Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod Family Foundation supports Jewish causes, arts and culture, education, youth and health in the Washington, DC area and beyond.
IP TAKE: The Robert and Arlene Kogod Foundation is a great funder to know in District of Columbia area. Giving has tapered in recent years. The Kogods are in their late 80s, so it is unclear what the future of their foundation may be. This foundation lacks transparency, making it a tough nut to crack. It does not accept unsolicited applications, but contact information has been provided below in order to learn more about the foundation’s work.
PROFILE: Established in 1998, the Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod Family Foundation is a private family foundation based in Arlington, Virginia. The Kogods signed the Giving Pledge in 2016. Robert Kogod, who is now retired, had a successful career at the Charles E. Smith Companies and is known for transforming the community of Crystal City, a neighborhood in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Arlene Kogod worked for many years as a youth counselor. The couple are avid collectors of 20th century art and support the arts through their foundation. Other areas of grantmaking interest include Jewish causes, education and health. Grantmaking appears to prioritize organizations working in the greater Washington, D.C. area. This foundation does not have a website, which limits transparency into its grantmaking preferences and strategies.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Arts and culture represent a large share of the Kogod Foundation’s grantmaking. The foundation does not name priorities for their arts giving, but tax filings suggest commitment to theater and art museums.
Theater grantees include Arena Stage, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Studio Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre, all of Washington, D.C. Recent grantees for art museums have gone to the National Gallery of Art in Maryland, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection and the Kreeger Museum, which is also in Washington, D.C. Other arts organizations that have received recent funding include FabFilms of Virginia and the Foundation for Contemporary Art in New York.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Jewish causes are another large area of giving for the Kogod Foundation, which appears to support a broad range of Jewish religious, cultural and educational organizations.
Grants to religious congregations have supported Washington D.C.’s Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El and Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, California.
The foundation has recently given to Jewish community organizations including the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington and Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C.
Grantees in Jewish education include the Shalom Hartman Institute, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School of Maryland, the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and the Aleph Bet Montessori School in Bethesda, Maryland. The foundation has also provided funding to the PEF Israel Endowment Fund, the American Jewish Committee and the Birthright Israel Foundation.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
In addition to its funding for Jewish education, the Kogod Foundation regularly supports a broad range of secular education grantees in both higher education and K-12 education.
In higher education, the foundation supports the Robert and Arlene Kogod Professorship in Mood Disorders at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The foundation’s other recent higher education grantees include the College of the Atlantic in Maine, Georgetown University, the University of Maryland and American University.
In the K-12 arena, the foundation appears to focus on initiatives for high school completion and college readiness for underserved ad nontraditional students.
Recent support has gone to California’s CivicCorps Schools, City Year D.C., the Latin American Youth Center of Washngton, D.C. and the Seed Foundation, which runs college preparatory boarding schools for underserved students from the D.C. area.
Grants for Public Health
The Kogod Foundation’s funding for public health consists of annual support of $1 million or more to the Mayo Clinic, which houses the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging. The Kogod foundation has not made other grants for health in the past several years.
Important Grant Details:
The Kogod Foundation gave away about $9.4 million in grants in a recent year. Grants generally ranged anywhere from $2,500 to $1 million, with an average grant size of about $20,000.
Kogod’s grantees range from large national organizations to much smaller, local operations in the D.C. area, including lesser-known theaters and museums.
It is worth noting that the Kogod Foundation’s giving has tapered off significantly in recent years. For additional information about the foundation’s past grantmaking, see its tax filings.
The Kogod Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding. An address and phone number are provided below.
PEOPLE:
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CONTACT:
Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod Family Foundation
2345 Crystal Dr., No 1101
Arlington, VA 22202
(703) 769-1023
