Leon Levy Foundation

The Leon Levy Foundation operates as one of New York's most influential private foundations, with approximately $491 million in assets and annual giving that has ranged from $26.7 million to $65.7 million over the past decade. Its grantmaking is guided explicitly by the humanist passions of the late financier and art collector Leon Levy and his wife, trustee Shelby White: the ancient world, arts and humanities, nature and gardens, neuroscience, human rights and civil liberties, and Jewish culture.

The most critical fact for any prospective grantee: the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or letters of inquiry. All general grants are made by invitation only. There is no grants portal, no public application deadline, and no LOI window for the main grantmaking program. The foundation's program staff — led by President Meredith Ross — identifies and cultivates grantees proactively.

However, several named programs under the Leon Levy umbrella do accept open applications and provide genuine entry points:

• Leon Levy Scholarships in Neuroscience (administered by NYAS): A competitive postdoctoral fellowship for NYC-based neuroscientists, providing three years of support and professional development. The 2025 cohort drew from NYU, Columbia, Weill Cornell, and Mount Sinai.
• Shelby White & Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications (administered by Harvard): Supports publication of final excavation reports. Open to researchers worldwide with documentation requirements.
• Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Assistance Initiative (administered by NYPAP): Grants to NY historic preservation nonprofits for archival identification and maintenance. The 2025 fourth cohort was recently announced.
• Leon Levy Center for Biography Fellowships (CUNY Graduate Center): Annual $72,000 fellowships for biography writers, funded by the foundation's 2024 $10 million endowment gift.

For organizations seeking funding outside these programs, the realistic path is relationship cultivation — through Philanthropy New York peer networks, existing grantees (NYU, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brennan Center for Justice), and engagement with program staff at public events. Organizations with established credibility in NYC's cultural, scientific, or civic landscape and with multi-year project execution track records are far better positioned than newer or smaller organizations.

The Leon Levy Foundation's financial profile reveals a funder that gives generously in strong investment years and contracts in lean ones. Total annual giving ranged from $26.7 million (FY2020) to $65.7 million (FY2022), tracking closely with net investment income (which swung from $19.7 million in FY2019 to $116.3 million in FY2021). The foundation receives no external contributions — 100% of revenue comes from endowment returns — making grant levels inherently variable.

From 928 grants recorded in IRS data totaling $153.9 million, the median grant is $25,000 but the average is $157,823 — a ratio of 6:1 that signals extreme concentration at the top. The full range runs from $800 (small archival or honoraria payments) to $7.8 million.

New York University alone received $46.8 million across five grants — 30% of all recorded giving — reflecting a deep anchor-institution relationship. The top five grantees (NYU, Bard College at $5.1M, Bahamas National Trust at $6.8M combined, Harvard at $3.7M, and the Metropolitan Museum at $3.4M) account for over $65 million, roughly 42% of the recorded total.

Estimated giving by program area based on grantee analysis: - Ancient World: $8-15M/year — Harvard, Smithsonian, Freer/Sackler Gallery, White Levy Archaeological Publications ($1.65M), Bahamas National Trust ($6.8M combined) - Neuroscience: $5-8M/year — NYU Langone ($1.3M), Columbia Medical Center ($1.97M), Weill Cornell ($1.39M), Icahn/Mount Sinai ($1.72M) - Arts & Humanities: $8-12M/year — Metropolitan Museum ($3.4M), Brooklyn Academy of Music ($1.25M), New-York Historical Society ($1.03M), Brooklyn Museum ($950K) - Human Rights & Civil Liberties: $3-5M/year — Brennan Center ($1.05M), Committee to Protect Journalists ($1.7M), Human Rights First ($750K), Center for Reproductive Rights ($700K) - Nature & Gardens: $3-5M/year — Maine Coast Heritage Trust ($1M), City Parks Foundation ($875K), Natural Areas Conservancy ($875K), NY Botanical Garden ($1.18M) - Jewish Culture: $2-4M/year — Center for Jewish History ($1.23M), United Jewish Appeal ($1.15M)

FY2023 payout rate: $44.5M on $495M assets = 9% payout, well above the 5% legal minimum, indicating genuine grantmaking intent.

The Leon Levy Foundation occupies the upper tier of New York's private foundation landscape, with ~$491M in assets placing it among several peer grantmakers in the Philanthropy & Grantmaking category. Its combination of six distinct program areas, named fellowship programs with open applications, and invitation-only general grantmaking distinguishes it from most comparably-sized peers.

