AG Foundation

OVERVIEW: The AG Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to the arts and education. It also earmarks funds for other causes like health, and women’s issues.

IP TAKE: The foundation does not maintain a website, which restricts transparency about grantmaking strategies and guidelines.

Gund’s giving has been going strong for years. It is unclear how much money still waits in the wings here, but expect her interest in arts and social justice to continue in particular.

PROFILE: Established in 1988, the AG Foundation was established by Agnes Gund, a prominent arts patron, collector of modern and contemporary art, and arts education and social justice advocate. Agnes Gund graduated with a B.A. in history from Connecticut College and an M.A. in art history from Harvard University.  She served as served as president of the Museum of Modern Art for more than a decade. Gund's father, George Gund II, was president and chairman of Cleveland Trust, once Ohio's largest bank. Though she is not on the Forbes billionaire list, Gund family net worth was estimated at $3.4 billion earlier last decade.

The foundation does not maintain a website, which makes it difficult to locate further information on its priority areas and grantmaking strategies. Tax filings suggest that the AG Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to the arts and education. It also earmarks funds for other causes like health, and women’s issues.

Grants for Arts and Culture

The AG Foundation does not have a website to guide grantseekers. Most of the foundation’s grants are for general support. Agnes Gund is president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and chair of MoMA PS1. She is also founder and board chair of Studio in a School, a non-profit organization she established in 1977 in response to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts classes from New York City public schools. Grantmaking appears to prioritize museums, arts education, and other visual and performing arts institutions. Agnes also created Art for Justice Fund, which has plans to sunset in June 2023.

Through the years, Gund has given at least $10 million to Cleveland Museum of Art, where she sits on the board. The Gund family have been strong patrons of the museum for years. She also sits on boards like Chess in the Schools, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and Socrates Sculpture Park. She is co-founder of the Center for Curatorial Leadership and an honorary trustee of the Independent Curators International as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland. Other grantees have included All-Star Orchestra Summit in Seattle; Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation; Art:21,  a “nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists”; Brooklyn Academy of Music; Lincoln Center; Barnes Foundation; The Met; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and many more.

Grants for Higher Education

Gund has supported her alma mater Connecticut College, recently giving a gift of $1 million to endow The Agnes Gund ’60 Dialogue Project “to build a generation of leaders capable of respecting and expressing a broad range of divergent ideas and opinions.” She’s also given strong funding in the past to Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center, and supported Oberlin College; Agnes Gund learned under late influential art historian and curator Ellen Johnson, who taught at the Ohio-based college. Other grantees have included Indian Mountain School.

Grants for Social Justice, Racial Justice

In 2017, Gund made headlines in June when she announced that she had sold the Roy Lichtenstein painting "Masterpiece" for $165 million to create the Art for Justice Fund, which makes direct grants to artists and advocates focused on safely reducing the prison population, promoting justice reinvestment and creating art that changes the narrative around mass incarceration. The likes of filmmaker Ava DuVernay and scholar Michelle Alexander sit on the board. As Gund puts it, “"Collectors understand the transformative power of art. Now we can use specific works to improve lives and drive change."

Grants for Women, the Environment, Refugees and AIDS Research

Gund also has an interest in women’s issues and environmental concerns, as well as human rights causes and health. She was a strong backer of AIDS research. She’s given big gifts to International Rescue Committee (IRC). She’s also supported places like New York Women's Foundation and Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

Important Grant Details:

Grants range between $1,000 and $672,966. In a recent year, the foundation gave away around $22.8 million. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records. Grantmaking focuses on New York City, as well as other Northeastern states like Connecticut. A component of grantmaking also involves Ohio. Past local grantees include Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and New York Women’s Foundation.

This foundation does not typically accept unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits.

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CONTACT:

AG Foundation
517 Broadway, 3rd Fl.
East Liverpool, OH 43920