Ittleson Foundation

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OVERVIEW:  The Ittleson Foundation makes grants for mental health, AIDS and environmental conservation. Many of its grants support small grassroots groups.

IP TAKE:  The Ittleson Foundation’s grantmaking tends to support small, grassroots groups, organizations that work with underserved populations and innovative pilot projects in its areas of interest. This is a progressive funder that is willing to take risks with lesser-known nonprofits and new ideas.

Ittleson accepts letters of inquiry with a due date of September 1 each year. It rotates among three grantmaking areas each year, so timing may be an issue with Ittleson. This is a responsive and approachable organization, however, so reach out with ideas and questions at any time.

PROFILE: The New York City-based Ittleson Foundation was established in 1932 by Henry Ittleson, the founder of CIT Financial. Today, the foundation is steered by Ittleson’s grandson, H. Anthony Ittleson. Its mission, which has not changed since its founding, is to “serving the needs of the underprivileged and providing resources for organizations.” This funder makes grants for mental health, AIDS and environmental conservation alternating grantmaking areas of interest each year to create a three-year cycle. Grantmaking is national in scope.

Grants for Mental Health

Ittleson’s mental health grantmaking focuses on underserved people with mental health issues and “innovative, pilot, model and demonstration projects” in the field of mental health care.

  • Specific areas of interest include increasing public awareness of mental health, the use of technology to improve mental health programs and treatments and improving preventative care for young people.

  • One recent grant went to the Alongside Network in Minneapolis, which provides counseling and services to families with children who have “experienced a traumatic pediatric medical intervention.” Another grant supported Hesperian Health Guides, which used funding to develop its Mental Health Promotion Guide for Community Health Workers.

  • Other recent grantees include Comedy4Kids!, MindSite News and Sound Mind Live, a Brooklyn organization that addresses mental health issues that emerged during the COVID-19 crisis.

Grants for Public Health and Diseases

This funder names AIDS as a grantmaking priority and focuses its work on preventative programs, school-based sex education and accessibility of treatment for underserved populations. In a recent round of grantmaking, grants supported Grassroots Health, which provides HIV and health education to middle school students in the Washington, D.C. area, and SERO, a Pennsylvania-based organization that connects newly diagnosed patients with treatments and education.

Grants for the Environment

Ittleson’s environmental grantmaking aims to “move individuals, communities, and organizations from environmental awareness to environmental activism by changing attitudes and behaviors.” The foundation prioritizes programs that support current leadership in the field, as well as those that educate and mentor the “next generation of environmentalists.”

  • Grants focus on work that is conducted at the grassroots or state levels, rather than those that are national in scope. Environmental equity is also a prime concern for the foundation’s work in this area.

  • In a recent round of funding, the foundation made grants to the Horticultural Society of New York, California’s Resource Renewal Institute and Environmental Advocates of New York, which used funding to decommission gas stations and prevent them from “becoming toxic sites and neighborhood blight.”

Important Grant Details:

In a recent year, this funder made just over $400,000 in grants. Grants ranged from $15,000 to $35,000 and mainly supported small- to medium-sized grassroots and community-based organizations in the foundation’s areas of interest.

  • Brief profiles of recent grantees are available on the foundation’s individual program pages. Find additional information about past grantmaking in the foundation’s annual reports.

  • The Ittleson Foundation “annually alternates its new grantmaking between its mental health, AIDS and environmental program areas.”

  • The foundation accepts short letters of inquiry prior to September 1 of the grantmaking year. Letters should contain information about the organization’s mission, budget and tax-exempt status. The foundation’s staff will reach out with invitations to submit full proposals if the work falls into the foundation's current specific areas of interest.

Inquiries may be directed to the foundation’s staff at by telephone at (212) 794-2008.

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