Essex Avenue Foundation

Essex Avenue Foundation is a rapidly growing Jenkins family foundation, established in March 2021 and capitalized with extraordinary speed — the Jenkins family contributed $255M in 2020, $128.8M in 2021, $100M in 2022, and $113M in 2023, building total assets to $616M within four years. Ann Jenkins serves as Director and President, with Michael Jenkins and other family members (Greta, Sophia, Leo Jenkins) rounding out a fully family-controlled board. Elizabeth Lasorte serves as Treasurer and Valerie Crosswhite as Secretary, both uncompensated. Back-office administration is handled through Foundation Source.

The foundation has no public website, no published application portal, and no open grant cycle — the database flag `preselected_only: true` and application instructions listed as `__none__` confirm this is an invitation-only grantmaker. Cold outreach to a generic address is unlikely to succeed. The path to a grant runs through the Jenkins family directly.

For organizations seeking to enter this funder's orbit, the strategy must be relationship-first. Focus on cultivating visibility with Ann Jenkins as the president driving day-to-day grantmaking decisions. Attend events hosted by current grantees — the Billion Oyster Project, Bronx Community School, City and Country School, and Breaking Ground all maintain active public programming where Jenkins family interests intersect. Warm introductions via current grantees in the top 50 carry exponential weight.

First-time grantees should expect to start modestly — the portfolio shows an initial single grant followed by repeat engagements that escalate in size. The Bronx Community School trajectory ($3M → $3M → $6.8M) and Breaking Ground's multi-grant housing commitments illustrate how the foundation deepens relationships over time. Organizations that demonstrate clear outcomes from an initial grant are consistently renewed and often promoted to larger asks.

The foundation appears to respond to personal conviction among the Jenkins family. Issue alignment — particularly around NYC-area youth, education, affordable housing, climate, and reproductive rights — matters more than organizational prestige. Smaller, mission-driven NYC nonprofits have received grants alongside Ivy League institutions.

Essex Avenue Foundation's giving has grown from $0 in fiscal year 2020 to an estimated $28M+ in 2024, driven by annual family contributions in the $100M–$255M range. Across 187 documented grants totaling $63.5M, the average grant size is $339,426, though the distribution is heavily skewed by a handful of large multi-year anchor relationships.

Grant size distribution (from portfolio data): - Largest single recipient: Bronx Community School — $12.85M across 3 grants (~$4.3M average) - Second tier ($4–5M): City and Country School ($5M/6 grants), Cornell University ($5M/3 grants), Memorial Sloan-Kettering ($4M/3 grants), Breaking Ground Housing ($4M/3 grants) - Mid-tier ($500K–$2M): Billion Oyster Project ($2.1M), Coalition for the Homeless ($1.7M), Women in Need ($1.6M), NY Foundling ($3M/5 grants), Ali Forney Center ($1.2M), BronxWorks ($1.2M) - Standard range ($200K–$600K): Most environmental, food systems, and reproductive rights organizations fall in $250K–$625K per award - Smallest grants: ~$8,000 (per typical_grant_size data), used for targeted programmatic support

Thematic allocation (estimated from grantee portfolio): - Education (35%): Dominated by Bronx Community School and City and Country School; includes Cornell's Afghan scholar initiative and Activate Fellowship - Housing & Social Services (25%): Breaking Ground, NY Foundling, Coalition for the Homeless, Women in Need, WHEDco, BronxWorks, International Refugee Assistance Project - Environment & Climate (20%): Marine conservation (Billion Oyster, Coral Restoration, Rainforest Connection, Greenwave, University of Maine kelp research), solar/clean energy (Solar United Neighbors, Grid Alternatives, We Care Solar, CEC Stuyvesant Cove), urban green space (City Parks, NYC Restoration Project, GrowNYC) - Health (8%): Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer research; NY Foundling behavioral health - Food Systems & Agriculture (6%): GrowNYC, Rethink Food NYC, Jubilee Justice, ReFED, Cooperative Extension - Reproductive Rights (4%): NNAF, Abortion Care Network - International (2%): Trees for the Future, Boma Project, Health in Harmony, Yspaniola

Geographic concentration: New York state accounts for 127 of 187 grants (68%), with New Jersey (12), Massachusetts (9), DC (7), California (8), Maryland (4), Oregon (4), Maine (3), Connecticut (3), and Texas (3) rounding out the geographic spread.

