OVERVIEW: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation funds programs related to basic needs, housing, health, jobs, education and aging. This funder primarily gives in Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Hawaii, Northern Pennsylvania, San Francisco and Israel. The foundation believes in place-based giving and defines its geographical priorities as “communities where Weinberg Foundation trustees reside and provide leadership.”
IP TAKE: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is a longstanding funder that is a respectable leader within its issue areas, including housing and aging. Across issue areas, the foundation centers the fight against poverty. In an Inside Philanthropy interview, Weinberg’s president, Rachel Garbow Monroe, said, “The entire frame of our grantmaking is to give grants to nonprofits supporting individuals and families experiencing poverty, period. No advocacy, no policy, no fundraising.” Weinberg primarily supports programs and projects within its priority geographic regions, so grantseekers in other parts of the country may find it difficult to secure funding. Potential grantees inside these priority areas will find an approachable and accessible funder that accepts unsolicited LOIs and funds organizations of all sizes.
This is a very transparent and accessible funder. It offers a searchable grants database dating back to 2018, along with news, press releases, a blog, and publications. It accepts letter of inquiry year round, but grantseekers should reach out via email before submitting a letter, as the foundation provides only the briefest of guidelines for its application process.
PROFILE: Established in 1959, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is a private foundation based in Owings Mills, Maryland and in Honolulu, Hawaii. Harry Weinberg was an immigrant who came to the U.S. in the early 1900s and built a career as a successful entrepreneur and investor in transportation and real estate. The Weinberg Foundation’s mission involves “meeting the basic needs of vulnerable people and families experiencing poverty.” Weinberg’s five main focus areas are Housing, Health, Jobs, Education and Aging. The foundation names populations of interest including vulnerable women and children, the elderly, people with disabilities and Jewish communities. Geographic priorities are Baltimore, Hawai’i, Israel, New York City, Northeastern Pennsylvania, San Francisco and rural communities throughout the U.S. The Weinberg Foundation awards grants for general operations, program support and capital projects.
Grants for Housing and Homelessness
The Weinberg Foundation’s Housing focus area makes grants for general operations, programs and capital projects in three specific areas.
- Grants for Housing with Supportive Services support nonprofit development projects for affordable housing that “help people achieve and maintain stability.”
- Community-Led Development grants target efforts that “preserve affordable housing for generations.” This subprogram prioritizes communities in Baltimore and Hawai’i that have experienced “housing instability,” programs that create housing opportunity for marginalized groups, and organizations that demonstrate the potential for replication and/or expansion.
- The foundation also articulates strong interest in Coordinated Responses to Homelessness across public agencies, nonprofits and other stakeholders. Priority is given to projects that “involve individuals who have been homeless to inform planning and implementation” and those that include “supportive services” that help people maintain financial and housing stability.
- About half of the foundation’s housing grants stay in Baltimore, where its grantees include Springboard Community Services, the Episcopal Housing Corporation and the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition.
- Elsewhere, the foundation has made grants to New York City’s Breaking Ground, San Francisco’s Hope Solutions and the New Venture Fund’s Funders for Housing and Opportunity collaborative.
Grants for Public Health, Nutritious Food and Violence Prevention
Weinberg’s Health grantmaking focuses on three priority areas.
- The Health Care Access initiative focuses on expanding access and programs that aim to improve patients’ overall health. Areas of specific interest include capital projects for the expansion of primary care, “federally qualified” community health centers that offer a range of services, operational and capital support for dental and behavioral health care, and programs that help young people with disabilities transition to adult primary health care programs.
- The Nutrition and Food Access initiative supports programs that facilitate food security and access to healthy food in “food deserts.” Grants prioritize delivery and meal service programs for homebound and chronically ill people, as well as capital projects to improve the capacity of regional food banks.
- Weinberg conducts violence prevention grantmaking through its subinitiative for Trauma, Abuse, and Safety, which focuses on prevention and mental health services for victims of domestic, gender-based and community violence. Grants prioritize women and children.
- Grantees of the foundation’s health initiative include the Arc Central Chesapeake Region, Ceres Community Project of San Francisco, Healthcare Access Maryland and Baltimore’s Choptank Community Health System.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The foundation’s Jobs giving area supports vocational training and career development programs that help people achieve economic stability.
