Lerner Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Lerner Foundation primarily funds grantmaking related to Jewish causes, health, arts and culture and education in Ohio and beyond.
IP TAKE: The Lerner Foundation maintains a low profile and generally makes grants to preselected organizations with which it maintains ongoing relationships. It lacks transparency and is hard to approach. More than half of all grantmaking stays in the Cleveland area. It will be difficult to get Lerner’s attention, but Cleveland organizations working in the areas of Jewish causes, human services or economic development may wish to network with the foundation’s staff.
PROFILE: Established in 1993, the Lerner Foundation is steered by billionaire Norma Lerner, the widow of Al Lerner, who founded credit card giant MBNA. Bank of America acquired the company for $35 billion in 2005. The foundation is based in Highland Heights, Ohio. It does not maintain a website, restricting information about its grantmaking priorities and activities. According to tax filings, the Lerner Foundation primarily funds Jewish causes, economic opportunity, health, arts and culture and education. The Cleveland area is its main geographic priority.
Grants for Jewish Causes
Jewish causes have been the Lerner Foundation’s largest giving area in recent years. Its largest recipient, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, which received $600,000 from Lerner in a recent year for its support of Cleveand-area initiatives for Jewish education, culture and human services. Other grantees in the Cleveland area include the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Oheb-Zedek-Cedar Sinai Synagogue and the Mandel Jewish Community Center. Elsewhere, Lerner has supported the American Section of the World Jewish Congress, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, an organization that supports “aged and needy non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust and preserves their legacy through a national education program.”
Grants for Public Health and Access
The Lerner Foundation funded the establishment of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 2002. The school is known for its M.D.-degree programs with Special Qualification in Biomedical Research. Since its founding, the school has received hundreds of thousands annually in support from Lerner. The foundation has also provided ongoing support to the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. Smaller grants have gone to New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
In recent years, the Lerner Foundation has made grants to organizations and programs that support economic opportunity and the financial stability of individuals and families in Cleveland and beyond. Grantees include the United Way of Greater Cleveland, the Council for Economic Education and Edwin’s Leadership and Restaurant Institute, which offers vocational training, counseling and peer support programs to formerly-incarcerated adults.
Grants for Higher Education
Higher education is a smaller area of giving for the Lerner Foundation, with grants staying in the Cleveland area. The foundation has provided ongoing support to Case Western Reserve University and Cayahoga Community College.
Grants for Arts and Culture
In addition to its support of Jewish cultural organizations, the Lerner foundation provides ongoing support to the Cleveland Orchestra and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, which partners with the U.S. Department of State to provide works of art to be be displayed at U.S. embassies abroad. Other recent grants have gone to the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, the New York Historical Society and Cleveland’s Arts and Culture Action Committee.
Grants for Public Health and Access
Health is another smaller area of giving for the Lerner Foundation, which has made several grants to the Cleveland Clinic, which operates numerous hospitals and health centers in Ohio. The foundation has also supported New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Important Grant Details:
The Lerner Foundation made about $1.8 million in grants in a recent year. Grants range from $2,500 to $600,000, with an average grant size of about $20,000. More than half of all grantmaking remains in the Cleveland area, although a few Jewish and health-related organizations that operate on the national level have also received funding. Lerner’s largest grants tend to go to legacy grantees that receive annual support. Some smaller human services organizations in the Cleveland area, however, have also received funding.
This funder does not maintain a website and does accept unsolicited proposals for funding. The foundation may be reached by telephone at (440) 891-5022 or by mail at the address provided below.
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CONTACT:
Lerner Foundation
26500 Curtiss Wright Parkway
Highland Heights, OH 44143
(440) 891-5022
LINKS:
