Ayrshire Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Ayrshire Foundation invests in youth opportunity, science and the environment, healthcare, elderly and disabled and community culture. Its philanthropy is concentrated in the greater Pasadena, California area.

IP TAKE:  This funder directs much of its philanthropy toward the greater Pasadena, California, area. It does not award very many grants per year, but the ones it does give can be quite substantial.

The foundation’s awards grants for one year or multiple years and supports partnering with other foundations and/or serving as a matching grant incentive for other givers. Regardless of the partnerships or incentives, because this is a foundation that seeks to invest, it is not keen to allocate grants for general operating support. As the foundation states, it instead seeks to support “other than usual operations—i.e. providing seed money for new programs or agencies designed to meet unfilled needs in the communities involved.”

PROFILE: The Ayrshire Foundation was founded in 1998 by James N. Gamble, a great-grandson of the founder of Procter & Gamble, along with his two daughters and their husbands. Based in Pasadena, California, the foundation invests broadly in “the possibility of change and a better world” through the creation of opportunities that improve the lives of others. In 2015, the foundation split into two: one based in Southern California and retaining the Ayshire name, and one in Northern California now known as the Caldera Foundation. The Ayrshire Foundation’s original giving strategy was broad, but it has since narrowed its grantmaking into four key focus areas: opportunities for youth, science and the environment, healthcare, services for the elderly and disabled and community culture. 

Grants for K-12 Education

The Ayrshire Foundation does not provide detailed information about its grantmaking guidelines. Its education giving includes, but is not limited to, support for learning disabilities, faculty, scholarships and sports. One past grantee, the Hillsides organization of Pasadena, provides services, advocacy and therapeutic education programs for at-risk children in the Pasadena area. Another recipient, Villa Esperanza Services, received $1 million to renovate its school for special needs children.

Grants for Environmental Conservation and Climate Change

The foundation broadly supports climate change initiatives through its conservation and science giving, which the foundation prioritizes in order to protect and enhance our world by supporting “scientific research and education as well as sustainable or remedial environmental policy." Tax filings reveal a broad interest in climate change. Unfortunately, Ayshire does not name climate change grantmaking strategies, which suggests it prefers to access projects related to climate change on a case by case basis. Past climate change grantees include the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Union of Concerned Scientists among many other past grantees.

Grants for Public Health

The Ayrshire Foundation does not provide detailed information about its grantmaking guidelines. Its health giving includes, but is not limited to, support for hospitals and medical research, as well as “aid to the homeless and destitute” and “aid for children at risk. Past grants include $1 million to Hollenbeck Palms to renovate their Skilled Nursing Facility for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as $40,000 to Villa Esperanza Services to launch an “adaptive physical education” program for students with developmental disabilities and autism-spectrum disorders.

Grants for Arts and Culture

The Ayrshire Foundation does not provide detailed information about its grantmaking guidelines. Its arts and culture grantmaking seeks to support "local arts and historical institutions to enhance the vibrancy of our communities,” including, but is not limited to, support for performing arts, museums, and zoos. The foundation gives “preference” to three locations: San Francisco Bay Area, the San Gabriel Valley, and Little Traverse, Michigan—all three are areas where James Gamble and his family have community ties.

Grants for Theater

Past theater grantees include Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Theatre 360, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Pasadena Playhouse among others.

Grants for Dance

Past dance grantees include the Oberlin Dance Collective in San Francisco for support "with its planning for successor" (also considered a Youth Opportunities grant), and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA, for a solar-ray canopy (also considered a Science & Environment grant). This resident artists program includes support of choreographers and dancers in the creation stages of their next project.

Grants for Music

Past examples of Ayrshire Foundation support of music include: $100,000 to MUSE/IQUE in Pasadena, CA to invest in its infrastructure;  $40,000 to the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA for a solar-ray canopy (also considered a Science & Environment grant); $100,000 to the Pasadena Symphony in Pasadena, CA for an acoustical stage tent, audience enclosure, and video projection system; $10,000 to the Chrysalis Foundation in San Francisco, CA for publication of work on musical theory and mathematics; $100,000/year for two years to Pasadena Conservatory of Music in Pasadena, CA, for renovation of its building and campus.

Grants for Visual Arts

Past Ayrshire Foundation visual arts grantees includes Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA, to assist with moving its “Walk to Art” program to its new facility (also considered a Youth Opportunities grant); and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA for a solar-ray canopy (also considered a Science & Environment grant); as well as, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA, for the building of its Orientation Gallery.

Guidance for Grantseekers

Ayrshire Foundation grants range from $25,000 to $1 million, supporting organizations and projects of various sizes, most of which are in the greater Pasadena, California area. The foundation also names Petoskey-Harbor Springs, Michigan, as a geographic area of interest. The foundation indicates that it is “inclined to make ongoing, operational-type grants” but is “enthusiastic about projects that relate to more than one grant category; grants that can be leveraged to attract other funding; and projects that are replicable.”

This foundation is not accepting new applications for funding until 2023. General inquiries may be made via the foundation’s contact page. 

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