Helis Foundation

The Helis Foundation is one of New Orleans' most consequential private funders — a quietly powerful institution established in 1955 by the William Helis family, whose oil-and-gas wealth built one of Louisiana's enduring philanthropic legacies. With $82.9 million in assets and annual total giving consistently between $3.5 million and $3.9 million, the foundation operates two structurally distinct funding streams that applicants must understand before approaching.

The first is the Art Funds — formally the Diana Helis Henry and Adrienne Helis Malvin Art Funds — which support the operational sustainability of New Orleans' flagship visual and performing arts institutions, underwrite free admission days for Louisiana residents, fund major exhibitions, and finance artwork acquisitions. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art ($3.88M cumulative), New Orleans Museum of Art ($1.29M), Contemporary Arts Center ($467K), and New Orleans Botanical Garden ($235K) are the Art Fund's anchor beneficiaries. The foundation's "Art for All" program provides free admission for Louisiana residents every Wednesday at NOMA and Botanical Garden, and every Thursday at Ogden — commitments that are renewed year after year.

The second is the General Fund, which addresses health, human services, education, youth development, crime prevention, and community development within the Metropolitan New Orleans area. United Way ($637,500 cumulative), Second Harvest Food Bank ($400,000), and Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities ($399,049+) typify General Fund priorities.

Despite accepting unsolicited inquiries on a rolling basis, the Helis Foundation operates much more like an invitation-driven funder than a competitive grant program. Its top five grantees alone account for approximately 54% of all recorded grantmaking, and nearly every anchor recipient has a five-grant, multi-year relationship. New applicants should treat this as the beginning of a long-term relationship, not a one-time transaction.

The leadership structure reinforces the family-foundation character: Managing Director Jessie Schott Haynes (a Schott family member) serves as operational gatekeeper, with President David A. Kerstein, Vice President Michael F. Schott, Secretary Linda A. Reeg, and Treasurer Jane C. Fiegler providing uncompensated board oversight. All officers serve without compensation — confirming this is a personal, values-driven institution, not a professionally managed competitive grant program. First-time applicants should go modest, go specific, and go long.

The Helis Foundation's grantmaking has been remarkably stable over the past decade, with total giving ranging from $2.68 million (FY2014) to $3.86 million (FY2021). Grants paid — the direct check-based grantmaking component, distinct from direct charitable activities — runs between $2.29 million (FY2014) and $2.82 million (FY2021). FY2023 data shows $2.43 million in grants paid against $3.53 million in total giving.

From 311 recorded IRS grants: average grant $43,449, median grant $20,000, range $1,000 to $806,815. This wide spread reflects a bimodal portfolio — a handful of anchor institutions receiving $200,000–$806,000+ annually, and a long tail of community grants in the $10,000–$50,000 range.

Program area breakdown (estimated from top-50 grantees by dollar volume): - Arts and cultural institutions: ~65% of total grant value. Ogden Museum alone received $3.88M across five grants; NOMA $1.29M; Contemporary Arts Center $467K; US Biennial Inc $452K; Arts Council of New Orleans $340K; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation $233K; New Orleans Ballet $200K; WWNO $200K; New Orleans Film Society $107K. - Human services and poverty: ~15%. United Way $637,500; Second Harvest $400,000; Bridge House $115,574; Liberty's Kitchen $50,000. - Education and youth: ~10%. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities $399,049 + $50,000 separately; NOCCA $178,000; Young Aspirations/Young Artists $120,000; Kid Smart $82,750; Young Audiences of Louisiana $92,500. - Civic and community: ~7%. Bureau of Governmental Research $150,000; Preservation Resource Center $263,500; Pelican Institute $75,000; Louisiana Appleseed $40,000. - Health: ~3%. Ochsner Clinic Foundation $150,000 (Healing Arts Garden); Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center $40,000; National Jewish Health $50,000.

Geographic distribution: 276 of 311 grants (89%) went to Louisiana organizations. New York received 16 grants (primarily Storm King Center); Colorado 9 (primarily National Jewish Health); Pennsylvania 6. Non-Louisiana grants represent specific long-term program relationships, not geographic expansion.

The endowment grew from $43 million (FY2013) to $83 million (FY2024) — near-doubling in a decade. FY2024 revenue reached $4.83 million, the strongest year in the dataset, supporting a stable to modestly growing grantmaking outlook through the late 2020s.

Note: Peer asset and giving figures for Zemurray and Besthoff are estimated from available public filings and may not reflect the most current fiscal year. Helis and Greater New Orleans Foundation figures are drawn from confirmed IRS and public data.

