Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation

Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation is a US private foundation based in Riverhead, NY.

Profile derived from the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings (TY2024, TY2023, TY2022) and its website, with every statement checked against those sources. Sources read on 7 October 2026.

Priority Areas

The Foundation primarily supports the study of Long Island history and its role in the American experience. Its grantmaking seeks projects with the greatest possible impact in promoting appreciation of Suffolk County heritage and preserving local historical collections and structures. Its stated priorities encompass object cataloguing, digitalisation, conservation, collections care and acquisitions; historic preservation, including restoration and adaptive reuse; and programmes in higher, community and primary/secondary education, outreach, research, exhibitions, events and community activities. It favours projects with a long-term, sustainable influence and organisations able to sustain their projects and demonstrate the capacity to manage them. It also looks for measurable results, strategic-plan alignment and benefit to the target audience or local community.

Themes

• Long Island history
• Suffolk County heritage
• Objects conservation
• Historic preservation
• Education
• Research
• Exhibitions

Geographic Focus

Priority: Suffolk County.

What They Don't Fund

• Tuition remission for student employees
• Salaries/wages and applicable fringe benefits for current, permanent staff who will work on the project
• Property purchase
• Lobbying
• Fund-raising
• Indirect costs (overhead)
• Research
• Expenses incurred prior to award date
• Insurance costs
• Debt or interest
• Applicants that have not been non-profit, qualifying as exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code for a minimum of 3 years

Contact the Foundation Office before submitting. An application requires prior discussion and site visits.

Deadlines:

• The spring grant cycle has an application deadline.
• The fall grant cycle has an application deadline.

• Repeat giving: In its TY2024 filing, 85% of its grant dollars to organisations went to organisations it had also funded in its TY2022 or TY2023 filing.
• Grant size: Across its TY2022, TY2023 and TY2024 filings, half of its 209 grants to organisations were $10,000 or less.

What the foundation says:

• The project should be financially sustainable and contribute to the organisation’s sustainability.
• The organisation should demonstrate strong internal capacity, effectiveness in its field, and the resources and intellectual capacity to manage the project.
• Projects should address a key goal in the organisation’s strategic plan.
• Projects should benefit and enhance the knowledge of the target audience and/or local community.
• Proposals should reflect thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter.
• Work plans should link logical, interrelated activities directly to the need or challenge identified in the proposal.
• Projects should generate measurable results tied directly to the need or challenge they address.
• The requested amount should suit the project’s scope and the organisation’s capacity, without being inflated or insufficient.
• The Foundation may visit to assess progress, and grantees report outcomes and detailed expenditure at the end of each grant year.
• Grantees must report project outcomes and detailed expense accounting at the end of each year of the grant term from the date of award.