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The Overbrook Foundation

Annual Giving
$7.2M
Grant Range
$5K - $0.3M

The Overbrook Foundation

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $7,226,643 (2023)
  • Success Rate: Not applicable - invitation only
  • Decision Time: Not publicly disclosed
  • Grant Range: $5,000 - $250,000
  • Average Grant: $50,000
  • Geographic Focus: United States and Latin America (particularly Central America and Mesoamerica)
  • Total Assets: Approximately $150 million endowment

Contact Details

Address: One Grand Central Place, 60 East 42nd St., Suite 565, New York, NY 10165

Phone: (212) 603-9996

Website: https://overbrook.org/

Contact Form: Available at https://overbrook.org/contact-us/

Note on Outreach: While the foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals, they encourage organizations working in their areas of interest to share news, ideas, and projects with foundation staff through their contact form or by phone.

Overview

Founded in 1948 by investor Frank Altschul and his wife Helen, the Overbrook Foundation takes its name from Overbrook Farm, the Altschul family home in Stamford, Connecticut. With a $150 million endowment and over $240 million distributed since inception, the foundation has supported more than 2,000 nonprofit organizations. Now in its third and fourth generation of family leadership with a professional staff of six, Overbrook formalized its current focus on human rights and environmental conservation in 2005. The foundation played a pivotal role in achieving marriage equality in the United States as one of 12 founding organizations of the Civil Marriage Collaborative, which provided over $150 million for the successful strategy culminating in the 2015 Supreme Court decision. Overbrook also helped organize the first People's Climate March in 2014, which drew over 300,000 participants and became an annual global event.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

The Overbrook Foundation operates through two main program areas:

Environment Program ($20,000 - $100,000 typical range)

  • Coastal Restoration: Supporting restoration of endangered oceans and coastlines through cultivation of coral, seaweed, oysters, sea grass, and marine species
  • Communities and Climate: Funding locally-rooted organizations combating projects that worsen climate impacts, particularly in extractive-industrial zones
  • Drivers of Change: Targeting single-use plastics culture and petrochemical industry expansion; promoting behavior change toward sustainable reuse society
  • Stand for Forests: Protecting threatened tropical forest ecosystems and preventing deforestation, primarily in Mesoamerica (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico)

Human Rights Program ($20,000 - $100,000 typical range)

  • Advancing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice: Legal advocacy, healthcare provision, community organizing to address abortion access regression
  • Defending Democracy: Supporting civic participation, election integrity, combating voter suppression through organizations working on voting rights, gerrymandering prevention, fair census counts, and electoral innovations
  • Supporting Human Rights Defenders in Latin America: Providing legal assistance, emergency grants, advocacy, capacity strengthening, accompaniment, and networks for defenders, particularly in Central America

Priority Areas

Geographic Focus:

  • United States (domestic human rights and environmental work)
  • Latin America (biodiversity conservation, human rights defenders)
  • Central America and Mesoamerica (special emphasis)

Organizational Characteristics:

  • Led by or partnering with communities most impacted by rights violations
  • Organizations led by women of color, low-income women, LGBTQ people, and youth
  • Locally-rooted and community-centered approaches
  • Systems-level innovation and change
  • Direct work with communities and stakeholders

Specific Issue Areas:

  • Women and girls' rights
  • LGBTQ rights (post-marriage equality focus on opposing religious exemptions for discrimination)
  • Criminal justice reform
  • Indigenous land protection
  • Community forest governance and management
  • Agroforestry and sustainable production
  • Climate justice in frontline communities

What They Don't Fund

While not explicitly stated, the foundation's preselected approach and focused program areas indicate they do not fund:

  • Organizations outside their two program areas (Environment and Human Rights)
  • Work outside the United States and Latin America
  • Individual scholarships or research
  • Capital campaigns or endowment building (not their stated focus)
  • Arts, education, healthcare, or other sectors outside their current mandate (though these were supported historically)

Governance and Leadership

Board of Directors

The Overbrook Foundation is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors, predominantly consisting of third and fourth generation descendants of founders Helen and Frank Altschul and their spouses:

  • Joyce Fensterstock – Chair of the Board
  • Julie Graham – Vice Chair & Secretary
  • Arthur G. Altschul, Jr. – Vice Chair & Treasurer
  • Isaiah Orozco – Vice Chair
  • Stephen F. Altschul
  • James Graham
  • Emily Altschul-Miller
  • Michael Grunwald
  • Alla Broeksmit
  • Olivia Kooyman
  • Elizabeth Lindemann
  • Robert Labaree
  • Kristin Graham
  • Helen Lang
  • Robert C. Graham Jr. – Director Emeritus

Senior Staff

  • Stephen A. Foster – Former President & CEO
  • Risa Kaufman – Director of Human Rights
  • Daniel R. Katz – Lead Environmental Advisor (co-founder and Board Chair of Rainforest Alliance)
  • Jessica Mowles – Human Rights Senior Program Officer

The foundation employs a professional staff of six with "decades of experience in their fields."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

The Overbrook Foundation does not have a public application process. The foundation only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited grant applications.

