Tow Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Connecticut-based Tow Foundation supports public health, criminal justice reform, higher education, journalism and arts and culture with a strong focus on marginalized people. This foundation prioritizes the states of Connecticut and New York.
IP TAKE: The Tow Foundation is a grantmaker that likes to support organizations that “don’t neatly fit into one area, and are unfortunately left behind by many foundations.” Its largest areas of giving in recent year concern health, criminal justice reform and higher education. Much of its giving concerns overlapping areas of interest, such as prison education or journalism relating to justice reform.
This is not an accessible funder, but Tow does advise prospective grantees to explore its current grants page to assess whether they fit the foundation’s funding criteria and to reach out with specific questions via email. This means it may be possible to pitch your work, provided that it is succinct and a solid match with the foundation’s work. Collaborative and approachable, this foundation sometimes provides unrestricted grants, especially in the criminal justice reform space.
PROFILE: The New Canaan, Connecticut-based Tow Foundation was established in 1988 by Leonard Tow and his wife, Claire. Leonard Tow holds a Ph.D. in economic geography from Columbia University. He worked as an economics professor before becoming involved in the emerging cable TV industry of the 1970s and 80s and founding Century Communications, a leading cable television provider. Tow is also the 2019 recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy. Today the Tows’ daughter, Emily, steers the Tow Foundation, which promotes “wellness and access to opportunities so that individuals and communities can thrive.” Working predominately in Connecticut and New York, this funder focuses specifically on “visionary leaders and nonprofit organizations that serve historically marginalized population, help individuals contribute to their communities, and champion advancements and experiences that make it possible for all people to live health and joyous lives.” The foundation’s current grantmaking programs are culture, higher education, journalism, justice and community wellness, and medicine.
Grants for Diseases and Public Health
The Tow Foundation’s grantmaking program for medicine is its largest, with grants totaling about $6.6 million in a recent year. The program’s overarching goal is to “support groundbreaking, human-centered medical care and research with the potential to transform lives.” Specific goals of recent funding include technologies related to genomics, support for the development of leadership and research at leading medical research institutions and promoting “compassionate patient care” at partner institutions. The foundation recently gave $2 million to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami for studies relating to early detection of multiple myeloma. Other grantee-partners include the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Cardiology Fellowship at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, the Brain Research Digital Library at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Pulmonary Fellowship Program at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut.
The Tow Foundation also supports public health via its justice and community wellness grantmaking which names as one of its goals “fellowships and mentorship opportunities for the public health leaders of tomorrow.” Grants stemming from this subinitiative include Girl Trek, an advocacy organization concerned with Black women’s health, and the Peer Health Exchange, which used funding to launch a health support app for adolescents.
Grants for Criminal Justice Reform
The Tow Foundation’s grantmaking for justice and community wellness has increased significantly over the past several years. In addition to its health leadership grants, it names as areas of focus the reform of mass incarceration and criminalization, programs that support the human rights of incarcerated people and “opportunities and resources for individuals and communities caught up in the legal justice system.” The foundation made 79 grants totaling about $5.5 million form this program in a recent year. Grantees include Brooklyn’s A Little Piece of Light, which helps formerly incarcerated women and LGBTQ people find services and opportunities upon rentry, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, a national organization involved in policy development to end “juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) and other extreme sentences for youth.” Other recent criminal justice reform grantees include the Center for Justice Innocation, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice and the Connecticut Bail Fund.
Grants for Higher Education
Tow’s higher education grantmaking overlaps with its work in the areas of medicine and criminal justice reform, as many of the professorships, fellowships, internships and scholarships that it supports fall in the areas of medical education, research on criminal justice reform and “life-changing educational opportunities for incarcerated students.” This is a somewhat smaller area of giving for Tow, with annual grants topping $2 million recently. The University of Buffalo School of Law recently received funding for its Parole Reform Initiative, which “pushes for legislative reforms and develops litigation strategies to change the way parole hearings are conducted.” Tow has also endowed the Leonard and Claire Tow Chair for Democracy and Education at Bard College Prison Initiative, which provides education to hundreds of students each year at six New York State prisons. Other higher education recipients include Wesleyan University, CUNY’s Brooklyn College and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Grants for Journalism
Journalism is one of Tow’s smaller areas of giving, with recent annual grantmaking totaling about $735,000. Funding in this area supports “innovative journalism that educates the public, holds leaders accountable and combats misinformation.” As with Tow’s other areas of giving, journalism grantmaking overlaps with other initiatives, as reporting on justice reform and health equity, as well as journalism education programs, have been prioritized. The foundation supports the Tow Fellowship for Youth, Race and Justice at Connecticut Public, a member station of National Public Radio, and the Leonard Tow Journalism Professorship at Columbia’s Journalism School. Other grants have gone to the Solutions Journalism Network, Report for America and Fostering Media Connections, which used funding to support reporting on youth justice in upstate New York.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Tow’s culture grantmaking focuses on “the transformative power of creativity and the arts.” Grants for arts and culture support the nonprofit arts communities in both New York and Connecticut, with a strong focus on programs that “affirm human dignity and transform lives, in prison and beyond.” The foundation also maintains a tradition of supporting theater through its signature Tow Playwrights in Residence Program at landmark New York City Theaters including the Roundabout Theatre Company, the New York Theatre Workshop and the Atlantic Theater Company. The program provides salary and benefits to selected playwrights who work with participating theaters to produce new, original works. Other arts and culture grantees include the Sing Sing Prison Museum, Columbia University’s School of the Arts and One Nation/One Project, a participatory art program of national scope that is scheduled to open in July 2023. The foundation made over
Grants for Mental Health
Mental health is not a current area of grantmaking focus for the Tow Foundation, but the foundation’s innovation fund recently completed a cycle of grantmaking that focused on family and school mental health programming. Grantees included the California School-Based Health Alliance, Philadelphia’s Norris Square Community Alliance and Brooklyn’s Sunset Park Health Council. It is unclear if the foundation will expand or continue its giving in this area.
Important Grant Details:
The Tow Foundation has made just over $20 million in grants in a recent year. Most of Tow’s grants range from $5,000 to $500,000, but institutions with which the foundation has long-standing relationships have received upwards of $1 million. Over 70% of grants are take the form of multi-year, unrestricted support. Tow grantees tend to be well-established organizations in the states of Connecticut and New York, although funding is not strictly limited to these areas and recent years have seen an increase in support for national organizations and organizations operating in other parts of the country. For additional information about the foundation’s recent grantmaking see its grant directory.
The Tow Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding but recommends that prospective grantees explore its current grantees page to assess whether they would meet the foundation’s funding criteria. Questions may be submitted via email or telephone at (203)761-6605.
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