Gerstner Family Foundation

• This is a foundation for by-invitation approaches only: it does not accept unsolicited requests, so a small charity cannot simply send in a proposal and expects one to be approached through a relationship or introduction rather than a cold application.
• Its priority is Metropolitan New York, Boston and Palm Beach County, so work outside those areas is less likely to fit its stated focus.
• Its giving sits mainly in biomedical research, student opportunity, methane reduction, plastic pollution, emergency assistance and hunger relief, so a request should match one of these themes closely.
• Typical grants run from $10,000 to $1,000,000, with about 8 in 10 of its 87 grants to organisations in that range and a median of $180,000, so a mid-sized request in the tens or low hundreds of thousands is a realistic starting point rather than the very largest sums it occasionally gives.
• A large majority of its grant dollars go to organisations it has already funded in recent years, suggesting a strong emphasis on continuing relationships, so new applicants should expect this to be a slow, relationship-led process rather than a quick win.

The largest grants to organisations in the foundation’s latest filing:

• Trustees of Dartmouth College · Education - scholarship program
  $1,756,0002024 tax year
• Windward Fund · Environmental research
  $1,750,0002024 tax year
• Treasure Coast Food Bank · Food pantry program
  $1,006,8192024 tax year
• Columbia University in the City of New York · Biomedical research
  $1,000,0002024 tax year
• Activate Global · Environmental research
  $609,0522024 tax year
• Cornell University · Environmental research
  $493,2712024 tax year
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Environmental research
  $479,8362024 tax year
• Coalition for the Homeless · Emergency grants program
  $465,0002024 tax year

Grants to organisations listed in the foundation’s Form 990-PF filings. Grants to individuals are not shown.

Figures from the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings. Assets are at fair market value at year end. The document icon links to each year’s filing on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.