Poses Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The New York City-based Poses Family Foundation supports K-12 education, housing and services for people with disabilities, health, mental health and the arts.
IP TAKE: According to its LinkedIn page, the Poses Foundation conducts its work “through a combination of business disciplines, nonprofit expertise, funding and passion.” In addition to grants, this funder supports recipients with “capacity-building advising in such areas as strategic and operational planning, initiative design, talent development and management, and marketing to help them scale in a sustainable way.” It also offers multi-year support to some of its grantee-partners. Grantmaking is national in scope, but appears to prioritize the greater New York City area.
This is a generous funder in a crowded space. It does not accept unsolicited proposals, but contact information is provided below. Poses is a great funder to know if your organization works in the disability space. This funder maintains a page on LinkedIn, and a mailing address and phone number are provided below.
PROFILE: Based in New York City, the Poses Family Foundation was founded by Nancy and Fred Poses in 2005. Fred Poses is the CEO of Ascend Performance Materials, a private manufacturer of nylon related chemicals, resins and fibers. He previously headed Trane, Inc., which was known as American Standard Companies. This foundation makes grants in the areas of mental health, public health, disease research, education and housing. This funder does not maintain a website, limiting the amount of information about its specific grantmaking interests and goals. More than half of its grants support organizations in the New York City area.
Grants for K-12 Education
Education is the Poses Family Foundation’s largest area of giving. While the foundation does not outline specific goals for its giving in this area, a significant number of grants have gone to programs and initiatives that support K-12 students with learning disabilities including dyslexia, autism and attentional disorders. Other areas of interest include teacher development programs and public charter school networks. Past grantees include the Shefa School of New York City, the Partnership for After School Education, Connecticut’s Adam J. Lewis Academy and National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness and Community Development
A significant portion of this funder’s grantmaking supports initiatives that provide housing and independent living programs for people with disabilities. In a recent year, the foundation gave several millions to Understood.org, which works to help disabled people succeed in life by connecting them to supportive resources. Other grants have gone to UCP Heartland of Missouri, the Kessler Foundation, New York Collaborates for Autism, New York City’s Providence House and Community Enterprises of Northampton, Massachusetts.
Grants for Disease Research
The Poses Family Foundation has provided ongoing support to several organizations that fund disease research. Grantees in this area include the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the Facial Pain Research Foundation and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Grants for Mental Health
Mental health is a smaller area of giving for this funder. The foundation does not outline specific goals for its grantmaking in this area. Recent grantees include New York City’s Jed Foundation, a suicide intervention organization, and Gallop NYC, which offers therapeutic horsemanship programs to children and adults with depression and other mental illnesses.
Grants for Public Health
The Poses Foundation’s health funding has decreased over the past several years, but hospitals and healthcare initiatives continue to receive occasional funding. Pediatrics appears to be one area of interest. Past grantees include the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, Missouri’s Center for Head Injury Services, the Children’s Hospital Corporation and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Grants for Arts and Culture
Giving for the arts has been on the uptick at Poses in recent years. The foundation does not name goals or priorities for its arts giving. Grantees include the Albany Music Fund, Brown Girls do Ballet, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Oratorio Society of New Jersey and the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.
Important Grant Details:
The Poses Family Foundation made about $10 million in grants in a recent year. Grant amounts range from a few thousand dollars to over $1 million, with an average grant size of about $20,000. Education grantees tend to be large organizations that operate nationally and leading teacher education programs in major urban centers. Housing grantees, however, tend to be small, local organizations that develop and provide housing for individuals with disabilities. A significant portion of funding remains in the New York City area. For additional information about the foundation’s past grantmaking, see its recent tax filings.
This funder does not accept unsolicited applications for funding and tends to fund organizations with which it maintains ongoing relationships. An address and phone number are provided below.
PEOPLE:
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LINK:
CONTACT:
The Poses Family Foundation
145 Hudson St., Suite 5B
New York, NY 10013
(646) 613-8934
