Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation supports the environment, health, education and music. More than half of all grantmaking remains in the state of California.
IP TAKE: The Heller Foundation is an accessible funder for small- to medium-sized organizations working in environmental conservation, music and education in California. This funder prioritizes programs that have a broad impact on California residents. Its education grants tend to support programming for K-12 environmental science and music programs. It only awards a few grants at the national level annually. Heller accepts letters of inquiry on an ongoing basis and runs two annual grantmaking cycles in spring and fall.
PROFILE: Established in 1982, the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation supports nonprofits that are aligned with the foundation’s broad philanthropic pursuits and names environment and health, music and education as its areas of grantmaking focus. In its early years, Clarence Heller and his siblings served as trustees of the foundation. After the founder passed away in 1988, the foundation’s board was occupied by members of the Heller and Mandell families. It hired a staff and began full-time operations in 1990. The foundation does not set geographic limitations to its funding, but more than half of all grantmaking goes to organizations operating in California.
Grants for Environmental Conservation and Justice
The Clarence E. Heller Foundation combines environmental and health causes into one grantmaking category and supports programs that “promote the long-term good health and viability of communities and regions.” It supports programs that prevent harm to human health from “toxic substances and other environmental hazards” and promotes “sustainability in agriculture and food systems.” It also supports planning and development projects that advance environmental and social goals with sustainable environmental practices. Past grantees include the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University, Chico and San Francisco’s Sustainable Conservation, which used funding to improve water quality in the San Joaquin Valley.
Grants for Music
The Clarence E. Heller Foundation’s music grantmaking broadly supports “the playing, enjoyment and accessibility of symphonic and chamber music.” It funds community-based ensembles, music centers, schools, and institutes with the goal of increasing and diversifying audiences. Past music grantees include the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque and the Community Music Center of San Francisco.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Clarence E. Heller Foundation’s education grantmaking ties into its environment and music giving in that it is primarily concerned with providing “environmental and arts education opportunities to children and youth.” Its priorities are supporting educators in improving their teaching skills and supporting environmental and arts education programs for young learners. Past grant recipients include Heart of Los Angeles, Education Outside, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, NatureBridge, StageWrite, Exploratorium and CoTa, which runs collaborative programs for teachers and artists in California.
Important Grant Details:
Foundation grants are often between $20,000 and $100,000. Grantseekers can view a list of grantees to better understand this funder’s past giving on the foundation’s recent grantees page. Grantmaking prioritizes, but is not limited to the state of California, with most recent grantees based in Berkeley, Monterey, Oakland, and San Francisco.
The foundation accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry from nonprofits with no deadlines. There are two rounds of funding each year in May/June and November. The staff may request meetings with potential grantees to learn more about a project, and they will also grant access to the full application process if interested.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
