Blavatnik Family Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Blavatnik Family Foundation supports science research, Jewish causes, arts and culture and education to advance scientific innovation and discovery around the world.

IP TAKE: This is a reasonably accessible and approachable funder that seeks to make an impact in its areas of focus. That said, it has been expanding funding for the arts, in recent years, but evolving related grantmaking through a racial and gender justice lens. There appears to be a focus on prioritizing grantees from Black, Latino and Indigenous backgrounds. Many grantee organizations are also led by women.

Grant and award requirements vary by program. For science research awards, nominations are accepted from an invited group of research universities, independent research institutions, academic medical centers, and government laboratories from around the United States, as well as from the Awards’ own Scientific Advisory Council, composed of renowned science and technology leaders. Past Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards are also invited to submit nominations.

Blavatnik and his wife Emily also move some of their philanthropy through the Provident Foundation, an under the radar charity which supports a number of arts and culture organizations in New York City. U.S. tax records exist for this foundation. It does not focus on Jewish-related giving, but there is some intersection, such as support of the Jewish Museum.

PROFILE: Established in 2018, the Blavatnik Family Foundation (BFF) is a private foundation based in New York City. This is the foundation of Leo Blavatnik, who is the founder and chairman of a global investment group called Access Industries. He was born in Odesa, Ukraine, raised in Moscow and became a U.S. citizen in 1984. Blavatnik is a lifelong patron of the arts, supporter of higher education and interested in early-stage discovery for scientific and health-related breakthroughs. BFF aims to create “a meaningful and lasting impact in the world by supporting leaders who see today’s challenges as an opportunity to create a better tomorrow.” Grantmaking interests are largely centered on young scientists and leaders as they look to cure diseases and transform government and business industries. BFF also makes grants to world-class art and cultural institutions and local art organizations that reach underserved communities.

Grants for Jewish Causes

Blavatnik supports Jewish Causes across all of it’s focus areas: arts and culture, government, other funding opportunities, and science research. Grantseekers from Tel Aviv to the U.S. have benefited from Blavatnik grants, such as Tel Aviv University.

In the Science Research space, Blavatnik also offers the Blavatnik Awards in Israel, which recognize Israel’s most “promising faculty-rank (academic staff) researchers in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemistry.” In each category, one Blavatnik Laureate receives US$100,000 in unrestricted funds. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel are co-administered by the New York Academy of Sciences and The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Blavatnik also gives broad community development grants to organizations serving underprivileged people across the U.S., Israel and the UK. Most of it’s grants here benefit causes related to Jewish education or culture and Israel in some way.

Len Blavatnik also founded the Blavatnik Archive, a nonprofit "dedicated to the discovery and preservation of historically distinctive and visually compelling artifacts, images and stories that contribute to the study of 20th century Jewish, WWI and WWII history." The organization's holdings total some 90,000 physical and digital assets, including archival photographs, letters, documents and ephemera, and contemporary oral testimonies. 

Grants for Racial Justice and the Arts

This funder makes arts grants through its program dedicated to arts and culture. The program focuses on broadly supporting “world-class art and cultural institutions and programs that preserve and promote the beauty and history of creativity and innovation.” The foundation does not outline a more detailed strategy here, preferring to keep it’s cards close and appear to fund the space more broadly; however, it’s new WMG/BFF Social Justice Fund appears more detailed in focus.

It appears from grants made and from the $100 million dollar backed Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund that several arts grants have a social justice bent. According to an article in Billboard, Lorelei Williams, executive director of the WMG/BFF SJF, states:

“We need to create new paradigms of intersectional movement building to disrupt systemic racism and address anti-Black terrorism,” said . “We need new voices at the table. And, if we’re being honest, we need a new table.”

Established in June 2020, the $100 million fund works to support causes “related to the music industry, social justice and education, along with campaigns designed to fight violence and racism.”

Indeed, in the same article, Len Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries and the lone benefactor funding his family’s foundation, states:

“We’re proud to support the extraordinary organizations on the front lines of the fight against racism and injustice and to help further lasting change,.”

Past arts and culture grantees include Black Lives in Music, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Girls Make Beats, Project Level, Save The Music, Unlock Her Potential and Universal Hip Hop Museum. It is important to note that of this list, 86% of grantees are helmed by Black, Latinx, or Asian leaders, and 57% have female leadership.

Grants made through the WMG/BFF Social Justice Fund tend to focus on “building music industry pipelines” by creating “pathways for youth and young professionals of color, and advocating for greater racial and gender equity” across the music industry.

Grants for Science Research

The majority of Blavatnik’s grantmaking focuses on science research. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, the largest unrestricted award of it’s kind for early-career scientists, offers $100,000 to individual, academic researchers. This funder also makes science research grants through four categories:

  • Blavatnik Regional Awards – honoring postdoctoral researchers in the US States of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Winners are awarded $30,000 each and two Finalists in each disciplinary category are awarded $10,000 each in unrestricted funds.

  • Blavatnik National Awards – recognizing faculty scientists across the United States.

  • Blavatnik Awards in the United Kingdom – celebrating academic staff researchers working in the United Kingdom.

  • Blavatnik Awards in Israel – honoring faculty scientists based in Israel; co-administered by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Grants for Civic and Democracy

While Blavatnik does not make general grants for civic and democracy causes, it makes related grants through its dedicated Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University in England. Since 2010, the foundation has provided additional support for faculty and students, so if you’re interested in a related grant here, you must first become a student or faculty member at the School of Government.

Important Grant Details:

The Blavatnik Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for funding for its grantmaking programs. The foundation awards a relatively large number of grants each year with amounts ranging anywhere from $1,000 to $5 million. Nomination periods for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists program have different deadlines depending on the award. Click here for more information.

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