Hedda Sterne Foundation Inc.

The Hedda Sterne Foundation is a single-artist legacy foundation, not a conventional broad grantmaker. It was endowed in 2013 by the estate of Hedda Sterne (1910-2011), the Romanian-American Abstract Expressionist and the only woman pictured in the famous 1950 'Irascibles' photograph, with a one-time $4,646,894 corpus contribution. Its mission centers on stewarding her collection and archive and, secondarily, on funding exhibitions/scholarship about her and career-spanning support to individual artists 'across the spectrum of creativity.' With $6,879,096 in total assets (FY2024) and a lean structure — one salaried Executive Director (Shaina Larrivee, $151,723 in FY2023) plus three unpaid board officers — funding decisions flow through a small, closely held circle rather than an open RFP process. The IRS-disclosed grantee record is thin: across the filings reviewed, only two named third-party grants appear, totaling $2,500 — $1,500 to the Association of Art Museum Curators Foundation and $1,000 to The Aspen Institute, both general-support gifts to established, name-brand arts/policy intermediaries rather than project grants to unfamiliar applicants. That pattern, combined with annual 'total giving' figures of $341,000-$427,000 that vastly exceed the $0-$15,000 in itemized cash grants most years, indicates the bulk of the Foundation's qualifying distributions fund internal program work (collection conservation, cataloguing, digitization, and exhibition support, reported at $283,119 in program expenses) rather than external grantmaking. First-time applicants should treat this as a relationship-first funder: board president Sanford Hirsch also runs the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation's well-known Individual Support Grant program for visual artists, VP Sarah Eckhardt is a museum curator, and Secretary/Treasurer Karen Van Lengen is an architecture academic — suggesting curatorial or scholarly introductions, not cold applications, are the likeliest path in. There is no published typical grant size, deadline, or online application form. Organizations working on Sterne-related scholarship, Abstract Expressionism/New York School-era exhibitions, or conservation/archival projects tied to mid-century American art are the closest mission fit; individual artists should expect a nomination- or invitation-based structure rather than an open call, with direct email inquiry the only documented entry point.

Total assets grew from $4,660,326 in 2013 (the Foundation's founding year, funded by a one-time $4,646,894 estate contribution) to $6,879,096 in FY2024 — 48% growth over 11 years — driven almost entirely by investment performance ($917,116 in net investment income in FY2023; $892,691 in FY2021) rather than new gifts; no contributions have been received since 2014. Total revenue tracks market swings: $971,044 (FY2023), $362,616 (FY2022, a down year), $946,956 (FY2021), $735,346 (FY2020), and $763,612 (FY2024). 'Total giving' (990-PF qualifying distributions) has climbed steadily and roughly 30-fold over a decade: $14,109 (FY2013) → $134,550 (FY2014) → $215,403 (FY2015) → $341,481 (FY2019) → $354,981 (FY2020) → $404,063 (FY2021) → $426,782 (FY2022) → $426,719 (FY2023). But this figure is overwhelmingly internal. Itemized cash grants paid to outside recipients were $0 in FY2020 and FY2023, $1,000 in FY2021, $1,500 in FY2022, and $15,000 in FY2015 — cumulatively well under $20,000 in disclosed cash grants across the years reviewed, against total giving of well over $2 million in that span. The only two named grantees on record are the Association of Art Museum Curators Foundation ($1,500, general support) and The Aspen Institute ($1,000, general support). Median disclosed grant: $1,250; range: $1,000-$1,500 — a sample of just two, too small to generalize a typical outside-applicant award size. The remaining ~$400,000+ in annual qualifying distributions funds program operations: $283,119 reported for maintaining the Sterne collection for study and exhibition, plus staff compensation, which rose from $80,000 (FY2019) to $151,723 (FY2023) as the Executive Director role professionalized. Geographically, both disclosed grants went to national or DC/NY-metro institutions, consistent with the Foundation's Brooklyn, NY base and its ties to a New York School artist. The plain reading for grant seekers: this is not a foundation with a large discretionary budget for outside organizations — it is primarily a self-directed operating foundation, and any outside funding is likely to be modest, selective, and closely mission-adjacent (art history scholarship, museum curatorial partnerships, individual artist stipends).

