Walentas Foundation, Ltd
/OVERVIEW: The Walentas Foundation, Ltd funds grantmaking related to the arts, education, youth, and civic development. Brooklyn, New York serves as an important region of giving.
IP TAKE: The foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities.
PROFILE: The Walentas Foundation, Ltd was established in 2012. Its founders are real estate billionaire David C. Walentas and his wife Jane who has worked as an art director. David Walentas founded Two Trees Management, which is best known for transforming Brooklyn neighborhoods Dumbo and Williamsburg. Two Trees CEO is now the couple's son, Jed, who also serves as vice president of the foundation. 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 the Walentas Foundation, Ltd supports grantmaking related to the arts, education, youth, and civic development. Brooklyn, New York serves as an important region of giving.
Grants for Arts and Culture, Arts Education, and Community Development
The family helped create The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, which awards studio space to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies, with the mission to provide working studio space and community for artists. Since its founding, over 400 artists have participated in the program. In the early 1980s, meanwhile, Jane and David Walentas purchased an historic carousel made in 1922 at an auction. Jane helped spearhead a multi-decade restoration project and the carousel, now known as Jane's Carousel, which resides in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Grantees have included Success Academy Charter Schools, Creative Time, Brooklyn Public Library, Friends of the High Line, NYU Langone Medical Center, Transportation Alternatives and Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, which "supports the Mayor’s initiative to create connectivity and generate economic development along the East River waterfront corridor from Sunset Park to Astoria through the construction of a modern streetcar that complements and enhances existing transportation infrastructure."
Important Grant Details
Grants range from $1,000 to $500,000. In a recent fiscal year, the foundation gave away around $2 million.
While the Walentas Foundation, Ltd keeps a low profile, a recent tax filing indicates that the foundation does accept unsolicited applications.
The foundation requires a typed, detailed analysis of proposed use of contribution, analysis of historic use of contributions, and detailed history of the charitable organizations.
The application deadline was February 28 in a recent tax year.
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CONTACT:
David C. Walentas
45 Main Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-222-2500
