TAWANI Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The TAWANI Foundation runs grantmaking programs for education, gender and human sexuality, arts and culture, conservation and health and human services.
IP TAKE: TAWANI’s largest giving areas are cultural institutions, health and human services, and gender and human sexuality, which together account for approximately seventy percent of the foundation’s total grantmaking. Conservation is a relatively new area of giving for this funder, which has tapered off its giving to military and veterans’ organizations in recent years. Chicago is an area of strong geographic priority.
While many in the Pritzker clan are staunch Democrats, including her cousins J.B. and Penny Pritzker, Jennifer Pritzker is a major Republican donor. She’s written checks to the likes of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Donald Trump, for whom she voted. According to an IP article, on the heels of Trump’s tweets about a transgender military ban, Pritzker became outspoken against that administration. While this funder does not often fund progressive organizations, it does fund related issues from a more conservative perspective.
This funder prefers to be proactive in its giving, so it’s not accessible. It does not accept or respond to letters of inquiry. However, prospective grantees, especially those operating in the Chicago area, may contact this responsive and approachable foundation with general inquiries via email.
PROFILE: The TAWANI Foundation was established in 1995 by the billionaire Jennifer Pritzker in Chicago. COL (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired) is a member of the Pritzker family, who made their fortune as owners of the Hyatt hotel chain, as well as many other highly successful investments. She inherited stakes in the family's Hyatt Hotels chain as well as industrial firms run by her late father Robert and his brothers Jay and Donald. Jennifer, who is an openly trans woman, is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the Army Reserves and the Illinois Army National Guard. She is currently the president and CEO of her own investment firm, TAWANI Enterprises.
The TAWANI Foundation focuses on “making a broader world of good, one that combines a deep respect for how far we’ve come with a steadfast optimism for how far we can go.” Its stated focus areas are Education, Gender and Human Sexuality, Cultural Institutions and Preservation, Environmental Initiatives and Health and Human Services.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Education is the TAWANI Foundation’s largest giving area. In higher education, the foundation aims to fund institutions that provide high quality learning in a broad range of disciplines. The foundation’s main recipients in recent years, Tulane University and Loyola University Chicago, have received over a million dollars over the past five years. Other higher education grantees have included the University of Chicago Library, Hebrew Union College, Norwich University, Case Western Reserve University, and Philander Smith College.
TAWANI’s education grants also support a broad range of K-12 schools and programs, prioritizing the Chicago area. Recent grantees include Forefront Education, which produces student data management systems, and the Illinois-based Bernie’s Book Bank, which aims to bring quality reading materials to children who might otherwise not have access to books. Other K-12 grantees include the American Farm School, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Ohio's Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School and Chicago’s Francis W. Parker School.
Grants for LGBTQ Causes
Born James Pritzker, the colonel announced she would live as a woman. She has become a staunch supporter of transgender rights and education in the military. In speaking to Inside Philanthropy, Pritzker echoed the No. 1 Parachute Training School RAF’s motto: “Knowledge Dispels Fear.”
To that end, TAWANI’s funding for LGBTQ causes supports “studies and efforts aimed at leading to a better understanding, and acceptance, of gender and human sexuality diversity.” Grantmaking in this area focuses on LGBTQ rights and social and health services for LGBTQ individuals and families. Pritzker has granted $2 million to the University of British Columbia to establish the world’s first chair for transgender studies. She is also involved with the Palm Center, a think tank known for coordinating research into the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Last decade, the Tawani Foundation gave $1.35 million to the University of California’s Palm Center to study how transgender people fare in the military. Tawani has also funded work at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s program in human sexuality and the Williams Institute UCLA Law School, a think tank “dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.”
In addition, Pritzker is an associate member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which she calls the “go-to organization for anything having to do with transgender issues.” Especially in its LGBTQ funding area, the foundation has made several multi-year grants.
Grants for Chicago, Arts and Culture
The foundation’s cultural institutions and preservation initiative runs sub programs for historical preservation of national architectural and cultural heritage and for cultural institutions in the Chicago area. Historical preservation grants supported “both prominent and less visible national treasures.” Recent recipients include the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the Trust for the National Mall and the Jamestown Foundation. Chicago arts and culture grants support a broad range of performing and visual arts organizations, including the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet, the Lincoln Park Zoo, About Face Theater, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago History Museum.
Grants for Chicago also address environmental conservation and public health, which you can read more about below.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
TAWANI’s environmental program is a newer area of giving for the foundation. Early grantmaking in this area aims to “make the outdoors more accessible and more impactful both for low-income neighborhoods and the community at large.” Early grantmaking in this area broadly aims to “make the outdoors more accessible and more impactful both for low-income neighborhoods and the community at large.” Grantees include the Chicago Parks Foundation, the Friends of the Nachusa Grasslands, the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the SETI Institute.
Grants for Public Health
A significant portion of TAWANI’s health and human services grants support public health initiatives, which focus on programs and organizations that aim to increase access to quality care in the Chicago area. The Chicago-based Silver Lining Foundation received a grant to support its cost-free breast cancer screening programs. Other recent Chicago-area grantees include the Erie Family Health Centers, the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago and the Howard Brown Health Center, which specializes in LGBTQ health and human services. Outside of the Chicago area, the foundation has given to Médecins sans Frontiers, La Leche League International and the national health education program Peer Health Exchange.
Grants for Military and Veterans
Veterans’ and military organizations have been major areas of focus in the past but giving in these areas has tapered off in recent years and has instead been flowing through TAWANI’s sister organization the Pritzker Military Foundation, also founded by Jennifer Pritzker. TAWANI’s past grantees represent a broad range of veterans’ and military organizations including the therapeutic cycling program Ride 2 Recovery, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and the USO World Headquarters.
Important Grant Details:
In a recent year, the TAWANI Foundation made about $8 million in grants ranging from $1,000 to $250,000. The foundation’s average grant size is about $15,000. Its largest areas of giving are to cultural institutions and health and human services, which together account for more than half of all grants. This foundation prioritizes the greater Chicago area, but national and international organizations have also received grants in recent years.
The TAWANI Foundation does not accept letters of inquiry or proposals. General inquiries may be submitted to the foundation via email at info@tawanifoundation.org.
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