Charles Lafitte Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Charles Lafitte Foundation supports education, medical research and public health. New Jersey, Florida and New York appear to be geographic priorities.
IP TAKE: The Charles Lafitte Foundation’s largest area of giving is education. In 2018 it made a $5 million commitment to Duke University. It has also supported public and private early childhood, primary and secondary schools. Medical research and public health grantees tend to be large, well-known medical schools and hospitals. It recently named the arts as a new area of giving.
This funder appears to accept applications on an ongoing basis via its online grant portal. Prospective grantees may wish to email the foundation’s president, Jennifer Vertetis, for more specific information about funding opportunities.
PROFILE: The Charles Lafitte Foundation was established by Jeffrey and Suzanne Citron in 1999. Jeffrey Citron is the chair of Vonage, a cloud communications provider. The foundation is named for their dog and based in Auburn, Washington. This funder “supports innovative and effective ways of helping people help themselves and others around them to achieve healthy, satisfying and enriched lives.” Its areas of giving are education, children’s advocacy, medical research and the arts. While this funder does not name geographic priorities, it appears to focus on the states of New Jersey, Florida and New York.
Grants for Higher Education
The foundation’s main higher education recipient is Duke University. In 2018, the foundation announced a multi-year $5 million commitment to Duke that has supported several of the school’s divisions and initiatives. Funding has gone to the university’s Trinity School of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Administration and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens Fund. The foundation also earmarked $1 million for the establishment of the Duke Incubation Fund, a university-based grantmaking program that aims to “support idea-stage projects at Duke University with potential commercial prospects.”
Grants for K-12 Education
K-12 education is a major focus of Lafitte’s education grantmaking, which names special education, at-risk students, innovative teaching methods and educational access as priorities. Grants have gone to an assortment of public and private schools and organizations providing after-school programming. School grantees include Phillips Exeter Academy, New York City’s Cristo Rey High School and Mount Rainier High School in Washington. Multiple chapters of Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers and Big Sisters Programs have also received funding. In New Jersey, the foundation has also given to the Bridge of Books Foundation, which provides free books to underserved children throughout the state.
Grants for Early Childhood Education
Early childhood education is a smaller area of funding for the Lafitte Foundation; a handful of small community preschools and early childhood developmental services providers have received grants. Past grantees include the Florence Fuller Childhood Development Center in Boca Raton, Florida; the Monmouth Day Care Center of Red Bank, New Jersey and Family and Children Services of Long Branch, New Jersey.
Grants for Science Research and Diseases
The Charles LaFitte Foundation funds research via its medical research program and names disease prevention and studies of “specific groups with serious neglected problems” as areas of interest. Grants have gone to the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York University’s Langone Medical Center, the American Cancer Society and the Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Grants for Public Health, Mental Health and Housing
Lafitte’s children’s advocacy grantmaking area supports initiatives for children’s health and well-being, including initiatives for mental health and housing. The foundation expresses specific interest in combating child abuse, providing good foster care and eliminating hunger for vulnerable populations of children. A significant portion of funding from this program goes to health initiatives, with grants supporting Florida’s Nicklaus Children’s Health Care and Angel Flight of New England, which provides transportation for children with serious illnesses to critical care hospitals around the country. Other child advocacy grantees include the Florence Fuller Child Development Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County and Family and Children’s Services of Long Branch, New Jersey.
Lafitte has also supported several hospitals and healthcare initiatives over the years. Among its past grantees are the Monmouth Medical Center in New Jersey, the Meridian Health Foundation and the Jersey Shore Medical Center.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Lafitte Foundation only recently named the arts as an area of grantmaking, citing “diminished civic support and declining patronage.” The foundation’s focus areas for its arts funding will include supporting both new and established artists and organizations, expanding access to the arts and providing funding for arts education and art therapy programs.
Important Grant Details:
The Charles Lafitte Foundation makes about $1 million in grants each year. Grants range from a few thousand to $1 million, with an average grant size of about $5,000. While this funder does not name geographic areas of priority, its grants appear to be concentrated in the states of New Jersey, Florida and New York. Medical research and public health grants tend to go to large medical schools and hospital systems, but education funding supports a broad range of public and private schools and other organizations.
The Lafitte Foundation posts application guidelines on its website and accepts applications at any time via its application portal. Prospective grantees may email the foundation’s president and director, Jennifer Vertetis, with general inquiries.
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