The Helis Foundation occupies a distinctive position in the New Orleans funding landscape: it is the dominant private foundation funder of cultural access in the city, yet it accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry — a relative rarity among comparably sized Louisiana private foundations. Zemurray and Besthoff are largely invitation-only, making Helis the most accessible private arts funder in this asset tier. Compared to the Greater New Orleans Foundation (a community foundation with broader competitive programs and far greater capitalization), Helis is more predictable — its priority institutions change rarely, and relationships are long-term. Organizations that cannot achieve tight alignment with Helis's New Orleans-only geography and arts-dominant portfolio may find the Greater New Orleans Foundation's diverse program areas a better entry point. For statewide humanities and education work, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities offers project-based grants with broader geographic reach.

The foundation's most visible 2025 activity centers on its sustained partnership with the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. In August 2025, the Helis Foundation served as presenting sponsor of Louisiana Contemporary, the museum's annual juried exhibition drawing 1,421 submissions. The $5,000 Helis Foundation Art Prize (Best in Show) was awarded to Karen Ocker for Temple of the Innocent Blood (2023), with First Place going to Joelle Nagy, Second Place to Kahlil McKnight, and Third Place to Sally Heller.

The foundation also unveiled its 11th large-scale outdoor public mural in 2025-2026 — The Welcoming Committee by New Orleans artist Annie Moran — installed above the Girod Street overpass. The work celebrates the city's cultural traditions with monumental figures and continues a decade-plus public art initiative that has placed murals across New Orleans' public spaces.

A notable programmatic expansion emerged through a grant to Xavier University of Louisiana to develop a new Master's degree in Curatorial Practice and Exhibition Management focused on increasing diversity in museum leadership — a departure from the foundation's typical operational support model and a signal of evolving equity-focused priorities within the arts funding stream.

The Helis Foundation John Scott Center at Turners Hall, supported by $399,049 in Helis renovation funding channeled through the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, remains active as a cultural programming venue in New Orleans.

No leadership changes have been publicly announced. Managing Director Jessie Schott Haynes, President David A. Kerstein, and Vice President Michael F. Schott remain in their respective roles. All officer compensation remains $0, consistent with the foundation's volunteer governance model across all recorded fiscal years.

1. Choose your funding stream before you write. The Art Funds and General Fund have distinct priorities and likely separate review criteria. Art Fund proposals should explicitly address institutional sustainability, free public access programming (the foundation's highest-profile commitment), and significant exhibitions or acquisitions. General Fund proposals must map to a named community priority — health, human services, education, youth development, crime prevention, or community development. A proposal that straddles both funds will likely fall into neither.

2. Use a formal typed letter — no portal, no form. The foundation explicitly requests 'appropriate typed letter form' with supporting materials. There is no online grant portal. Submit by email to info@thehelisfoundation.org or postal mail to 201 Saint Charles Avenue, Suite 2600, New Orleans, LA 70170. Phone inquiries can be made to (504) 523-1831.

3. Lead with free and public access. The foundation's highest-funded ongoing commitments — free Wednesdays at NOMA and Botanical Garden, free Thursdays at Ogden, Saturdays at Louisiana Children's Museum — all involve removing cost barriers for Louisiana residents. If your organization offers free admission, free workshops, or subsidized services, this language should appear in the first paragraph.

4. Go modest on your first ask and plan to grow. The portfolio median is $20,000. A strategically calibrated first request of $10,000–$25,000 for a specific program or operational need is far more likely to open a relationship than an ambitious first-year proposal. Anchor-level gifts ($100,000+) are the result of years of demonstrated stewardship.

5. New Orleans metro geography is essential. 276 of 311 recorded grants (89%) were Louisiana-based. Out-of-state funding is exceptional and tied to long-standing program-specific relationships. Organizations headquartered outside the New Orleans metro face near-certain rejection without an extraordinary direct connection.

6. Time your submission despite the rolling deadline. Submit January–March for best alignment with annual planning cycles. The absence of a formal deadline should not imply a casual approach.

7. Acknowledge the Helis family legacy. The foundation's most personal grants — including $150,000 to Ochsner Clinic 'in memory of William G. Helis Jr.' — reveal that family legacy remains meaningful to the board. Grantees who reference and honor the family's New Orleans roots demonstrate the cultural alignment that resonates with family-foundation leadership.

8. Document institutional maturity. New programs, early-stage nonprofits, and fiscal-sponsorship arrangements are unlikely to attract Helis support. Nearly every top grantee is a decades-old institution. Board leadership, annual budget, multi-year operating history, and community footprint should all be prominent in your letter.