Allen Family Philanthropies

• Allen Family Philanthropies funds arts and culture, youth and environment, with a geographic focus of Pacific Northwest as a priority, then U.S., internationally, and Washington state, so grant writers should check their work sits within these themes and areas.
• Typical grants run from $815 to $885,000, with about eight in ten of its grants falling in this range and a median grant of $295,000, so a request in that range is realistic; the largest grant, around $10,500,000, went to ArtsFund, an organisation it funds every year and which regrants to other organisations, making this an outlier rather than a typical award.
• Around 79% of its grant dollars went to organisations it had also funded in earlier filings, so repeat partners take the larger share of its giving and new applicants may find it competitive to break in.
• How to apply varies by programme; for its Accelerating Natural Solutions in the United States programme, the process runs in two stages, a letter of interest reviewed on a rolling basis followed, for those selected, by a full proposal, and that programme will not fund activities that attempt to influence legislation or the outcome of any election.
• Funding decisions are made case by case against programme priorities, so tailoring an approach to the specific theme and programme is likely to matter more than a generic pitch.

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

• ArtsFund · To support the community accelerator grant renewal for the second year of program administration.
  $10,422,6232024 tax year
• Childrens Hospital Corporation · To support the allen discovery center for human brain evolution at boston children's hospital and harvard medical school
  $2,500,0002024 tax year
• Regents of the University of California at San Diego · To support the allen discovery center for neurobiology in changing environments
  $2,500,0002024 tax year
• University of Washington Foundation · To support allen discovery center for cell lineage tracing phase 2
  $2,500,0002024 tax year
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · To support the allen discovery center for neuroimmune interactions
  $2,500,0002024 tax year
• National Geographic Society · To support the slingshot challenge
  $1,763,5332024 tax year
• Friends of Seattle Waterfront · To support cultural programming at waterfront park
  $1,518,6122024 tax year
• Florida International University Foundation · To support a project titled "operation pangolin"
  $1,435,7632024 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.