Essex Avenue Foundation sits within a cohort of large, relatively new private foundations in the $600M–$625M asset range, all classified under NTEE T (Philanthropy & Grantmaking).

Among this peer group, Essex Avenue Foundation stands out for the breadth and pace of its grantmaking growth — from $5M in its first full giving year to $28M+ in year four, a rate no peer foundation has matched in the public record. Unlike the Welch Foundation (chemistry-only, competitive process) or Grantham Foundation (environment-focused with an LOI pathway), Essex Avenue's portfolio spans five distinct thematic pillars with no published application pathway. The Kellen Foundation, also a New York family foundation of similar asset size, similarly operates without a public process. For grant seekers, this peer analysis underscores a consistent pattern: foundations of this type and scale require a cultivation strategy built on relationships, not grant portals.

No press releases, news announcements, or social media accounts for Essex Avenue Foundation appear in public records as of early 2026. The foundation maintains a deliberately low public profile consistent with its invitation-only grantmaking model and Foundation Source administration.

Based on the most recent available 990-PF data (fiscal year 2023) and partial 2024 figures:

• 2024: CauseIQ and foundation directory aggregators report approximately $28M in total disbursements — roughly 20% growth over 2023. Ann Jenkins, Michael Jenkins, and family members remain the full leadership team with no compensation for any board member.
• 2023: 69 grants totaling $23.4M. Three anchor gifts — Bronx Community School ($3M+ tranche), Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer research continuations, and Breaking Ground's 1760 Third Avenue housing project — account for a significant share of giving.
• 2022: Rapid ramp-up from $17.4M in grants (first full year of scaled grantmaking), with continued contributions of $100M from the Jenkins family.
• 2021: Foundation's inaugural year of formal grantmaking — $5.2M paid across initial grantees, many of which became multi-year partners. City and Country School, Billion Oyster Project, and NY Foundling all appear as early anchor relationships.
• Foundation Source note: The foundation's listed grants page URL (doulaprogram.org) belongs to the Doula Program to Accompany and Comfort — a $250,000 grantee — not the foundation itself. Essex Avenue Foundation has no public-facing website of its own.

Essex Avenue Foundation is invitation-only. There is no application portal, published grant cycle, or open RFP. The following tips are specific to this funder's operating model and portfolio behavior:

Build toward a warm introduction first. The only effective path to this funder is through the Jenkins family's personal network. Identify current top grantees in your sector — Billion Oyster Project (marine conservation), BronxWorks (Bronx social services), City Parks Foundation (urban environment), or Breaking Ground (affordable housing) — and build genuine partnerships or program collaborations that create natural intersections.

Lead with NYC-rooted work. 68% of grants go to New York-based organizations. If your work is elsewhere, emphasize any NYC programmatic presence, partnerships, or national model replication that touches the city. Organizations entirely outside the NYC ecosystem face a structural disadvantage.

Emphasize general operating support capacity. The most common grant purpose across the top 50 grantees is "General & Unrestricted." Frame your organization's ask around core operations, sustainability, and organizational health — not just a single program. This foundation funds institutions, not projects.

Show a multi-year roadmap. The foundation's deepest grantee relationships (Bronx Community School, City and Country School, NY Foundling) span 5–7 grants over multiple years. When you get to a conversation with leadership, articulate a 3-year vision — not a one-time ask.

Align with at least one of five priority themes: education (especially youth-serving organizations), affordable housing and homelessness, environmental conservation (particularly marine/ocean and urban green space), behavioral health and social services, or climate-aligned food systems and clean energy. The reproductive rights cluster and international development threads are present but smaller.

Use the Foundation Source connection strategically. Foundation Source (foundationsource.com) administers hundreds of private foundations. Their staff occasionally facilitate introductions for organizations with strong track records. Connecting professionally with Foundation Source's program staff is a secondary pathway worth exploring.

Prepare for a site visit. The foundation's relationship with top grantees suggests program officers visit grantee sites. Have your facility, team, and program outcomes presentation-ready before any meeting.