Scherman Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Scherman Foundation works in New York City and across the U.S. to support grass roots and community-led groups involved in democracy, reproductive justice, climate justice, arts and culture and more.
IP TAKE: The Scherman Foundation is revising its grantmaking strategy to better address current issues and needs in the social and racial justice landscapes. While the foundation’s original mission and vision remain, future grantmaking will focus on flexible, general operating support for grassroots and community-led groups. About half of all grants stay in New York City and vicinity, but organizations across the U.S. have received support.
Scherman expects to begin accepting letters of inquiry from new applicants again in 2024.
PROFILE: The Scherman Foundation was established in 1941 by American publisher Harry Scherman, co-founder of the Book of the Month Club. The foundation’s grantmaking is driven by the belief that “an engaged population creates multiple paths to equitable, sustainable, and structural social change.” Its stated mission is to support “the arts and organizations that use community organizing and advocacy to build a more just, sustainable, and equitable New York, as well as those that strengthen democracy and advance environmental and reproductive justice nationwide.”
Scherman’s grantmaking areas are Arts, Democracy, Environmental and Climate Justice, Reproductive Justice and Strengthening New York Communities. In 2023, the foundation began the process of revising its grantmaking guidelines “to better reflect our two core commitments: advancing racial justice and emphasizing organizing, power shifting, and movement building in BIPOC communities across all our programs.” During this time of transition, the foundation intends to focus on “on providing final grants to current grantees that don’t fit this new direction and increased support for those grantees that do, as well as a very limited number of new organizations.” The Scherman Foundation expects to resume its practice of accepting letters of inquiry with the launch of its new grantmaking guidelines in June of 2024.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Scherman Foundation’s Arts giving “values creative diversity without cultural boundaries and increasingly prioritizes groups led by and serving BIPOC constituencies.” Grantmaking focuses on the performing arts, with only a few grants each year devoted to visual arts groups. Funding is limited to organizations based in New York City, but arts organizations of all sizes have received support, as well as “groups providing the infrastructure to sustain the creative life.”
Arts Grantmaking provides general operating support in the belief that “strong artistic leaders are empowered with flexible funding.” The average grant size for this program is about $30,000, with awards distributed over a two-year period. Past grantees include the Flea Theater, Harlem Stage, the New York Festival of Song, the Youth Organizing and Culture Change Fund and the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
Grants for Democracy and Racial Justice
Grants supporting Democracy and Racial Justice stem from Scherman’s Democracy and Strengthening New York Communities programs.
The Scherman Foundation’s Democracy program, formerly Government Transparency and Accountability, was revamped in 2021 to address “new threats to voting rights and assaults on democratic norms.” Grantmaking works to support organizations that support “civic participation by the vast majority of the population, including communities that have long been excluded from power” and names “BIPOC, gender-inclusive, and LGBTQ+ communities” as priorities. The program also names some specific grantmaking goals.
Grants for voting rights aim to protect and expand voting rights and increase access to voting to ensure “secure and peaceful elections.”
Grants for institutional reforms toward the creation of “a truly responsive democracy” include support for “reforms like eliminating gerrymandering, increasing voter participation, improving election administration, changing campaign finance rules, reforming the Electoral College, challenging the filibuster, and working for a more representative judiciary.”
Grants for community power work to “mobilize and empower all voters and communities—especially those in communities of color—to build strong civic engagement, create leadership opportunities and pathways to elected office for members of their community, and help those leaders govern effectively once elected.”
Across each of these goals, the foundation makes grants for general operating support in amounts ranging from $75,000 to $150,000 distributed over a two-year period. This program’s giving is national in scope. Past grantees include the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Puerto Rico’s Latino Justice PRLDEF, the Rural Democracy Initiative and the NYC Voter Turnout Fund.
Scherman’s Strengthening New York Communities program also supports democracy and racial justice. This program works in New York City and, to a limited degree, on Long Island and in Upstate New York to support “organizations led by and for BIPOC communities” that organize for political power and social justice. Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to policy, civic engagement and the reform of policing and criminal justice systems.
The average grant size from this program is $45,000, distributed over a two-year period. Grantees include the Bronx People’s Platform, Communities Resist, People’s Plan NYC and the Lawyers Alliance for NY.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
The foundation’s Environmental and Climate Justice giving program works broadly “to empower justice-seeking grassroots EJ groups to develop their own strategic and policy solutions and approaches.” Grantmaking prioritizes “frontline communities have suffered the most from climate change and other environmental harms,” with grants supporting organizations of all sizes working nationally, regionally or locally. The foundation tends to give to organizations that work across areas of interest, and many of its climate change grantees work in the areas of civic engagement, housing or economic opportunity as a component of their climate work.
The average grant size from this program is about $50,000, with grants distributed over a two-year period. As with the foundatoin’s other grantmaking areas, grants fund general operating support. Past grantees include the Indigenous Environmental Network, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the League of Conservation Voters and the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, among others.
Grants for Women, Girls and LGBTQ Causes
The Scherman Foundation’s grantmaking for Reproductive Justice supports “reproductive justice for all people” while recognizing “how race, class, gender, and sexual identity affect women’s reproductive health and autonomy.” Areas of priority include coalition building at the grassroots level, leadership development, public outreach and advancing reproductive justice policy at local, state and federal levels.
Grants for general operating support are awarded for two years with an average grant size of about $45,000. Past grantees include California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Sistersong and WV Free, among others.
Grants for Housing, Work and Opportunity, Immigrants and Refugees and Criminal Justice Reform
Scherman’s Strengthening New York Communities grantmaking program supports “systemic change efforts” toward social justice in New York City. A few grants also serve organizations operating on Long Island and Upstate New York. Grantmaking from this program prioritizes community and grassroots groups for whom “limited Foundation dollars can leverage significant results.” As with the foundation’s other area of giving, this program acknowledges the historical marginalization of people of color and works to “end structural racism” in areas including housing, economic opportunity and criminal justice. Grants also groups working for and with underserved immigrant communities.
General operating grants are awarded for two years with an average grant size of about $45,000. Past grantees include the Assoication for Neighborhood & Housing Development, Communities United for Police Reform, New Immigrant Community Empowerment and the Workers’ Justice Project.
Important Grant Details:
Grants generally range from $20,000 to $200,000.
Grants are typically distributed over a two-year period.
The Sherman Foundation’s grants fund general operating support.
While this funder supports organizatiosn across the U.S., it prioritizes New York City and its surrounding areas.
This funder supports organizations of all sizes put prioritizes those that are community-led and representative of the communities they serve.
This funder plans to begin accepting letters of inquiry again in 2024. Grantseekers should check back for updates and new applicaton guidelines.
See the tabs under the Our Community heading for lists of past grantees of each program.
Reach out via the foundation’s contact page with questions or comments.
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