- Job Training grants target programs that lead to “industry-recognized credentials,” as well as hiring and retention initiatives. The foundation prefers to fund programs that “track job retention and wages for at least one year, preferably two.”
- A second subinitiative addresses Youth Employment and Career Support. These grants are intended for programs that serve youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with experiential learning and career exploration opportunities. The foundation names “hard- and soft-skill training,” internships, summer job programs, and initiatives that help disabled youth find employment as areas of interest.
- Grantees working in this area include Associated Black Charities of Baltimore, the Hawai’i Building Industry Foundation, the Scranton Area Community Foundation and Per Scholas, which received funding to expand and renovate its IT training centers in Baltimore and New York.
Grants for K-12 Education, College Access and STEM Education
The Weinberg Foundation’s Education program complements its giving for work and opportunity by focusing on preparing students for postsecondary education and STEM careers. The foundation does not make grants directly to colleges or universities.
- Grants for College and Career Pathways support programs that help students prepare for, apply to and succeed in college, prioritizing STEAM programs and initiatives that “prioritize young people in planning and decision-making.” While grants typically support high school-anchored programs, community programs that help young people “who are not in school or working to reengage in their education and community, develop skills, and get on a path to enter and complete postsecondary education or training” are also considered.
- Academic Success and Opportunity funding targets programs for middle and high school students. While the primary focus of these grants is academic success in reading, math and basic academic skills, enrichment programs that have academic components and strong track records of success are also of interest to the foundation.
- The Education initiative also supports Adolescent Health and Well-Being with grants for programs that support the physical and mental health of young people. Counseling, mentoring, nutrition, fitness and sports programs are areas of interest. The foundation also prioritizes programs for disabled, vulnerable and LGBTQ youth.
- Grantees of the Education initiative include the YMCA of Central Maryland, Baltimore’s B-360 STEM education and training programs, and San Francisco’s Schools Mentoring and Resource Team, which provides multiple services for students in grades four to twelve related to academic achievement and mental health.
Grants for Housing, Aging and Community Development
Weinberg’s Aging program aims to fund solutions to the many “social, physical, and economic challenges” that face elderly people in the U.S. This program awards project support and general operating grants to organizations in the foundation’s target geographic areas, but it considers grants for capital projects anywhere in the U.S.
- An area of focus is Safe and Accessible Homes, where older adults can receive supportive services and “maintain their independence.” Programs that assist in home maintenance and modifications and those that prevent “hospitalization and institutionalization” are main priorities.
- The Aging in Community subprogram works broadly to help elderly people maintain quality of life as they age. Areas of specific interest include affordable housing, service coordination, abuse prevention and inclusive programs for LGBTQ+ seniors.
- Grantees of the Aging initiative include Habitat for Humanity’s Advancing Better Living for Elders program, the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System’s elder abuse prevention program and Services & Advocacy for LGBTQ+ Elders of New York.
Grants for Jewish Causes
The Weinberg Foundation does not run a separate funding initiative for Jewish causes, but it does prioritize Jewish organizations across its five stated areas of giving. Grantmaking supports organizations in the U.S. and Israel. Past grantees include Israel’s Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality and Cooperation; Baltimore’s Ahavas Ysrael Charity Fund; and 2Life Communities Golda Meir House in Newton, Massachusetts, an inclusive housing development for the elderly.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range between about $20,000 and $2 million, with many larger grants representing multi-year commitments.
- Grantmaking focuses on the city of Baltimore and surrounding rural Maryland communities. Other geographic interests include Northeastern Pennsylvania, Chicago, Hawaii, Israel, New York City, and San Francisco. These places have ties to the legacy of Harry Weinberg or current foundation trustees.
- This funder makes grants for general operations, programs and capital projects and often funds grantees for several years.
- Weinberg tends to stick with well-established organizations, but it does support organizations of any size.
- Tax filings indicate that this funder accepts letters of inquiry, but the foundation does not provide detailed guidelines on how to apply on its website. Grantseekers are advised to send an introductory email to the foundation at grantsintake@hjweinberg.org.
- Grantseekers may search the foundation’s grants database for more information on its grantmaking habits.
Direct general questions to the staff at grantsintake@hjweinberg.org or (410) 654-8500. In Hawai’i the foundation can be reached via telephone at (808) 924-1000. Sign up for email updates at the bottom of the website.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: