Ehrenkranz Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of art-collecting couple Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz. The foundation invests in the arts, education, health, housing, and the Jewish community.
IP TAKE: This foundation does not maintain a website or other public presence, restricting information about its grantmaking strategies or interests; however, we’ve gleaned insights from their available taxes. The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation does not appear to accept unsolicited proposals.
Grantmaking often tracks with board memberships and personal connections, which makes networking especially important. To get on this grantmaker’s radar, reach out to members of boards to which they belong or other connections. Education grants are focused on private or charter school institutions, so those working in public education will have no luck here. This funder is a hard nut to crack without a personal connection.
PROFILE: The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation was founded in 1997 by Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz. Joel both co-founded and serves as a senior partner of Ehrenkranz Partners L.P., as well as Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP. Anne, meanwhile, is an art historian, photographer and book author on photography. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded close to $4.1 million in grants in a recent year. It appears that their foundation invests in the arts, specifically in New York City; housing and homelessness, the Jewish community, education, and health.
Grants for the Visual Arts and New York City
The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation’s arts’ giving prioritizes New York City, photography, and contemporary art. To a lesser extent, the foundation occasionally funds the performing arts and music. This foundation takes visual art seriously, particularly at the institutional and museum levels. Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz have been consistently featured on the renowned ARTnews' top 200 art collectors list several times for contemporary art. Meanwhile, Anne's strong interest in photography also influences some of the family's giving.
Grants for the arts comprise the foundation’s most generous giving area, with awards often in the millions of dollars. Some of the couple's most significant grantmaking has been to the Whitney Museum, where they have endowed a curatorship. Joel once served as president of the Whitney. MoMA, meanwhile, serves as the site of the Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator of Photography. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is another important grantee, where Joel serves as a vice chair.
Other arts grantees include International Center of Photography, International Print Center, PS1 Contemporary Arts Center, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, Museum of City of New York, the Asia Society (where Anne is a trustee).
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
New York City grants also focus on charter schools and institutions of higher education, which include the family's alma maters in New York. For Anne, that's the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. For Joel, the family has funded New York University School of Law. Other grantees have included Bank Street College of Education, KIPP New York, and more. Grantseekers beyond the New York City metropolitan area, especially those without a personal connection to the foundation or seeking funding for public education, will not be successful here.
Grants for Public Health and Access
The foundation’s health-related funding prioritizes New York City. Given the foundation’s lack of a public-facing profile, it’s unclear what strategies it uses in related-health grantmaking; however, it’s clear that work in the health field centers on New York City and invests in large, established institutions with which the family has a personal connection or personal interest.
Past health grantees include the Icahn School of Medicine; the Hospital for Special Surgery, where Anne is a trustee and Joel is an advisor, and Visiting Nurse Service of New York, where Anne also serves on the board.
Grants for the Jewish Community and Housing
The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation's grantmaking also involves Jewish and human services outfits in the city including UJA Federation of New York, the Robin Hood Foundation and Henry Street Settlement. A component of the foundation's grantmaking also involves policy outfits like the Manhattan Institute.
Important Grant Details
In a recent year, the foundation gave away around $5.6 million. The average grant size for this funder is about $20,000. Arts grants tend to be larger than some of the other areas the couple supports, with a few grants exceeding a million annually.
The family foundation keeps a low profile and does not provide clear guidelines for grantseekers, making it tough to get a handle on what exactly the family is looking for its grantees. However, an address and phone number are provided below.
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CONTACT:
Ehrenkranz Family Foundation
375 Park Ave., Ste. 2800
New York City, NY 1015
