Riggio Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Riggio Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to arts, culture, education, youth, health, and human services.
IP TAKE: The foundation does not maintain a website, which restricts transparency about grantmaking strategies and guidelines. Tax filings show that this funder may support an organization for more than one year, which makes its grantmaking a crowded space. Its lack of public profile suggests it prefers to choose its own grantees to support, as indicated by its decision to not accept unsolicited proposals. However, call this foundation to introduce your work to them to get on their radar.
PROFILE: Established in 1994, the Riggio Foundation was established by businessman Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise. Leonard is the founder of Barnes and Noble. The foundation does not maintain a website, which restricts transparency about grantmaking strategies and guidelines. Tax filings suggest that the Riggio Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to arts, culture, education, youth, and human services.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Riggio Foundation’s grantmaking strongly focuses on arts and culture organizations, per tax filings. The Riggios are active art collectors who’ve been on ARTNews’ top 200 collectors list. They’ve given millions to the Dia Art Foundation, helping launch Dia:Beacon in the early 2000s. The couple have also directed millions to Korean Cultural Center New York and to Studio Museum. They’ve also served as benefactors for a range of public art initiatives including Chinati, The Spiral Getty, and Michael Heizer’s City Project. The Riggios are also interested in arts education, including creating the Leonard and Louise Riggio Writing and Democracy Initiative, an endowment with the mission to accent "the writer in the world” at the New School.
Grants for Human Services
The foundation’s grantmaking also touches human services organizations, including nonprofits working in the realm of housing and homelessness, and food banks. The couple built homes for families who lost their homes in New Orleans, committing at least $20 million. They couple gifted more than 100 homes to displaced families through a nonprofit they launched called Project Home Again.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $1,000 to around $2.3 million. In a recent year, the foundation gave away approximately $4.7 million. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records. Grantmaking focuses on New York City. Past local grantees include Columbia University, Children’s Aid Society, Goddard Riverside Community Center, New York City Rescue Mission, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
The foundation keeps a low profile and does not accept unsolicited proposals.
PEOPLE:
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CONTACT:
The Riggio Foundation
122 5th Ave., Ste. 10
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-3375
