OVERVIEW: The Chicago-based Irving Harris Foundation’s mental health grants support groups that address the social and emotional well-being of young children ages birth to three.
IP TAKE: The Irving Harris Foundation is a significant funder of early childhood, infant mental health and reproductive justice, with deep roots in Chicago and strong ties to national issue networks. Its grantmaking blends grassroots organizing, policy and systems change, leadership development and support for innovative models. Across several programs, BIPOC-led and community-driven organizations are especially well aligned. Funding occurs through an equity lens rooted in an intersectional view.
This is not an easy cold prospect. Irving Harris is highly relationship-driven, often backing organizations it knows well and, in some cases, supporting them over multiple years. It also keeps a tight focus on its issue areas and geographies, making fit especially important.
The foundation plans to sunset in 2032, but it has not said that all remaining funding is committed. It expects to continue grantmaking across its five focus areas, although some may wind down sooner than others. Since unsolicited proposals are declined in most program areas, the best prospects are organizations already active in Irving Harris’s networks. A warm introduction through an existing grantee, field partner, collaborative or co-funder is likely to be far more effective than a cold inquiry.
PROFILE: The Irving Harris Foundation was established in 1946 by businessman Irving Harris. The foundation operates in accordance with his traditional Jewish values, specifically that of giving back to one’s community. The foundation’s grantmaking is inspired by the founder’s “Jewish values—especially the tradition of giving back to communities and the imperative to seek Tzedek or Justice. As it is written, Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof, Justice, Justice you shall pursue.”
Based in Chicago, Illinois, the Irving Harris Foundation prioritizes organizations that work in its hometown through a racial justice lens. Today, the foundation says it “fuels ideas, leaders, and movements led by and for people most impacted by harm.” Its five focus areas are Early Childhood, Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health, Reproductive Health & Justice, Jewish Values, and Arts & Culture. Across these areas, Irving Harris works through four broad strategies: grassroots organizing and movement building; advocacy, policy and systems building; leadership and workforce development; and innovative models.
In 2023, the foundation announced that it would spend down its remaining assets and sunset in 2032. It says the decision is intended to move resources more quickly to communities and further its commitment to racial equity and shifting power. The foundation expects to continue working within all five focus areas during the transition, although some areas may sunset sooner than others, and says it will scale down support with attention to existing grantees’ sustainability.
Grants for Early Childhood
The Irving Harris Foundation’s Early Childhood supports work benefiting pregnant and birthing people, infants, toddlers, families and caregivers. Rather than concentrating narrowly on early childhood education or services, the program invests in organizations, leaders and movements seeking to change systems, policies and practices and shift power toward affected communities.
- Priorities include equitable access to comprehensive early childhood services, reducing racial and economic disparities in young children’s outcomes, increasing resources and power for BIPOC-led, community-driven organizations, and advancing policy solutions designed with communities.
- The foundation’s current grantee list includes organizations such as Alliance for Early Success, Community Organizing and Family Issues, Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, Illinois Action for Children, Latino Policy Forum, Mothering Justice, Start Early and Workers Center for Racial Justice. These grantees illustrate Irving Harris’s interest in organizing, policy advocacy, systems change, family leadership and early childhood infrastructure as well as direct services.
- The foundation does not currently accept unsolicited proposals for Early Childhood funding.
Grants for Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
Irving Harris has a separate Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health program, which should not be conflated with its broader Early Childhood portfolio. This program supports the social-emotional and mental health of pregnant and birthing people, infants, toddlers, families and caregivers, with an emphasis on reducing racial disparities and addressing systemic harms.
- Funding supports grassroots mental health, maternal and paternal mental health, and birth justice interventions, as well as culturally responsive care, public investment in family mental health and community-designed policy solutions. The foundation specifically seeks to strengthen BIPOC-led grassroots organizations in this field.
- Grantees include HealthConnect One, Erikson Institute, Illinois Association for Infant Mental Health, Fathers, Families and Healthy Communities, La Cocina, Movement for Family Power, ZERO TO THREE and university-based infant mental health and child trauma programs.
- Irving Harris also coordinates the Harris Professional Development Network, a network of 19 foundation grantees in 12 states, Washington, D.C., and Israel. Members train the infant and early childhood mental health workforce and have helped develop and disseminate models including Child-Parent Psychotherapy, HealthySteps, Fussy Baby Network and Safe Babies Court Teams. The network is a foundation initiative rather than a publicly advertised grant program.
- Grantseeker access is less explicit here than in Irving Harris’s other portfolios. The foundation’s current blanket statement barring unsolicited proposals names Early Childhood, Reproductive Health & Justice and Jewish Values, but not IECMH. The IECMH page does not publish an application, LOI process or open call. Prospective grantees therefore should not assume that unsolicited applications are accepted; no current public application mechanism could be located.
