The Annenberg Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Annenberg Foundation makes grants across the United States, but primarily in Southern California, to support the arts, education, journalism, the humanities, civics and community development, the environment, and health and wellness.
IP TAKE: Annenberg is a prominent funder in the Los Angeles area, known primarily for funding the arts, health, and education initiatives and institutions. The foundation prioritizes funding for organizations within its geographical areas of interest. According to the foundation’s website, it has “evolved from a traditional grantmaking institution to one that is also directly involved in the community with its unique charitable activities through which large-scale solutions to systemic problems are pursued.” Annenberg’s online grant applications have been suspended since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, though the website continues to define this as a “temporary” suspension, so it’s worthwhile to check back. Grantmaking continues, but by invitation only. Annenberg is keen on funding organizations that invest in the long-term health and wellness of communities and that prioritize partnerships and collaboration.
PROFILE: Founded in 1989, the Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation created by Walter Annenberg with about $1.2 billion of wealth from his media enterprise, based in Pennsylvania. While it was once an East Coast funder, it gradually shifted its focus to the West Coast, as well as the globe. Walter Annenberg, former ambassador to the Court of St. James from 1969 to 1974, enjoyed a distinguished career as a publisher, broadcaster, diplomat and philanthropist. He served as president and chairman of the Board for Triangle Publications, which included TV Guide and Seventeen magazine, as well as radio and TV stations nationwide. The longtime current head of the foundation, Wallis Annenberg, relocated the foundation to the Los Angeles area.
The Annenberg Foundation works to support communities through “innovative projects that advance public well being, spark new ideas and spread knowledge.” The foundation is “committed to core values of responsiveness, accessibility, fairness and involvement,” and it values “visionary leadership, impact, sustainability, innovation, organizational strength, network of partnerships plus the population being served.” Annenberg’s funding invests in several initiatives including animal services and the environment, the arts, culture and humanities, civics and community, education and youth, and health and human services.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Annenberg Foundation’s grantmaking for the arts primarily supports a select few institutions in Los Angeles and Southern California, such as the Annenberg Space for Photography, which has since closed, the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, Sound in Focus, and Wallis Annenberg Genspace. GroW Annenberg — a philanthropic initiative founded and led by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, a vice president and director of the Annenberg Foundation — has supported local cultural events and institutions, as well as funding abroad.
Culture-focused grantmaking also tends to invest in institutions that the foundation has established itself, such as the the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, meant to serve as the “Camp David of the West” and to establish SoCal as a center of cultural activity, and Annenberg Community Beach House, which facilitates quintessential SoCal beach culture.
Arts and culture grants tend to stay close to home. Annenberg’s investments in arts and culture extend beyond institutions that bear its name to include small and large organizations that reflect institutional giving rather than grassroots organizations. Past related grantees include: $25,000 to MoMA for the exhibition “Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light”; $100,000 to the World Monument Fund to restore the Church of San Pedro Apostol; $16,000 to Theatre of Note for three productions of “A Mulholland Christmas Carol”; $200,000 to Opera Fuoco to support the cost of a period instrument orchestra; $300,000 to the Museum of Jurassic Technology for a Goran Djordjevic collaboration and for general operating support; $1 million to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and $250,000 to the Delta Music Institute for the support of its Mobile Music Lab.
Grants for Journalism and Democracy
The Annenberg Foundation’s funding for journalism is primarily limited to journalism schools that bear its name rather than primarily grassroots efforts to bolster local news. For instance, the foundation supports the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at USC, and University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and Annenberg Public Policy Center.
That said, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has become a premier communication policy center in the country since its founding in 1993.
Grants for SoCal Nonprofit Leadership
Along with a range of grants for local organizations that bolster nonprofit management, Annenberg also gives related grants through Project Grantmanship, which was established to “strengthen Los Angeles County community-based organizations by training nonprofit leaders to plan more effective programs and produce compelling proposals for funding.”
Grants for Community and Economic Development
As with other areas of giving, the Annenberg Foundation balances giving to institutions that bear its name with primarily local, but also U.S.-based organizations. The Annenberg Foundation’s investments in community and economic development span widely, but tend to intersect with the arts and culture, as outlined above, and tech industry, among other areas of interest.
To facilitate the tech industry in SoCal, the Annenberg Foundation hosts PledgeLA — a coalition of tech companies and venture capital firms working to measurably increase diversity, equity, and community engagement — in partnership with the Office of the Mayor. PledgeLA, part of a larger initiative named AnnenbergTech, the foundation works to explore how the “intersection of technology and philanthropy can benefit” Los Angeles. Several funds exist through PledgeLA that work to increase “accountability, access to jobs, and capital” in the city by bolstering the Los Angeles tech industry through both job skills building, STEM education and careers, and related initiatives.
The Annenberg Foundation also works as a facilitator between various stakeholders in the city of Los Angeles, as evidenced by LA n sync, to bring together the “academic, civic, nonprofit, business and philanthropic sectors of Greater Los Angeles to pursue and win major funding opportunities.”
Other community development initiatives include Universally Accessible Treehouse.
Grants for Animal Welfare, Wildlife, and Marine Conservation
Through its animal protection grantmaking, Anneberg has supported a combination of urban or domestic animal protection, along with some wildlife groups, such as the Association for Parrot Care, Conservation Adoptions Rescue, and Hope Veterinary Center. Annenberg has also made a number of smaller grants to groups like Ocean Defenders Alliance, Heal the Bay, Friends of the Sea Lion, Boxer Rescue Fund, Inc. of Los Angeles, and the Stray Cat Alliance. The foundation has also established the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing and PetSpace.
While Annenberg's global grantmaking is limited, it still offers about $1 million annually to animal welfare initiatives outside of the United States. For instance, it has funded Orangutan Foundation International and the World Wildlife Fund in the past.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
The Annenberg Foundation’s education initiatives include innovative educational solutions, as well as support for centers and institutes at American universities. In 1993, Walter Annenberg made what was then the largest-ever gift toward public education with the Annenberg Challenge, a $500 million commitment to over 2,000 public schools in 35 states.
The Annenberg Learner initiative — previously known as the Annenberg/CPB Project and then Annenberg Media — uses “media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools.” This generally consists of educational video programs, web content and print materials for K-12 teachers.
Other education and youth grantees, generally centering around Southern California, include 826LA, A Place Called Home, A-PLACE, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School Foundation, and Advancement Through Opportunity and Knowledge.
Grants for Public Health
While it is not a main priority, the Annenberg Foundation does make some gifts to health-related organizations in Southern California and beyond. These grants generally center on access to quality and affordable healthcare, public accessibility for the disabled, healthcare for the aging, addiction and alcoholism, child welfare, and chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS.
Grantees include ACCESS OC, AIDS Assistance Program, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, Brigadoon Service Dogs and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Important Grant Details:
Annenberg grants are for one year and range from $10,000 to $100,000. General operating support grants are limited to 10% or less of an organization's total budget.
Organizations with budgets larger than $10 million are not eligible for general operating support, but may apply for project support.
Grantseekers may browse the foundation’s community grantmaking or newsroom pages for more information on its past grantmaking habits.
Annenberg prioritizes funding nonprofit organizations serving the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino that are “well-integrated into the fabric of the communities they serve”: however, 990s reveal that it has made grants across the United States, with New York a particular area of focus, and the globe, specifically in Israel, India, the U.K. and France.
The Annenberg Foundation typically accepts applications on a rolling basis, but due to the pandemic, it has temporary ceased reviewing proposals. Grantseekers should check back with the foundation after some time has passed to review its application process.
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