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 and Louise Riggio. Leonard Riggio attended New York University. Beginning with a single college bookstore in 1965, Riggio built one of the largest enterprises in the history of American retail, 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 Education

Riggio also devotes much of his time to public education. He led the nation’s first-ever private endowment for a public high school, Brooklyn Technical High School, his alma mater. The couple are supporters of 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. This work has supported HBCUs, recently making a $2 million gift to Spelman College toward construction of the Center for Innovation & the Arts. Other grantees have included Boston University, Columbia University, and the Children's Aid Society. The couple also recently made a $1 million gift to establish the Class of 2019 “Leonard and Louise Riggio Scholarship Fund at Kingsborough Community College.

Grants for Civic Engagement

Riggio served on the board of Children’s Defense Fund, where he organized and funded the 1996 “Stand for Children” March in Washington. The couple have also supported the Freedom School at Haley Farm in Tennessee, whose mission is to cultivate young community leaders. Long passionate about Civil Rights, Riggio helped launch The Langston Hughes Library (Riggio’s favorite poet) and The Riggio-Lynch Chapel.

Grants for Housing and 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.

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CONTACT:

The Riggio Foundation
122 5th Ave., Ste. 10
New York, NY 10011
(212) 633-3375