David Bohnett Foundation

OVERVIEW: The David Bohnett Foundation’s grantmaking focuses on distinct issue areas including LGBTQ equality, technology access, gun violence prevention, the arts (particularly in the Los Angeles area), animal welfare and research, and municipal leadership.

IP TAKE: Bohnett’s grantmaking is prolific and supports local, state-based, and national organizations. While it’s a mid-sized foundation, Bohnett’s support of its signature funding areas makes this an important funder to know about for nonprofits working in the LGBTQ space, as well as violence prevention organizations and Los Angeles arts organizations. In 2018, the foundation shifted to invitation-only grantmaking. The rationale behind this decision is described in an eloquent letter from David Bohnett, which you can access here. To get on this funder’s radar, your organization must do excellent work that can scale in the region it serves in order to get noticed. This funder accepts contact, so don’t hesitate to network here if your work closely aligns. The foundation tends to prioritize organizations that serve the LGBTQ community, most often in SoCal. This is a transparent funder with a well-organized website that includes a comprehensive grants database.

PROFILE: Established in 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation seeks to “improv[e] society through social activism.” The foundation is named for its founder, David Bohnett, a tech entrepreneur who codeveloped GeoCities in 1994, went public with it in 1998, and sold it to Yahoo! IP has previously covered how David Bohnett became a philanthropist. This funder runs six distinct grantmaking programs:

Grants for LGBTQ Rights

Bohnett conducts LGBTQ grantmaking through its LGBTQ community program, which Executive Director Michael Fleming referred to in the Washington Blade as “the most important work” the foundation conducts. A GUTC signatory, grants broadly support organizations that “strive to provide equal rights and protections for all LGBTQ people.”

Grantees include the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York city, the LGBTQ Victory Institute and the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Rainbow Labs Mentoring, a Southern California organization that runs after-school programs for LGBTQ+ youth.
Bohnett also conducts LGBTQ-related grantmaking through its CyberCenters program, which offers free computer and internet access to LGBTQ individuals who may not have regular access. The first CyberCenter was installed in the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in 1998, and the program has since expanded to community centers across the country.

Grants for Violence Prevention

Bohnett’s Gun Violence Prevention Program program is committed to “ending the scourge of gun violence through research, advocacy and community empowerment.”

Past grantees in this space include Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Guns Down America, the Fund for a Safer Future and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Grants for Animals and Wildlife

The Bohnett Foundation typically awards two to three larger grants through its Animal Language program, which is committed to “the health and well being of all of our animal friends,” as well as to “better appreciating and understanding great apes and chimps” by funding research into animal language.

While the foundation’s larger grants go to academic, scientific, and research-focused programs, it also supports animal welfare nonprofits.
Past grantees include the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, the Courthouse Dogs Foundation, the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays, New York and South Carolina’s Feline Lifeline.

Grants for Civic and Democracy

Bohnett’s Leadership Initiatives fund a variety of fellowships to develop “the next generation of municipal leaders.”

These fellowships give students and aspiring public servants access to unique programs at schools of public policy at universities across the country, such as USC, UCLA, NYU, Michigan, and Harvard.

Grants for Community Development, Arts and Culture, and Los Angeles

The Bohnett Foundation’s Fund for Los Angeles broadly supports “those who make our city a cultural and creative place to live, learn and thrive,” including the arts, cultural institutions, universities, parks, and health and human services.

Grantees include the Venice Family Clinic, Discovery Cube Los Angeles, Food Forward and the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, among others.

Important Grant Details:

The David Bohnett Foundation made close to $4.4 million in grants in a recent year. Grants range from as little as $100 to $1 million. Most awards range from $10,000 to $75,000.

The Bohnett Foundation widely distributes its grantmaking across local, state-based, and national organizations.
Grantees may review the foundation’s Grants Database for more information on the kinds of organizations it supports.
Since 2018, the David Bohnett Foundation has conducted its grantmaking by invitation only and no longer accepts unsolicited requests for funding.
Contact the foundation via email at info@bohnett.com or by phone at (310) 276-0001.

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