OVERVIEW: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation supports underserved communities, children, the arts, sustainability and research on the development of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
IP TAKE: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation has traditionally given in New York City and its home state of Connecticut, but it has recently expanded its national giving. Since 2001, the Cohens have given away more than a half a billion dollars. Its largest focus area serves underserved communities, with grants supporting organizations of every size. A newer interest area concerns the development of psychedelic medications for the treatment of mental illnesses and disorders. A separate philanthropic vehicle, the Cohen Veterans Network, supports veterans’ causes and mental health.
This funder prefers a proactive grantmaking approach, which means it does not accept unsolicited applications or LOIs, so it will take some networking to get in the door here. Start by following the foundation’s social media accounts.
PROFILE: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation was established in 2001 by former hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen and Alexandra Cohen.Steven A. Cohen grew up on Long Island, New York, and attended the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania before joining Gruntal & Co. as a junior trader in 1978, and eventually worked his way up to running his own trading group before founding his own trading firm, SAC Capital Advisors. Billionaire Steven Cohen took a hit when his hedge fund, SAC Capital, pleaded guilty to insider trading and was downsized to manage only Cohen’s family fortune.
Based in Stamford, Connecticut, this foundation’s mission involves ” inspiring philanthropy and community service” through grantmaking and “grassroots campaigns to encourage others to give.” Its funding initiatives are underserved communities, children, the arts, sustainability and psychedelics research and health. The foundation also makes donations to causes related to specific awareness dates, including diseases, cultural heritage, women’s issues and more. Giving is national in scope but prioritizes Connecticut and the greater New York City area.
Grants for Food, Housing and Community Development
Cohen’s underserved communities giving area supports community-based nonprofits in ” towns, and cities that suffer from a serious lack of resources.”
- The foundation does not name more specific goals for this grantmaking, but initiatives for basic needs, food and shelter appear to be main priorities, and Connecticut and New York City are geographic areas of focus.
- Food security grantees include City Harvest and God’s Love We Deliver in New York City and Connecticut’s Person to Person Mobile Food Pantry.
- Other housing and human services grantees include Chicago’s Marillac St. Vincent Family Services, the Downtown Women’s Center of Los Angeles and and Arizona’s Page Regional Domestic Violence Service.
Grants for Public Health
Health is one of Cohen’s largest giving areas with grants stemming from the foundation’s focus areas for underserved communities and children:
- Health grants for underserved communities tend to support free and low-cost health service providers and clinics. Grantees include New York’s Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and Greenwich Emergency Medical Service in Connecticut.
- Grants for children’s support pediatric and specialty care units at major hospitals. Grantees include the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the Mount Sinai Health System and Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York.
- Large grants have also gone to New York Presbyterian Hospital, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Stamford Hospital in Connecticut and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
- A past initiative supported research on Lyme Disease, and the foundation’s website offers information about this work on its Ticks Suck page.
Grants for Education
Cohen’s grantmaking for children prioritizes education as “the great equalizer” and gives broadly for education at every level.
- In the K-12 space, the foundation has been a longtime supporter of charter school education and educational reform, although giving has tapered off somewhat in this particular area. Grantees include Success Academy Charter Schools, the New Canaan Country School in Connecticut and out-of-school learning organizations like the Girl Scouts of Greater New York and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
- Higher education giving, has increased in recent years, although the foundation does articulate priorities for this grantmaking. Grantees include the University of Southern California, Duke University, New York University, Yale University and North Carolina State University, among others.
- Some smaller grants have also supported community colleges. Recipients include CUNY’s Laguardia Community College and Queensborough Community College.
Grants for Arts and Arts Education
The Cohen Foundation’s focus area for the arts prioritizes art as “a cultural right” and arts education as an “an essential part of learning.” Grantmaking focuses on visual art exhibitions, film and arts education. The couple also donate works from their private collections to museums.
- Arts grantees include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Connecticut’s Bruce Museum, Film at Lincoln Center and the Utah Film Center.
- Arts education grants have gone to music education at Johns Hopkins University, children’s and teens’ programs at the Brooklyn Museum and Dream Yard, an arts and social justice organization in the Bronx.
- The foundation has given more than $2.4 million to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in recent years, nearly a million to the Met, and more than half a million to New York’s Museo del Barrio, located just north of the Museum Mile in East Harlem.
Grants for Environment and Sustainable Agriculture
The giving area for sustainability focuses on urban sustainability and food systems but also earmarks funds for environmental education and training for sustainability-related careers.
- Grants for sustainability and food systems have gone to New York City’s Council on the Environment, Green City Force, which brings solar energy to New York City Housing Authority buildings, and Rething Food NYC, which works to “bridge the gap between excess food and the communities that need it.”
- Environmental education grantees include Connecticut’s Sound Waters, the Green Bronx Machine, which offers sustainable food curricula to public schools in Manhattan and the Bronx, and Harlem Grown, a youth agriculture program.
Grants for Mental Health
The foundation’s newest giving area is the Cohen Psychedelic Research and Health Initiative, which mainly supports research on the potential use of “psychedelic compounds” in therapies for mental illnesses, addiction, PTSD and more. Grantees of this initiative include the University of California San Diego, the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Cohen Foundation also runs an Awareness Date Giving program, through which it supports causes that name days, weeks or months to increase awareness and involvement. Past grantees include International Overdose Awareness Day, National Black History Month and Earth Day, among others.
Important Grant Details:
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation’s grants range from $5,000 to $9 million.
- Connecticut and the greater New York City area are geographic priorities, but this foundation’s national giving has increased in recent years.
- This funder makes over 100 grants a year to organizations of all sizes. Its giving for underserved communities is its largest.
- The Cohen Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding.
- For information about past grants, see the foundation’s individual program pages or its tax filings.
The Cohen Foundation does not provide a direct way to get in touch. Its social media accounts are linked to the top of the website, and its phone number is listed as (203) 890-4750.
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