Altman Foundation

We fund only organizations that are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as having 501(c)(3) status and that are not private foundations.

The Foundation does not make grants to individuals for any purpose.

Grant requests from organizations and programs outside of the State of New York cannot be considered for funding. In addition, Altman Foundation grants focus almost without exception on organizations and programs within the five boroughs of New York City.

As a general rule, the Foundation does not fund the following:

• Bricks and mortar, other capital projects, or the purchase of capital equipment
• Galas, benefits, and other fundraising events
• Conferences or symposia that are not connected to current Altman grants
• Concerts, theater or media performances, or art exhibitions that are not connected to current Altman grants
• Instructional programming or artist-in-residence programs within the public schools or in correctional facilities
• Budget deficits
• Disease-specific projects
• Public universities or ongoing programs of private colleges and universities
• Operating expenses and ongoing services of either public or voluntary hospitals

Please see the Program Interests tab above and please review our Guidelines.

For this year we will continue our efforts to sustain high-performing current grantees seeking renewed funding. We have few if any funds available for new, non-foundation-initiated grantmaking. However, if after reviewing the Program Interests tab above, you believe your work is directly in line with the results we seek, we want to know about what you are doing via a Letter of Inquiry. (Please see Application Basics tab above.)

To determine if your work and the results you achieve are in line with the Foundation’s priorities, please carefully review our Guidelines, including the objectives and results sought.

For examples of the type of grants we make, please see our recent grants lists and the Illustrative Grants section of our website.

Given our small staff, we are unable to meet individually in response to general inquiries about the Foundation’s priorities. We encourage you to review the Guidelines and Our Approach carefully. If you believe that there is a fit between the results we seek and the ones your program and organization can already document achieving, you may want to submit a Letter of Inquiry. This will allow us to review your materials and follow up with you if we need to clarify what has been submitted; please see the Application Basics tab above.

Please bear in mind that at this time few if any funds are available for new, non-foundation-initiated grantmaking.

Given this restriction on our grantmaking, we are not accepting full proposals from organizations that are not already current grantees of the Foundation. Instead, we ask that you send a Letter of Inquiry that introduces your organization and the program or project that you would like the Foundation to consider. Guidance about what to include in and with your letter is in the Letter of Inquiry section of our website.

This answer does not apply to current Altman grantees seeking renewal, who should prepare full reports and proposals using the forms on this website as usual.

We do not have application deadlines for requests from organizations that are not current Altman grantees. Foundation staff review letters of inquiry on a rolling basis.

Grantees seeking renewed funding will be notified by e-mail of recommended dates for submitting their proposals to the Foundation. If the proposal and required attachments are late, your grant review may be delayed. We cannot, in any case, guarantee that a request will be presented at any particular board meeting.

If you submit a Letter of Inquiry via e-mail using the form on this website, you will receive an automatic reply telling you that your inquiry has been received.

All applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by program staff. The time required for this review process can vary depending on the volume of proposals under consideration; we do our best to process materials in a timely fashion.

Generally, you will receive a letter within four to six weeks if your request has been declined.

We strongly recommend that you revisit the Foundation's Guidelines, grants list, and Our Approach before you proceed with future requests. In addition, please check the website for notices about the availability of funding, and please wait at least twelve to eighteen months before reapplying.

Unfortunately, the volume of applications and inquiries prevents us from providing feedback on each request.

If after reviewing your letter of inquiry and any further information, we think that there appears to be a potential match between your work and ours, a program officer will contact you about submitting a full proposal.

A request for a full proposal does not in any way guarantee that a grant will be either recommended to or awarded by the Foundation’s Trustees.

Please see the Application Process section of our website, which describes our three application forms.

If you are providing technical assistance services to other organizations, they are your clients and you should complete the “direct service” application. The “capacity building” application is designed for organizations seeking to build their own internal capacity.

Each application is accompanied by “guidance” which outlines what we are looking for in results statements. We would also suggest that you review Our Approach. If your proposal proceeds to the due-diligence process, you will have conversations with your program officer that will address the results statement as well.

If we are reviewing a full proposal, we routinely make site visits, which are arranged by the program staff person working on your proposal.

Financial review is an essential part of our process. We require up-to-date audited financial statements and other materials, as listed in each application form (see Application Checklist). These will be reviewed in depth and we will follow up with you about any concerns that we might have.

Board governance is another area of interest for the Foundation. There is a question about this on each of our application forms, and we will explore this with you as part of our due diligence.

Our Trustees review grant recommendations at six regularly scheduled meetings spread out over the year. We will notify you by mail of the Board’s decision within two weeks of the meeting at which your request was presented.

You have probably had several discussions with your program officer by this point. S/he is the best source of information about future prospects and timing of any future requests.

You will receive a transmittal letter that outlines the expectations for your grant in terms of the results you have set out for yourself, our reporting requirements, and any special restrictions on your grant. In most cases this letter is accompanied by a check.

You will be asked to send a letter, required for our records, that:

• acknowledges receipt of your grant and your grant check;
• states the purpose and amount of the grant; and
• states your understanding and acceptance of any particular restrictions on your award noted in our grant transmittal letter.

Your program officer will be able to help you with any other questions you may have.