Ludwig Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Ludwig Family Foundation focuses primarily on medical research, education and access to opportunity for low and moderate income families. It also earmarks funds for the arts.
IP TAKE: The foundation keeps a low public profile, which limits information available on its grantmaking priorities and activities. This is not an accessible or transparent funder, but they are approachable, so reach out to learn more about their work’s direction and how you may be able to get on their radar.
Ludwig has been one of the highest-paid executives in recent years. Expect steady giving to continue to track with established interest areas.
PROFILE: Established in 2002, the Ludwig FamilyFoundation (LFF) was launched by Eugene and Carol Ludwig.
Born in Brooklyn, Eugene A. Ludwig graduated from Haverford College with his B.A. in 1968, his M.A. from Oxford University in 1970, and received his J.D. from Yale University in 1973. He was a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling. From 1993 to 1998, he headed the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Ludwig was later vice chairman of Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank and went on to found Promontory Financial Group, an IBM Company. Carol Ludwig graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1969 and received her M.D. from Columbia University in 1974. She is a long-standing neuropathology specialist in Washington D.C.
The foundation does not maintain a website, which restricts further information on its grantmaking strategies. The Ludwig Family Foundation focuses primarily on medical research, education and access to opportunity for low and moderate income families. It also earmarks funds for the arts.
The foundation makes grants to organizations that emphasize fostering education and improving the living conditions of the poor. In performing this mission, it 1) prioritizes organizations that assist in improving education, especially in the greater Washington, D.C. area; 2) organizations that assist in improving the living conditions of low and moderate income families and that seek to fulfill the needs of the homeless and indigents; 3) organizations that provide funding and services to medical facilities, as well as to organizations that provide funding for research into cures for life-threatening diseases; and 4) to a lesser extent, to organizations that seek to improve the mental and emotional well-being of the community by fostering an interest in the arts.
Grants for Medical and Science Research
The couple support Johns Hopkins Medicine, home to the Ludwig Family Department of Medicine Physician-Scientists. Other medical work takes place at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, towards research in neurological disease, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury. Carol also created, in honor of her parents, the Sara and Arnold P. Friedman Awards program, which provides funding to allow students to pursue projects abroad and to travel to meetings to present their work. Carol’s father was a prominent neurologist and international authority on migraine headaches. The Ludwigs also support Harvard Medical School’s Neurobiology Graduate Fellowship Fund, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and Children’s Health Fund.
Grants for Education
The Ludwigs do not have a strategic approach to giving for education, preferring to fund organizations with which they are affiliated in some capacity or where they would like to create departments or centers in keeping with their overarching personal interests.
They have directed millions to National Academy Foundation (NAF), the site of the Carol and Gene Ludwig Alumni Scholars Program. Ludwig is a longtime board member of NAF. The couple also support schools with which they have a personal connection including Franklin & Marshall College, where they are parents; Yale Law School, home to the Eugene and Carol Ludwig Center for Community & Economic Development; Oxford University; and Haverford College. Other grantees have included Advocates for Children of New York.
The Ludwig Family Foundation is also involved with the KIPP Foundation and KIPP DC. They created the KIPP National Ludwig College Persistence Fund, a microgrant program in select communities to help KIPP alumni persist through college.
Grants for Work and Economic Development
The Ludwig Family Foundation supports access to opportunity for low and moderate income families. They’ve supported organizations like So Others Might Eat, and Homeless Children's Playtime Project.
Grants for Arts and Culture
A component of giving includes supports of the arts. Grantees have included Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and National Gallery of Art.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $750 to nearly $600,000. In a recent fiscal year the foundation gave away around $3.6 million. Learn more about past giving in the funder’s past grant history. The foundation’s giving focuses on Washington D.C., as well as states like New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Past local grantees include So Others Might Eat, Homeless Children's Playtime Project, Folger Shakespeare Library, Teach for America - D.C. Region, and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Ludwig Family Foundation is also involved with the KIPP Foundation and KIPP DC. They created the KIPP National Ludwig College Persistence Fund, a microgrant program in select communities to help KIPP alumni persist through college.
The foundation keeps a low profile, but is open to contact. Organizations should begin with a letter explaining the purpose of the request. There are no application deadlines.
PEOPLE:
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CONTACT:
The Ludwig Family Foundation
1300 17th Street N No 750
Arlington, VA 22209
(571) 777-9360
