James H. Clark Charitable Foundation
/OVERVIEW : The James H. Clark Foundation supports education, medical research and classical music.
IP TAKE : Based in Florida, the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation has consolidated its grantmaking in recent years, supporting a small group of core grantees in education, medical research and classical music, making this a crowded giving space. More than half of all funding goes to Stamford University’s James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and the Perlman Music Program in New York.
This funder is not transparent or accessible. It also does not maintain a website or run an open application program. This is a tough nut to crack, but a mailing address and phone number are provided below.
PROFILE : The James H. Clark Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of the computer scientist James H. Clark. Clark transformed several tech companies — including Silicon Graphics, Hyperion, and WebMD — into billion-dollar tech behemoths, but he is best known as the strategist who helped Marc Andreessen introduce the world to the Internet in 1994 through Netscape, the browser that held more than 80% of the browser market until 1998. Clark earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in physics at the University of New Orleans, followed by a Ph.D in computer science from the University of Utah in 1974. From 1979 to 1982, he worked as an associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. Clark is famous for the development of the Netscape Navigator, a web browser that held more than 80% of the browser market from 1994 until 1998. He conducts his philanthropy through the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation, which he established in 2000 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The foundation maintains a low profile and does not operate a website, but recent tax filings suggest grantmaking interest in the areas of education, medical research and arts and culture initiatives.
Grants for Education
Education is the Clark Charitable Foundation’s largest area of giving, accounting for more than half of the foundation’s grantmaking. The largest recipient of Clark’s education funding is Stamford University, which receives millions of dollars in annual support, and where Clark helped to establish the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering. Other past education grantees include the University of California San Francisco, the University of Utah, Tulane University and New York City’s Chapin School.
Grants for Science Research
In 1999, Clark helped to establish the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering at Stamford University. The foundation continues to support the center, which houses the Bio-X program, an initiative that encompasses a range of interdisciplinary studies of human life and psychology. Other past medical research grantees include Benioff Children's Hospital at the University of California San Francisco, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the Myelin Repair Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Clark Charitable Foundation’s main recipient in the area of arts and culture is the Perlman Music Program, a summer music intensive for gifted young musicians based on Shelter Island. The program appears to be the sole recipient of arts funding in recent years, but other past grantees include the Feltsman Piano Foundation, the New York Philharmonic and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in Louisiana.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
James H. Clark is a competitive yachtsman and has supported several sailing organizations over the years, including Sail Newport, Sailors for the Sea and Sail to Prevail, which provides sailing opportunities for disabled children and adults. The foundation also supported a number of environmental organizations in past years, but giving in this area has tapered off significantly.
Important Grant Details
The James H. Clark Charitable Foundation has made around $5 million in grants in recent years. Most grants range from $10,000 to $500,000, with an average grant size of about $100,000. The foundation’s two largest recipients, Stamford University and the Perlman Music Program, have received several million a year recently.
This funder does not operate a website and according to tax filings, does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding. A mailing address and phone number are provided below.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
CONTACT:
James H. Clark Charitable Foundation
505 S. Flagler Dr., Ste. 900
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-5948
(561) 832-9292
