OVERVIEW : The James H. Clark Foundation supports education, health, medical research, and arts and culture.
IP TAKE : The James H. Clark Charitable Foundation is a low-key funder that awards only a handful of grants each year, often the same organizations for two or more years in a row. This is not an accessible funder. It does not accept unsolicited proposals, so a personal connection would likely be the only way to get the foundation’s attention. An address and phone number are provided below.
PROFILE : The James H. Clark Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of the computer scientist James H. Clark. Clark transformed several tech companies — including Silicon Graphics, Hyperion and WebMD — into billion-dollar tech behemoths, but he is best known as the strategist who helped Marc Andreessen introduce the world to the Internet in 1994 through Netscape, the browser that held more than 80% of the browser market until 1998. Clark earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics at the University of New Orleans, followed by a Ph.D in computer science from the University of Utah in 1974. From 1979 to 1982, he worked as an associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. He conducts his philanthropy through the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation, which he established in 1999.
The foundation maintains a low profile and does not operate a website, but recent tax filings suggest grantmaking interest in the areas of education, public health, and arts and cultural organizations.
Grants for Education
Education has been the Clark Charitable Foundation’s largest area of giving over the years.
- Recently, grants have mainly supported the Chapin School and Rippowam Cisqua, both elite private schools in New York. In past years, Stamford University received millions of dollars in annual support to establish the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering.
- Other past education grantees include the University of California San Francisco, the University of Utah and Tulane University.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Health and medical research have also figured prominently in Clark’s philanthropy.
- Recent funding has gone to Weill Cornell imaging at New York Presbyterian.
- Looking further back, Clark helped to establish the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering at Stamford University in 1999 and provided ongoing support to the center’s Bio-X program, an initiative that encompasses a range of interdisciplinary studies of human life and psychology.
- Other past medical research grantees include Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California San Francisco, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the Myelin Repair Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Grants for Arts and Culture
The Clark Charitable Foundation’s arts and culture grantmaking has been sporadic recently.
- In past years, support went to the Perlman Music Program, a summer music intensive for gifted young musicians based on Shelter Island.
- More recently, the foundation has supported historical restoration projects on Martha’s Vineyard via the Vineyard Preservation Trust.
- Other past grantees include the Feltsman Piano Foundation, the New York Philharmonic and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in Louisiana.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
James H. Clark is a competitive yachtsman and has supported several sailing organizations over the years, including the New York Yacht Club, Sail Newport, Sailors for the Sea and Sail to Prevail, which provides sailing opportunities for disabled children and adults. The foundation also supported a number of environmental organizations in past years, but giving in this area has tapered off significantly.
Important Grant Details
The James H. Clark Charitable Foundation’s grants range from about $100,000 to $1.1 million.
- In recent years, the foundation has made as few as five grants a year and often supports the same grantees for multiple years.
- The foundation supports organizations of all sizes, but appear to be organizations with which Clark has a personal connection.
- This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals.
- See past tax filings for additional information.
This funder does not provide a direct way to get in touch. Its phone number is listed as (561) 832-9292. A mailing address is provided below.
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CONTACT:
James H. Clark Charitable Foundation
505 S. Flagler Dr., Ste. 900
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-5948
(561) 832-9292