Alvin Sherman Family Foundation

• The foundation states that it does not accept unsolicited requests and works by invitation only, so a cold application is unlikely to be considered, and the better first step is to see whether a personal connection could introduce you.
• Across the filings, about 8 in 10 of its 31 grants to organisations fall between $10,000 and $450,000, with a median of $55,000, so a request near that scale matches its usual pattern, though its largest grant was about $2,350,000, so that band is not a ceiling.
• In its latest filing, 47% of its grant dollars to organisations went to groups it had also funded in earlier filings, so a meaningful share of its money goes to existing grantees.
• Its recorded grants have gone to higher-education institutions, theatres and other arts organisations, legal and social-service charities, hospitals, and religious and community organisations, and the filings state no narrower field, so compare your work with those areas; the filings show grants mainly in Florida and New York, but no geographic focus is stated, so location alone should not decide whether you approach it.

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

• Our Fund · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $750,0002024 tax year
• Vineyard Theater · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $450,0002024 tax year
• Lambda Legal · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $285,0002024 tax year
• Sage · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $200,0002024 tax year
• North Central College · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $150,0002024 tax year
• Geffen Playhouse · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $100,0002024 tax year
• American Repertory Theater · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $100,0002024 tax year
• Film Independent · To futher the organization charitable purpose
  $55,0002024 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.