However, the foundation explicitly encourages organizations working in its specific areas of interest to share news, ideas, and projects with foundation staff. Organizations can reach out through:

Getting on Their Radar

The Overbrook Foundation's approach to identifying grantees involves proactive research and relationship building by foundation staff. Based on specific information about this funder:

Staff-Driven Identification: The foundation's professional staff actively researches and identifies organizations working in their priority areas. Program officers like Risa Kaufman (Human Rights) and Daniel R. Katz (Environment) are key contacts who evaluate potential grantees.

Relationship Building Through Information Sharing: While they don't accept proposals, the foundation explicitly welcomes organizations to share news and project updates. This suggests that keeping program officers informed about your work, achievements, and innovations in their focus areas can help you get noticed.

Multi-Year Funding Model: Many grantees receive multi-year funding, which means the foundation develops long-term relationships with partners. This makes breaking into their portfolio competitive, but once funded, organizations benefit from sustained support.

Network and Collaborative Connections: The foundation's history with initiatives like the Civil Marriage Collaborative (12 foundations providing $150M for marriage equality) and organizing the People's Climate March demonstrates they work within collaborative networks. Being connected to or recommended by existing grantees or partner foundations could be valuable.

Leadership from Affected Communities: The foundation explicitly prioritizes organizations "led by or partnering with communities most impacted" by the issues they address. Organizations led by women of color, LGBTQ people, youth, and frontline community members align with their values.

Decision Timeline

Not publicly disclosed. The foundation operates on a trustee discretion model with grants approved by the family-led Board of Directors.

Grant Distribution Pattern

  • 2023: 125 awards totaling $7,226,643
  • 2022: 144 awards
  • 2021: 168 awards
  • 2020: 199 awards
  • 2019: 238 awards

This declining number of awards alongside multi-year funding suggests a strategy shift toward deeper, sustained partnerships with fewer organizations.

Success Rates

Not applicable – the foundation identifies and invites organizations rather than evaluating submitted applications.

Reapplication Policy

Not applicable due to invitation-only model.

Application Success Factors

Since this foundation operates on an invitation-only basis, "success" means being identified and selected by foundation staff. Based on research into this specific funder, the following factors appear critical:

Community-Centered Leadership: The foundation explicitly states they prioritize grantees "led by or partnering with communities most impacted by rights violations." Their example of COLOR as "the only Latina-led Reproductive Justice organization in Colorado" illustrates this priority. Organizations led by women of color, LGBTQ individuals, and youth are specifically mentioned as priority partners.

Systems-Level Innovation: The foundation's values include "Be Bold – Address pressing challenges with innovative leaders, recognizing that risk-taking can yield important solutions." They support organizations taking innovative approaches to systemic change rather than just service delivery.

Direct Community Connection: Grantee UPROSE's Executive Director Elizabeth Yeampierre emphasizes: "All of our work is designed to address [the community's] priorities and concerns." The foundation values organizations responsive to community-identified needs, as demonstrated by UPROSE's evolution into renewable energy leadership.

Long-Term Impact Focus: With many grantees receiving multi-year funding and the foundation's value of "Be Impactful – Ensure support translates to measurable, high-level impact in communities and ecosystems," they seek partners capable of sustained, transformative work rather than short-term projects.

Youth Leadership and Organizing: Texas Rising's work with youth organizers demonstrates the foundation's commitment to supporting "a powerful force for social and political change" through youth-led movements creating "lasting, cross-generational change."

Alignment with Five Core Values:

  1. Be Bold – Take risks to address pressing challenges
  2. Be Impactful – Achieve measurable, high-level impact
  3. Be a Partner – Engage in collaborative systemic change
  4. Be Accountable – Maintain transparency and accessibility
  5. Be Humble – Remain open to learning and change

Geographic Alignment: Work must be in the United States or Latin America (particularly Central America and Mesoamerica for environment work; Central America for human rights defenders).

Specific Program Fit: Organizations must clearly align with one of the foundation's six sub-initiatives across their two program areas. Generic environmental or human rights work won't fit—it needs to specifically address coastal restoration, communities and climate, drivers of change, stand for forests, reproductive justice, defending democracy, or supporting human rights defenders.

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • This funder does not accept traditional grant applications – Focus instead on building awareness of your work through sharing news, achievements, and project updates with program staff

  • Community leadership is paramount – Organizations led by those most impacted (women of color, LGBTQ people, frontline communities, youth, indigenous peoples) receive priority

  • Multi-year funding creates competitive entry but stable support – The decreasing number of grants (238 in 2019 to 125 in 2023) reflects deeper investment in fewer partners; once funded, expect sustained engagement

  • Innovation and bold approaches matter – The foundation values risk-taking and systems-level change over incremental improvements or traditional service delivery

  • Historic achievements demonstrate commitment – Their $150M+ investment in marriage equality and leadership in organizing the People's Climate March show they back major movement-building efforts

  • Geographic and programmatic fit is narrow – Work must fall within their six specific sub-initiatives and be located in the US or Latin America; this is not a general-purpose funder

  • Relationship-building is key – Since staff proactively identify grantees, maintaining communication with program officers (Risa Kaufman for Human Rights, Daniel R. Katz for Environment) and sharing relevant updates can position you for future consideration

References

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