Greenbaum Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Greenbaum Foundation supports initiatives that work to move the world toward a plant-based diet and end factory farming. It also supports human rights, public health, women’s and girls’ causes, animals welfare, and documentary films about current issues that center on the foundation’s philanthropic areas of interest.
IP TAKE: The Greenbaum foundation is one of the nation’s top funders in the animal rights and plant-based food space, having shifted its focus over the past few years from human trafficking prevention to expanding veganism and ending factory farming. Making around $6 million a year in grants, this funder supports a range of well-established and early-stage grassroots organizations and projects; however, its human rights funding only supports legacy grantees with whom the foundation has established long-running partnerships. Indeed, across all areas of support, Greenbaum commits to its grantees for the long haul, and, according to foundation director Meghan O’Brien Lowery, “It’s very rare that we give a one-off grant. If we’ve vetted you, we are partners.”
The Greenbaum Foundation is not accessible and does not accept unsolicited requests for funding, making it a tough nut to crack, but contact it to learn more about how it selects grantees.
PROFILE: The Greenbaum Foundation was established in 1991 by Jim Greenbaum, the founder and former CEO of Access Long Distance, a telecommunications company. Jim left the corporate world at the age of 40 because he wanted to make the world a better place through philanthropy, and he continues to serve as managing director of the Greenbaum Foundation today. Greenbaum, who is said to have a net worth of over $100 million, has a stated goal “to give away 85% of his assets during his lifetime to charitable projects, the rest after his death.” He is also a producer of documentary films; titles to his credit include “The Game Changers,” “What the Health,” “Cowspiracy” and “Not in My Life.” Based in West Hollywood, California, The Greenbaum Foundation aims to “bring about the end of suffering (human and non-human) in areas of the highest need and where we can have the most impact.” Areas of grantmaking interest include sustainable farming, food systems, animals and wildlife, human rights, global health, women’s and girls’ causes, and film.
Grants for Animals and Wildlife, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
In recent years, Greenbaum has shifted its primary focus from human rights to promoting whole foods plant-based diets and ending factory farming. Its grantmaking includes support for organizations and projects working to decease animals’ “incalculable […] suffering” and the “negative consequences for human health, the environment and climate” created by a meat-based diet. The foundation’s animal advocacy funding also supports organizations involved in the prevention of cruelty to domesticated animals, including pets, farm animals and animals used for work or entertainment purposes. Grantmaking in this area overlaps with Greenbaum’s plant-based nutrition funding. Grantees include the Animal Charity Evaluator, Compassion in World Farming, Fauntalytics, the Humane League, Mercy for Animals, Our Hen House and Stop Animal Exploitation Now.
The Greenbaum Foundation is a strong supporter of veganism and sustainable food systems, and it specifically funds organizations that promote plant-based diets for their sustainability and health benefits. Many grantees in this area are smaller, grassroots organizations that produce educational materials or public awareness programs. Grantees include Beyond Carnism, Black Vegans Rock, the Food Empowerment Project, Food Frontier and the Good Food Institute.
Grants for Global Security and Human Rights
While the foundation has shifted the central focus of its grantmaking to veganism and ending factory farming, it still supports the work of a few “legacy organizations.” Greenbaum’s human rights grantmaking stems from its human rights and trafficking initiative and focuses “on abolishing all forms of modern-day slavery; ending child marriage, female genital cutting, gender based violence, and barriers preventing women from having equal rights.” One past grantee, Liberty Global Asia, aims to involve legal, technology and financial institutions in initiatives aimed at preventing human trafficking throughout Southeast Asia. In Africa, the foundation has supported La Conscience, an organization that provides shelter, healthcare, counseling and education to trafficking victims. And in the U.S., Greenbaum has supported In Our Backyard’s Convenience Stores Against Trafficking program, which trains store employees to recognize and provide assistance to individual victims of trafficking and exploitation.
Grants for Public Health
Greenbaum’s human health initiative focuses on the roles of diet and lifestyle on human health and disease prevention. The foundation is specifically interested in organizations that conduct research, public awareness and education programs that address the role of plant-based diets and the reduction of animal products in human health. The foundation supported a study at the Preventative Medicine Research Institute that investigated the effects of plant-based diets on early-onset Alzheimer’s patients. Another grantee, Plant-based Prevention of Disease, organizes conferences and continuing education programs on the role of lifestyle changes in the prevention of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Other health grantees include the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Physicians’ Association for Nutrition and the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Grants for Women and Girls
Although the Greenbaum Foundation does not maintain an initiative for women’s and girls’ causes, several of Greenbaum’s human rights and trafficking grantees work specifically with women and girls. The foundation has also begun to support groups “tackling the global issue of the non consensual sharing of sexually explicit images and deep fakes.” One grantee, Shamsaha, provides services to victims of domestic and sexual violence in the Bahrain. Another grantee, STOP, India, works to rescue and rehabilitate women and children from trafficking and other exploitative situations. In Africa, the foundation has funded TOSTAN, which works rural areas of seven eastern countries to prevent child marriage, genital mutilation and the oppression of women.
Grants for Film
The Greenbaum Foundation maintains a documentary film funding initiative through which it has produced several documentaries about issues with which Greenbaum himself maintains interest. Projects have included “Cowspiracy,” an exposé of the beef industry, and “Behind the Fence,” which depicts a prison camp in Myanmar where members of the Rohingya minority are held. Trailers of other funded projects are posted on the initiative’s web page.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
In addition to its thematic grantmaking areas, the Greenbaum Foundation supports philanthropic organizations that aim to develop the next generation of philanthropists and social entrepreneurs through networking events and conferences. The foundation has given to the Nexus Global Youth Summit, which brings young investors and changemakers together to draft solutions to pressing global issues, and Generation Pledge, an organization that helps “ultrahigh net worth heirs” to connect with philanthropic causes.
Important Grant Details:
The Greenbaum Foundation, combined with Jim Greenbaum’s personal grantmaking, has awarded more than $60 million. It makes close to $6 million a year in grants in amounts ranging from a few thousand to $500,00. This funder’s average grant size is about $50,000. While many grantees are major players in the foundation’s areas of grantmaking interest, Greenbaum has also supported smaller, early-stage organizations and projects. For additional information on past grantmaking, see the foundation’s organizations supported page.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding in any of its grantmaking programs. Prospective grantees may email the foundation at info@GreenbaumFoundation.org with general questions.
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