OVERVIEW: The Paul Angell Foundation supports marine conservation, the performing arts, education, racial equity, economic justice, youth programs, criminal justice reform, immigrants’ rights and policy advocacy. This funder priorities Chicago and other Midwestern cities and states, except for its conservation program, which is global in scope.
IP TAKE: The Paul Angell Foundation has grown quickly into an important Chicago-area funder, with distinctive niches in the performing arts and marine conservation. Its grants are concentrated in the Midwest, but also reach national and international arts and conservation organizations. More recently, Angell has been building a social impact portfolio focused on economic justice in Chicago.
The foundation is collaborative and has participated in pooled funds, including the Shark Conservation Fund and the League of American Orchestras’ Catalyst Fund. Its 2026 cycle page says new applicants are invitation-only across conservation, performing arts and social impact, while some recent returning grantees retain open access. Contact information is available on its website, though the foundation remains only moderately transparent; its sparse site does not include a grants database.
Past grantees give Angell strong marks for being responsive, thoughtful and open-minded. For new prospects, the best path is warm visibility through aligned issue networks, existing grantees, field collaboratives and respected peer institutions in marine conservation, Chicagoland performing arts, or Chicago racial, economic and civic justice work.
PROFILE: Established in 2011, the Paul Angell Foundation honors the memory of its namesake, Paul Angell, the founder of the Newly Weds Foods company and an early manufacturer of the ice cream cake roll. Based in Chicago, Illinois, the foundation’s mission is to “work towards a world of thriving and equitable communities in which the promise and power of the arts flourish, and where healthy oceans sustainably support the human and other animal species that depend on them.” Paul Angell supports programs in conservation, the performing arts, and social impact.
Grants for Marine Conservation
The conservation program supports “organizations, projects and programs that conserve and protect marine biodiversity. Its listed focus areas are sustainable/effective Marine Protected Areas, international fisheries governance, coral reef ecosystems, shark and ray species, legal capacity for marine conservation, ending plastic pollution, maritime-shipping decarbonization and international climate action.”
- Conservation is currently accepting grant requests from pre-selected organizations or projects by invitation only.
- The foundation provides general operating grants, grants supporting specific programs.
- Specific areas of interest include the sustainability of marine protected areas, governance for sustainable fishing, coral reefs, shark and ray species conservation, reducing plastic pollution, decarbonizing the shipping industry and increasing “legal capacity” for marine conservation.
- Past Paul Angell marine conservation grantees include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Wildaid, Earthjustice and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute of Seattle.
Grants for Performing Arts and Culture
Paul Angell’s performing arts program funds a wide range of organizations “from emerging groups to major institutions” so the arts are in reach for everyone in Chicago-land. The About page adds that the foundation has recently focused on theatre and classical music while a planning process is underway, with new funding opportunities expected in 2026.
- The foundation is running an RFP, Envisioning the Future: Holistic Resources for New Work Development, a 2026 pilot for Chicagoland performing arts nonprofits not funded by Paul Angell’s Performing Arts program since Jan. 1, 2023.
- Grants have also supported arts education programming.
- Grantees include the Washington Drama Society, Chicago’s Merit School of Music, the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the DC Youth Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Grants for Social Impact
The Paul Angell’s social impact program works to build equitable, safe and thriving communities, with a focus on racial justice for individuals and families most affected by systemic inequities. It focuses on opportunities such as quality education, support/healing networks, financial stability and employment, plus civic engagement, organizing and advocacy. In this light, this program has several intersecting interests.
This program names several priorities: Civic Engagement & Policy Advocacy, Economic Justice & Empowerment, Education & Youth Programs, Justice, and Safe, Healthy, & Thriving Communities.
- Social Impact applicants are invitation-only; returning grantees funded more than a year ago are invitation-only; returning grantees funded in the past year are open.
- New Social Impact grant requests are from pre-selected organizations or projects by invitation only, with priority to organizations or projects based in Chicagoland.
- Grantees include Chicago’s Center for Changing Lives, the Inspiration Corporation’s Food Service Training Program and the North Lawndale Employment Network.
- Paul Angell made a $10 million, five-year commitment announced in June 2025 to the Lustgarten Foundation for pancreatic-cancer early-detection research
- Other past grants have supported “women’s empowerment” and reproductive justice, although the program does not name more specific goals for this giving. Grantees include Women Employed, Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the Chicago Abortion Fund and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation.
- A portion of Paul Angell’s social impact grantmaking supports efforts in criminal justice reform, particularly in the areas of youth justice and ending the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Grantees include the Chicago Community Bond Fund, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, Youth Crossroads and Adler University’s Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice.
- This program area broadly names immigrant and refugee rights and services as areas of grantmaking interest, although this has been a smaller area of giving. Grants have supported the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Upwardly Global and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
- K-12 grants support initiatives for high school completion and improving academic outcomes for at-risk students. Grantees include Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas, Youth Guidance of Chicago and Raise Your Hand for Illinois Education, which helps schools “build parent power” and secure equitable funding. The foundation also supports access to higher education and post-secondary vocational training programs. The University of Chicago received funding for its Network for College Success and Inclusive Economy Lab.
Important Grant Details:
The Paul Angell Foundation’s 2024 revenue amount to $866,996,211, with expenses of $61,071,659, and total assets of $903,277,356, as well as charitable disbursements of $60,707,119. This funder awards a handful of grants ranging from $500,000 to nearly $1 million, most grants typically range between $50,000 and $250,000.
- Grantees range from large, national organizations to small, community-based efforts.
- The Paul Angell makes grants or general operations and project support.
- The Paul Angell Foundation has two grant cycles per year: April and November.
- Geographical areas covered include:
- Conservation is ocean/marine and often international;
- Performing Arts is centered in Chicago/Cook County for the current RFP, with legacy attention to theatre/classical music and prior geographies beyond Chicago;
- Social Impact is primarily Chicagoland and racial-justice/community-opportunity oriented.
- Begin the application process by registering with the application portal and completing the eligibility quiz. The foundation runs three cycles per year: April, August, and November.
- The foundation may be contacted via its contact page, which also provides email addresses for its individual grantmaking programs. The foundation’s phone number is (872) 337-8900.
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