Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation Inc.

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation operates as a purely invitation-based, relationship-driven funder. The foundation explicitly states it does not accept unsolicited proposals, does not accept direct mail, and has no open application portal. This is not a technicality — it reflects the Cohens' deliberate preference for proactively identifying partners rather than selecting from applicants. Alexandra Cohen, who serves as President and Secretary and drives day-to-day grantmaking, has described her approach as inspired by her upbringing in Washington Heights, where neighbors showed up for each other without being asked. This shapes an organizational culture that values authentic community embeddedness over polished proposal craft.

The foundation's primary discovery mechanism is the Giving Tour, an active program through which Alexandra Cohen and staff visit organizations across 31+ states and territories. Organizations that want to attract attention should invest in being visible locally — through community convenings, local press, sector coalitions — before a Tour visit arrives in their geography. New York, Connecticut, and California account for roughly 74% of grant volume by count (170, 75, and 52 grants respectively), so organizations in these states have structurally higher probability of relationship formation.

For those seeking entry points, the foundation's ecosystem of existing grantees is the most reliable channel. Cohen Veterans Network ($104 million across eight grants) is a related entity that can open doors into the veterans giving universe. Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and City Harvest are anchor partners with long institutional relationships. A credible introduction from leadership at any of these organizations carries significantly more weight than social media outreach.

The foundation has also periodically issued RFPs — most recently the Cohen Convoy RFP — and monitors organizations through its @cohengive social media accounts. Prospective grantees should follow the foundation on all platforms, engage authentically with their content, and surface their work wherever the foundation's attention is already directed: Ticks/Lyme disease research, psychedelic-assisted therapies, hunger relief, arts education in NYC/CT, and now healthcare workforce development at scale.

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is one of the most generously self-funded private foundations in its asset tier. Unlike peers operating at the legally required 5% annual payout, this foundation consistently distributes 20-25% of its asset base annually, reflecting the fact that near-total investment income is recycled into grantmaking each year.

Annual giving trend (2020-2024): - 2020: $94.0 million paid - 2021: $110.1 million (+17%) - 2022: $124.1 million (+13%) - 2023: $131.1 million (+6%) - 2024: $142.2 million in revenue suggests continued growth toward ~$140M in FY2024 giving

This represents a 56% increase in annual grantmaking from 2019 to 2023, driven entirely by investment income returns — no new external contributions have been received since 2014.

Grant size distribution (based on 158 analyzed grants): Median grant $150,000; average $693,716; range $5,000 to $15,000,000. The distribution is deeply bimodal: dozens of smaller grants in the $5,000-$250,000 range for community organizations and disaster relief, paired with multi-million and occasionally nine-figure transformative gifts to anchor institutions.

Portfolio concentration: The top 10 grantees account for approximately 82% of the $336 million in tracked giving. Cohen Veterans Network alone received $104 million (31% of the total) across eight grants. The Museum of Modern Art received $19 million for education across six grants. New York Presbyterian Hospital received $15 million across two grants.

Program area breakdown (estimated from grantee purposes): - Veterans/mental health: ~31% of tracked giving - Education and arts: ~14% - Healthcare and hospitals: ~10% - Psychedelics and tick-borne disease research: ~8% - Hunger relief: ~4% - Workforce development: ~2% - Emergency/disaster relief: ~1%

Geographic split: New York (42% of grants), Connecticut (19%), California (13%), Maryland (4%), with smaller clusters in DC, FL, NC, and WI. Organizations outside these states can still qualify but typically via the Giving Tour discovery process or direct institutional research partnerships.

The five foundations closest to the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation by total assets ($527-541 million) all fall in the Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category, but differ substantially in payout behavior, geography, and focus:

The Cohen Foundation is a significant outlier in this peer group: its $131 million in annual giving at a 24% payout rate is roughly five times what its asset-equivalent peers distribute. This stems from the foundation's unique structure — investment income from Steve Cohen's Point72-affiliated holdings effectively subsidizes a giving program scaled far above what the asset base alone would require. For grant seekers, this means the foundation punches well above its weight class: it has the giving capacity of a $2.5+ billion foundation while maintaining the nimbleness and personal involvement of a family foundation. Peer foundations in this asset range are less likely to make nine-figure gifts; the Cohen Foundation has now done so at least twice (Cohen Veterans Network, LaGuardia Community College).

2025 has been the most active year in the foundation's grant history. The headline was a $116.2 million gift to LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) to build the Cohen Career Collective — the largest single public grant the foundation has ever awarded. The facility will house training programs in healthcare, construction, technology, culinary arts, green jobs, and film/TV, with construction anticipated to complete by January 2029.

Other significant 2025 commitments included: $5 million to the Menopause Society for the digital-innovation phase of its NextGen Now initiative (a new focus area for the foundation); $4.8 million over four years to Tulane's Bartonella Research Consortium; $3 million to Treasure Coast Food Bank in Florida; $2 million to the International Women's Baseball Center (led by Alexandra Cohen in her capacity as a Mets co-owner); and $1.1 million to SUNY Westchester Community College for tuition-free nursing scholarships beginning September 2025.

No leadership changes have been publicly announced. Alexandra Cohen (President/Secretary) and Steven Cohen (VP/Treasurer) continue leading the foundation with son Joshua Cohen serving as Director. All officers receive $0 in compensation, consistent with every prior year on record. The foundation has given over $1.3 billion since its founding in 2001 and shows no signs of reducing its giving pace — revenue in FY2024 reached $142.2 million, a new record.

Because this foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, conventional grant-writing tactics are largely irrelevant. The real work is relationship and positioning. Here is what actually moves the needle:

1. Prove your presence in their ecosystems first. The foundation concentrates on five named program areas: Underserved Communities, Children, The Arts, Sustainability, and the Psychedelics Research & Health Initiative. Organizations working at the intersection of two pillars — say, workforce development for underserved youth, or tick-borne disease research with a patient-support component — are more likely to catch the foundation's attention than single-issue shops.

2. Maximize Giving Tour exposure. Alexandra Cohen personally visits organizations through the Tour. If a Tour stop is announced in your region, engage aggressively: submit to be featured in the local convening, connect with local United Way or community foundation staff who may advise on the visit, and make sure your organization's community visibility is high in the weeks before and after.

3. Align your theory of change to their language. The foundation's tagline — "what giving can do" — signals an outcomes orientation. Avoid jargon-heavy systems-change language. Present impact in concrete, human terms: number of veterans served, meals distributed, research milestones hit, students placed in jobs.

4. Target healthcare workforce and psychedelics research if relevant. These two sub-areas show the clearest evidence of expanded investment. Clinical-stage psychedelics researchers at academic medical centers, therapist training programs, and organizations working on Lyme/tick-borne disease through novel research mechanisms all fit active priorities.

5. For hunger relief and community service grants: The foundation has made sustained multi-year commitments to City Harvest ($8.1M across four grants), God's Love We Deliver ($1.1M across six grants), and Neighbor to Neighbor ($1.5M across four grants). New entrants in this space will likely need a warm introduction from one of these anchor grantees or a connection to the NYC/CT community infrastructure.

6. Monitor for RFP windows. The Cohen Convoy RFP was the last known open solicitation. Check steveandalex.org/get-connected and press releases for new RFPs — these represent the only genuine open-entry pathway.