Broad Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation is a major funder in Los Angeles and nationally that provides ongoing support to several flagship institutions in science, biomedical research, education, and the arts. Additional grantmaking supports K-12 education, job pathways, and civics in Los Angeles.
IP TAKE: The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a major Los Angeles funder with nearly $2 billions in assets, tends to stick with organizations with which it has established relationships, including genetics and stem cell centers at several universities and arts initiatives that bear the Broad name. Other grantmaking focuses on creating equity and opportunity in Los Angeles; specific goals and priorities change over time to address the city’s more pressing social issues. Shortly before Eli’s death in 2021, the Broads enacted a number of leadership changes at the foundation and pledged ongoing support to the city of Los Angeles, in particular those in the city from “historically underrepresented groups.”
Broad is a less-accessible funder with no formal grants application system in place. The foundation isn’t particularly transparent, either, lacking a grants database and providing few details about ongoing grant making. A review of the Broad Foundation’s 990 form in a recent year shows a wide range of grants, from small grants to Los Angeles-area nonprofits to large grants to the signature Broad flagship programs. Targeted networking with past grantees or the foundation’s staff and/or board members may be the only way to get a foot in the door here.
PROFILE: The Broad Foundation, created in 1967, has long been a significant presence in Los Angeles. IP founder David Callahan argued in 2021 that the Broad’s approach to philanthropy has represented both the promises and perils of the era of Big Philanthropy.
The Broads made their wealth from Eli Broad’s two successful companies in real estate and insurance. The foundation’s aim is to “steadfastly steward our groundbreaking institutions in education, science and the arts, while elevating organizations, initiatives and leaders that boldly address the challenges of our time and expand opportunity for Los Angeles’ historically marginalized communities.” The Broad Foundation provides ongoing support to several flagship initiatives, many of which bear the Broad name, including The Broad art museum, and The Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard. The foundation also makes grants through funding initiatives that address evolving social issues in the Los Angeles area. Its current “overlapping” grantmaking areas for Los Angeles are Skills for the New Economy, Pathways to Good Jobs and Civic Partnership Grants.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Broad Foundation’s funding for K-12 education stems from the Skills for a New Economy subprogram of its Investing in the Future of Los Angeles initiative. Funding prioritizes children and youth from Los Angeles’s “under-invested neighborhoods” and focuses on providing students with “academic rigor, enriching out-of-school experiences and work-based learning in quality jobs and internships.”
Charters schools and networks represent a significant portion of this funding, with recent grants supporting Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Innovate Public Schools and Great Public Schools Now. Other grantees serving K-12 students and educators include DIY Girls, the EnCorps STEM Teachers Program, the L.A. STEM Collective, the Partnership for Children and Youth and Teens Exploring Technology.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The Investing in the Future of Los Angeles program’s Pathways to Good Jobs and Civic Partnership Grants build on the foundation’s work in K-12 education by providing “pathways to high-quality, upwardly mobile jobs” and developing a “sustainable, coordinated ecosystem of access and opportunity” beyond traditional K-12 education. Recent grantees of these two overlapping subprograms include the Los Angeles Black Work Center, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, the Worker Education and Resource Center and InnerCity Struggle.
Grants for Science, Brain and Cell Research, and Diseases
The Broad Foundation supports disease and stem cell research mainly through its flagship initiatives, including the Stem Cell Center at the University of Southern California, the Stem Cell Center at the University of California San Francisco and the Stem Cell Center at the University of California Los Angeles. The foundation also provides ongoing funding to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Founded in 2004, the institute aims to “better understand the roots of disease and narrow the gap between new biological insights and impact for patients.”
Grants for Arts and Culture
Support for arts and culture stems from two of the Broad Foundation’s flagship initiatives. The Broad Stage, a venue located at Santa Monica College, “gathers artists, thinkers and audiences to celebrate our shared humanity and expand the role the arts play in the vitality of our diverse community.” The Broad Art Foundation is an extensive collection of contemporary visual art that aims to make its holdings available to a wide range of audiences via exhibitions and a lending program that collaborates with “art museums and galleries worldwide.”
Grants for Higher Education
The Broad Foundation does not currently name higher education as an area of grantmaking priority. Nevertheless, significant grantmaking goes to colleges and universities across the U.S. each year. Recent grantees include Yale University, Michigan State University, the California Institute of Technology, Swarthmore College, Harvard University and the University of Southern California.
Important Grant Details:
The Broad Foundation made over $150 million in grants in a recent year. A significant portion of this funding supports its flagship initiatives. Other grantmaking tends to support education and economic opportunity in Los Angeles. For additional information about past grantmaking see the foundation’s Flagship Initiatives and Investing in the Future of Los Angeles pages.
This foundation identifies organizations that align with its funding initiatives; it does not accept proposals for grants. The foundation does not provide a direct avenue for getting in touch, but its social media handles and the names of its staff and board are provided on its about us page.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