These peers were matched primarily by asset size (all cluster tightly around $6.8M), not necessarily by grantmaking volume, and none has disclosed giving data in this data set. The closest analog by mission is the Charles and Ray Eames House Preservation Foundation — another single-legacy, estate-endowed arts organization likely prioritizing internal preservation over third-party grants, mirroring Hedda Sterne's pattern. Together they suggest that Arts & Culture private foundations in the $6-7M asset tier skew toward small, single-purpose operating entities rather than active grantmakers running public RFPs, reinforcing that applicants should approach Hedda Sterne Foundation as a legacy-stewardship organization first and a grants source second.

The Foundation's most visible 2025-2026 activity is exhibition-driven rather than grant-driven. Van Doren Waxter gallery in New York is presenting 'Hedda Sterne: Dreamscapes,' organized with the Foundation, running November 13, 2025 through January 23, 2026, and featuring 15 works from the 1970s-80s. Separately, Sterne's work appeared in the 'Graffiti' exhibition at Museion in Bolzano, Italy, from March 29 through September 14, 2025. The Foundation is now commercially represented by both Van Doren Waxter (New York) and Victoria Miro (London), signaling active gallery-market engagement alongside its archival and scholarly mission. No news of a new grant program launch, leadership change, or large one-off gift was found in 2025-2026 web searches; the Foundation's own dedicated news page returned a 404 during this research, suggesting the site's structure has shifted since it was last indexed. Leadership otherwise appears stable: Shaina Larrivee remains Executive Director, Veronique Lindenberg Chairperson, Sanford Hirsch President, Karen Van Lengen Secretary/Treasurer, and Sarah Eckhardt Vice President, with no turnover detected across the filings and web sources reviewed. Given the Foundation's small, internally focused operations, grant seekers should read 'recent activity' through its exhibition calendar rather than grant announcements — the Van Doren Waxter and Museion shows point to active momentum in curatorial and scholarly partnerships around Sterne's legacy, which is the most plausible channel for near-term 'Exhibitions and Scholarship' program dollars, rather than open grants to outside organizations.

No online application portal, LOI template, or published deadline exists on heddasternefoundation.org as of August 2026 — the Foundation's own application-instructions field is explicitly blank. Start with a direct, brief email to info@heddasternefoundation.org or a call to (212) 300-4225, and lead with specific alignment to Sterne's legacy: art-historical scholarship on Abstract Expressionism or the New York School, conservation/archival digitization work, or exhibition proposals featuring her work — not a generic arts-funding pitch. Because board president Sanford Hirsch also runs the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation's well-established Individual Support Grant program for career visual artists facing financial need, individual artists should study the Gottlieb Foundation's published criteria (career-length body of work, financial-hardship narrative, high-quality documentation) as the closest available proxy for what Hedda Sterne Foundation's 'Individual Artist Funding' program might value — while confirming directly with staff, since the criteria are not confirmed to be identical. The Foundation's two disclosed grants (to the Association of Art Museum Curators Foundation and The Aspen Institute) were general-support gifts to established, name-brand arts and policy institutions, not project grants to grassroots or emerging organizations — suggesting institutional credibility and existing field relationships matter more than proposal strength alone. Set budget expectations accordingly: disclosed cash grants have run $1,000-$1,500 each; there is no evidence of grants in the tens or hundreds of thousands to outside groups, despite total qualifying distributions near $427,000/year (the bulk of which funds internal collection and program work, not outside applications). The most common mistake to avoid is treating this like an open-call arts grantmaker — with only two disclosed outside grants across the filings reviewed and $0 in itemized grants paid in multiple recent years, the realistic odds of an unsolicited cold application converting are low. Relationship-building through curators, museum contacts, or Sterne scholarship circles — including via the Foundation's representing galleries, Van Doren Waxter and Victoria Miro — is a more credible path than a cold letter of inquiry. For timing, consider aligning outreach with the Foundation's active exhibition cycle: the Van Doren Waxter 'Dreamscapes' show runs through January 23, 2026, a window when the Foundation is likely engaged with curatorial and scholarly partners and potentially more receptive to related proposals.