Grants for Reproductive Health and Justice
The foundation’s Reproductive Health & Justice program supports reproductive freedom, maternal health and reproductive, gender and birth justice. It specifically invests in the reproductive justice movement and in efforts led by people and communities most directly affected by reproductive oppression.
- Priorities include grassroots power building, removing barriers to respectful reproductive and maternal healthcare, reducing racial disparities in maternal and reproductive health outcomes, strengthening BIPOC-led community organizations and advancing community-designed policy solutions.
- Current grantees include Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Chicago Abortion Fund, Groundswell Fund, National Network of Abortion Funds, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, SisterSong, Birth Center Equity, Funders for Birth Justice & Equity and Proteus Fund.
- Irving Harris is also a longstanding supporter of the Rights, Faith & Democracy Collaborative at Proteus Fund. The collaborative directs funding to state-based organizations and coalitions working at the intersections of reproductive, racial, queer and religious-freedom issues. Irving Harris participated in the discussions that led to RFDC’s launch and has supported it since its inception. For aligned organizations, RFDC represents a potential indirect route to philanthropic resources supported by Irving Harris, although it is not a formal referral mechanism for direct IHF grants.
- The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals in Reproductive Health & Justice.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Arts & Culture program supports artistic and cultural expression as part of healthy and vibrant communities. Irving Harris frequently provides unrestricted support to cultural organizations and projects and gives special emphasis to work by living composers, choreographers, artists and media makers; politically and socially engaged exhibitions and performances; access to creative expression and learning; and underrepresented artists and audiences.
- Arts funding is concentrated primarily in Chicago, New York, Israel and Aspen, Colorado. Current grantees include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, National Museum of Mexican Art, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago Sinfonietta, Deeply Rooted Productions, Carnegie Hall, Anderson Ranch Arts Center and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
- Joan and Irving Harris were pivotal supporters of Chicago’s Harris Theater. During the theater’s development in 2002 and 2003, they stepped in with a $24 million construction loan and a $15 million gift after bank financing fell through. The theater opened in Millennium Park in 2003.
- The foundation explicitly describes its arts grantmaking as relationship-based and does not accept unsolicited proposals.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Through its Jewish Values program, Irving Harris brings an explicitly intersectional Jewish lens to social justice, with an emphasis on combating antisemitism, racism and other forms of bigotry, strengthening cooperation across communities and supporting multiracial Jewish leadership.
- The program works in both the United States and Israel. In Israel, Irving Harris also supports early childhood and child trauma training programs and a small number of pro-democracy organizations.
- Grantees include AVODAH, Bend the Arc, Interfaith America, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Jews of Color Initiative, National Council of Jewish Women, New Israel Fund, Israel Religious Action Center and several Israeli universities and institutions.
- The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals in its Jewish Values program.
Other Grantmaking for Chicago
In addition to its five formal focus areas, Irving Harris’s grantee list includes a separate “Chicago Grants” category. Organizations listed here include the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund, Crossroads Fund, Greater Chicago Food Depository, The Night Ministry, Nuestro Futuro, The Resurrection Project and the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
The foundation does not publish a separate strategy, eligibility policy or application process for these grants, so this should not be treated as a sixth open grant program. Rather, it reflects the foundation’s longstanding civic and philanthropic commitments in its home city.
Important Grant Details:
Its latest available 2024 Form 990-PF reports roughly $143.4 million in year-end assets and about $23 million in charitable disbursements. IRS-derived Part XV data identify 337 grants totaling approximately $22.1 million. The median grant was about $25,000, while the average was approximately $66,000, reflecting several much larger awards. Grants ranged from several hundred dollars to more than $1 million.
Geographically, Chicago is especially important, but the foundation also supports national work and organizations elsewhere in the U.S. Jewish Values extends to Israel, IECMH includes national and international training relationships, and Arts & Culture focuses primarily on Chicago, New York, Israel and Aspen.
- Grantseekers should pay close attention to Irving Harris’s 2032 sunset. The foundation says it expects to continue funding within all five focus areas but may wind down some areas earlier than others. It has also said it intends to continue moving more resources toward BIPOC-led organizations and to help existing grantees strengthen relationships with other donors and networks as its own funding declines.
- The foundation does not currently accept unsolicited proposals in Early Childhood, Reproductive Health & Justice or Jewish Values, and Arts & Culture separately states that unsolicited proposals are not accepted. No public application or LOI mechanism could be located for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health or the Chicago Grants category.
- Submit general inquiries to the foundation’s staff at the contact page.
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