Meryl Streep
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Actress
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Social Welfare & Women, Education, Environment, Health
OVERVIEW: Meryl Streep conducts her grantmaking through the Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts. She has interests in arts and culture, education, women, and more. Grantmaking prioritizes the East Coast, and the couple lives in Connecticut, the site of recent funding. The foundation does not have much of a web presence.
Now that she is divorcing from Donald Gummer, look out for new philanthropic vehicles.
BACKGROUND: Meryl Streep was born in Summit, New Jersey in 1949. She graduated from Vassar College and Yale Drama School and began her career on the New York stage in the late 1960s. Streep broke into films in the 1970s with a role in the drama Julia. Her role in Kramer vs. Kramer brought Streep her first Oscar. With nearly 20 Oscar nominations, Streep is the most nominated actress of all time.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: Streep and her ex-husband have supported the arts, as reflected in the name of their foundation, Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts. Besides Streep's storied career in Hollywood and beyond, her husband Donald is a sculptor. The foundation's grantmaking has supported organizations like Butler Museum of American Art in Ohio; New York Shakespeare Festival; The National Museum of Women's History; Mass MoCA Foundation; and Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston. It is worth mentioning that Donald is a School of Museum of Fine Arts graduate. Streep also gave a $1 million grant to Public Theater in New York in 2012.
EDUCATION: Streep has supported Indiana University Foundation. Donald received an honorary degree from Indiana University recently. The foundation steadily supports Vassar College. Other grantees include Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn; Yale University School of Art; Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University; Segue Institute for Learning, a charter school; and Upward Bound, which prepares low-income students for college.
SOCIAL WELFARE & WOMEN: The foundation's grantmaking has supported Amnesty International USA, City Meals On Wheels, Equality Now Inc, and Oxfam-America. The couple also has an interest in women's causes, supporting outfits such as Vital Voices Global Partnership, whose "mission is to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world," Women's Refugee Commission, Women for Women International, Women In Need, and more.
ENVIRONMENT: Grantees include Connecticut Farmland Trust, Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Foundation, and Scenic Hudson, among others.
HEALTH: The foundation's grantmaking has supported organizations such as the Christopher Reeve Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International.
OTHER: Streep also supports youth through organizations such as Housatonic Youth Service Bureau. They also fund historic preservation and a handful of religious outfits.
LOOKING FORWARD: Streep has been engaged in philanthropy since at least 1983, when the foundation was established, so we expect continued giving, possibly at a higher level over time. Keep in mind that Streep may engage in direct giving apart from her foundation, and so we may be missing some important gifts.
CONTACT:
Applications should be directed to the following address:
Donald & M.S. Gummer, c/o Wes & Sons LLC
310 South Street, PO BOX 1913
Morristown, NJ 07962
