Ellen and Gary Davis Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Ellen and Gary Davis Foundation funds grantmaking related to education, youth, Jewish causes, health and medical research, and the arts. 

IP TAKE: The foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities. This funder is not very approachable and does not provide a clear way to get in touch, leaving grantseekers with the need to network here.

PROFILE: The Ellen and Gary Davis Foundation was established in 1992. It was founded by financier Gary Davis and his wife Ellen, an active principal, investor and advisor for early-stage businesses. Gary Davis founded AIG Trading Group and went on to found DKR Capital in Connecticut. 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 Resource Foundation funds grantmaking related to education, youth, Jewish causes, health and medical research, and the arts. 

Grants for Higher Education, Jewish Causes, Public Health, and Arts and Culture

The Davises have steadily supported Davis' alma mater Cornell University through the years, including endowing the Gary S. Davis Professorship of Government, the Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, and establishing a joint fellowship at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and Weill Cornell Medicine to advance research into epilepsy. Davis is a trustee of his school. In 2016, the couple made a $2 million gift to Weill Cornell Medicine to drive ongoing research in immunotherapy, and launching the Ellen and Gary Davis Immune Monitoring Core. Ellen is on the Weill Cornell Medicine board of overseers.  Ellen is active on a number of boards, including in the Jewish community. She developed and launched a virtual JCC platform for Greenwich, Connecticut and has served as chair of UJA-JCC Greenwich, which the family supports. 

Past grantees include Columbia Law School (and the Gary S. Davis Scholarship Fund),  Horace Mann School (Ellen was on the board),  Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Met, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. 

Important Grant Details

Grants range from $100 to around $320,000. In a recent fiscal year, the foundation gave away around $1.1 million. The Ellen and Gary Davis Foundation keeps a low profile and does not accept unsolicited proposals.

PEOPLE:

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CONTACT:

Ellen and Gary Davis Foundation
45 Pecksland Road
Greenwich, CT 06831