Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation supports specific kinds of art in New Mexico and other places of interest to the family.
IP TAKE: This is a foundation that values long-term relationships with grantees and encourages contact from nonprofits throughout the application process.
With the young Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, expect Thoma and Marilynn to deepen their arts philanthropy. Their huge arts collection could figure in giving.
PROFILE: Carl and Marilynn Thoma conduct their philanthropy through the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, a low-profile vehicle whose grantmaking includes arts and educational institutions. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded $5.7 million in grants in 2018. Established in 2014, the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation is a private foundation based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This founding couple also has a local presence in Chicago, Illinois, and they reside in both cities. This foundation branched off from the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, a more general family foundation, that they created in 1986.
Carl Thoma received a BS from Oklahoma State University and an MBA from Stanford University. He began his career at First Chicago Equity Group, where he helped build one of the largest private equity firms in the country. In 1980, Thoma co-founded Golder Thoma & Co. and is a managing partner of Thoma Bravo.
The foundation "recognizes the power of the arts to challenge and shift perceptions, spark creativity and connect people across cultures.” It funds local art organizations, lends and exhibit artworks from its collection and supports innovative individuals and pivotal initiatives in the arts.
Grants for Arts and Culture, Visual Arts, Fine Art and Arts Scholarship
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation has very specific types of art in mind that it collects. These are art of the Spanish Americas, digital and electronic art, Japanese bamboo and post-war painting and sculpture. The foundation provides grants to nonprofits for support for academic, conservation, exhibition and convening purposes. It has a matching fund program for bold initiatives and also a publication grants program that are related to the arts.
Unlike the couple's family foundation, their art foundation has a strong web presence and accepts proposals. Grantees include Blanton Museum of Art (where a grant supported an Endowed Associate Curator of Spanish Colonial Art), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Nevada Museum of Art.The foundation also funds an Arts Writing Award in Digital Art and a Research Fellowship in Twentieth Century Abstract Painting.
Important Grant Details;
Grants range between about $1,000 and $50,000. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records. Grantmaking focuses on New Mexico, Chicago and other places of interest to the family. Past local grantees include the Santa Fe Opera, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the University of New Mexico.
This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications from individuals but it does accept letters of inquiry from nonprofits. Grantseekers must use the foundation’s online system to apply for grants. There is typically a letter of inquiry deadline in December. The foundation responds to inquiries usually within 60 days of its review dates. Direct general questions to the staff at 505-995-0231 or via online form.
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