Compared to the Haas Jr. Fund — the most transparent peer — Leon Levy operates at a significantly higher payout rate (~9% vs. ~6%) and concentrates giving in harder-to-access cultural and scientific niches. The Grace and Mercy Foundation and Endeavor Foundation both maintain lower public profiles with minimal published grantmaking data. The Ezrah Charitable Trust ($498M, NC) focuses primarily on Jewish communal causes with minimal overlap.

Leon Levy stands apart from all peers for its multiple named fellowship programs that create genuine open-access entry points for individual researchers and eligible nonprofits, even while its general grantmaking remains fully invitation-only. For grantees already embedded in NYC's cultural infrastructure — the Metropolitan Museum, City Parks Foundation, and Brooklyn Academy of Music each have 4-5 grant cycles on record — the foundation behaves more like a long-term patron than a competitive grantmaker.

The foundation's most significant internal development visible in IRS records is the leadership transition from Robert Goldrich (Outgoing President, last compensated at $739,038) to Meredith Ross (now President, previously listed as Program Director/President at $280,000-$371,000). This transition appears to have occurred between the most recent available filing years and represents the first leadership change in several years.

In 2025, the foundation made a $300,000 grant to the Authors Guild Foundation to establish the Shelby White & Leon Levy Authors Guild Archives Initiative — a two-year project through 2027 to digitize 112 years of literary advocacy records. Separately, a $493,000 grant to LaGuardia Community College supported digitization of the NYCHA archives. Both grants reinforce a 2024-2025 cross-program emphasis on archival preservation and public access.

On April 29, 2025, NYAS announced the 2025 class of 10 Leon Levy Scholars in Neuroscience, the 16th cohort since the program launched in 2009. NYAS president Nicholas Dirks explicitly linked the program's importance to declining federal research support — a framing that suggests the foundation may increase neuroscience investment as NIH and NSF budgets tighten.

For 2026, the foundation is supporting the NYC Revolutionary Trail: Echoes of Revolution, a multimedia walking tour launching June 2026 to mark the nation's 250th anniversary, created by The Gotham Center for NYC History. The 2025-2026 Moynihan Distinguished Practitioners cohort at City College — Frank Barry, Joseph Dorman, and Ron Kassimir — continues multi-year support for civic leadership development. No new program areas have been publicly announced.

Given the invitation-only structure of the Leon Levy Foundation's general grantmaking, strategic positioning matters far more than proposal craft. The following tips are specific to this funder:

1. Enter through a named program first. The neuroscience scholarships (NYAS), archaeological publications program (Harvard), archival assistance grants (NYPAP), and biography fellowships (CUNY) are genuine open-competition entry points. Earning a named Leon Levy award or fellowship is the single strongest signal to foundation staff that your organization or individual is worth a longer relationship.

2. Map your connections to existing grantees. NYU, Columbia, Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brennan Center for Justice, and the NY Botanical Garden all have multi-grant relationships with the foundation. A warm introduction from a program director or senior leader at any of these institutions carries far more weight than cold outreach.

3. Align explicitly with one of the six program areas. Do not pitch a generalist mission. A proposal or introductory conversation that maps precisely to ancient world, arts & humanities, nature & gardens, neuroscience, human rights & civil liberties, or Jewish culture signals cultural alignment. Organizations straddling multiple areas should lead with the single most compelling fit.

4. Demonstrate repeat-grant worthiness. The foundation's grantee data shows strong preference for multi-cycle partners. Emphasize organizational longevity, multi-year program continuity, and measurable outcomes over time — not single-event proposals. Five-grant grantees like City Parks Foundation, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust all have decade-long records of incremental, sustained program delivery.

5. Emphasize NYC geography for arts, nature, and culture work. 75% of grants go to New York State organizations. For non-NYC organizations, frame how the work serves NYC populations, institutions, or research communities.

6. Engage at Philanthropy New York events. The foundation is a Philanthropy New York member. Staff convenings are one of the few venues where organic introductions can occur. Prepare a one-page mission-and-impact summary — not a proposal — for these encounters.

7. Do not cold-contact trustees. Trustee outreach outside of organized events is counterproductive. The program staff, not Shelby White or John Bernstein, manage relationship intake.