OVERVIEW: The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of art-collecting couple Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz. The foundation invests in the arts, education, health, housing and the Jewish community.
IP TAKE: This foundation does not maintain a website or other public presence, restricting information about its grantmaking strategies or interests. Grantmaking appears to track with its founders’ board memberships and personal connections, which makes networking especially important.
PROFILE: The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation was founded in 1997 by Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz. Joel both co-founded and serves as a senior partner of Ehrenkranz Partners L.P., as well as Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP. Anne, meanwhile, is an art historian, photographer and author of books about photography. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded about $5.7 million in grants in a recent year. This foundation invests in the arts, specifically in New York City; housing and homelessness, the Jewish community, education and health.
Grants for the Visual Arts, Arts and Culture
The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation’s arts’ giving prioritizes New York City, photography, and contemporary art. To a lesser extent, the foundation occasionally funds the performing arts and music. This foundation takes visual art seriously, particularly at the institutional and museum levels.
- Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz have been consistently featured on the renowned ARTnews’ top 200 art collectors list several times for contemporary art. Meanwhile, Anne’s strong interest in photography also influences some of the family’s giving.
- Ongoing support goes to the Whitney Museum of American Art, where the couple endowed a curatorship. Joel once served as president of the Whitney. MoMA, meanwhile, serves as the site of the Joel and Anne Ehrenkranz Chief Curator of Photography.
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is another important grantee, where Joel serves as a vice chair.
- Other arts grantees include International Center of Photography, International Print Center, PS1 Contemporary Arts Center, the Asia Society (where Anne is a trustee), NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Education funding also stays mainly in New York City where grants focus charter schools, private schools and institutions of higher education, which include the family’s alma maters.
- The Institute of Fine Arts at NYU is Anne’s alma mater.
- Joel, meanwhile, graduated from the New York University School of Law, another grantee.
- Other grantees have included Bank Street College of Education, KIPP New York, and others.
- Grantseekers beyond the New York City metropolitan area, especially those without a personal connection to the foundation or seeking funding for public education, will not be successful here.
Grants for Public Health and Access
The foundation’s health-related funding prioritizes New York City and has increased significantly in recent years. Given the foundation’s lack of a public-facing profile, it’s unclear what strategies it uses in related-health grantmaking; however, it’s clear that work in the health field centers large, established institutions with which the family has a personal connection or personal interest.
- Past health grantees include the Icahn School of Medicine; the Hospital for Special Surgery, where Anne is a trustee and Joel is an advisor, and Visiting Nurse Service of New York, where Anne also serves on the board.
Grants for the Jewish Causes
The Ehrenkranz Family Foundation supports Jewish causes in the greater New York City area, although this is a much smaller area of giving. Grantees include the United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, Central Synagogue and Congregation Emanu-El in nearby Westchester County.
Important Grant Details
In a recent year, the foundation gave away around $5.6 million. The average grant size for this funder is about $20,000. Grants of $100,000 or more typically go to organizations with which the founders maintain involvement.
- Arts grants tend to be larger than some of the other areas the couple supports, with a few grants exceeding a million annually.
- The family foundation keeps a low profile and does not provide clear guidelines for grantseekers, making it tough to get a handle on what exactly the family is looking for its grantees.
- However, an address and phone number are provided below.
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CONTACT:
Ehrenkranz Family Foundation
375 Park Ave., Ste. 2800
New York City, NY 1015
(212) 751-5959