. For additional information about past grantmaking, see the Lauder Foundation’s recent tax filings.
The Lauder Foundation does not maintain a website but according to recent tax filings, it does not accept unsolicited requests for funding. An address and phone number are provided below.
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CONTACT:
Lauder Foundation
767 5th Ave., 40th Fl.
New York, Y 10153
(212) 284-2764