Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation

The Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation is a legacy foundation — established in 2024 following the 2023 death of American sculptor Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas (1929–2023) — and operates fundamentally differently from a conventional grantmaking foundation. Its primary mission is to promote and educate the public in the sculptural and visual arts through the placement and preservation of Strong-Cuevas's body of work. With $90.6 million in assets (nearly all contributed in the founding year) and only two inaugural grants in FY2024, this is an institution at the very beginning of defining its philanthropic program.

The giving philosophy centers on partnership with prestigious cultural institutions capable of housing, caring for, and contextualizing major sculpture works. Both FY2024 grantees — the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ($450,000) and the Reserve Board Club at the Federal Reserve Building ($35,000) — are anchor New York institutions with gallery or public-display capacity. Grant purposes reference specific sculpture catalog identifiers (e.g., 'Running Heads; Large, Pairs, H.03.002'), which strongly suggests that grants represent the assessed value of artwork gifts rather than unrestricted cash, making this closer to an art placement or donation program than a conventional competitive grant.

For first-time prospective partners, the most productive framing is institutional: lead with your organization's gallery infrastructure, conservation capacity, and programming around public sculpture education. Generic arts funding applications will almost certainly be unsuitable. The foundation has no published open-call process as of early 2026 — the application instructions field in public databases shows no guidelines — and contact is currently routed through the CPA firm Goldgrab (46 Stauderman Ave, Lynbrook, NY 11563; 516-908-7770). However, a job announcement posted in February 2025 signals that program staff will soon be in place, which may enable a more structured application pathway. Target your outreach to trustee-president Deborah Carmichael once program staff is hired.

The Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation completed its first full fiscal year of grantmaking in 2024 with a deliberately limited portfolio: two grants totaling $485,000 out of $955,218 in total charitable disbursements. The remaining ~$470,000 appears allocated to direct program costs or operational setup, consistent with a foundation still building its infrastructure.

Grant size range (FY2024): $35,000 to $450,000. The single large grant to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ($450,000) represents 93% of all grant dollars disbursed, pointing to a preference for significant, high-impact placements over a distributed small-grants model. The $35,000 award to Reserve Board Club Federal Reserve Building is more modest, potentially reflecting the scale of a specific artwork being placed.

Revenue picture: Total FY2024 revenue was $89.9 million, of which $89.4 million (99.4%) was from contributions — strongly suggesting the endowment was funded by a single large estate transfer. Investment income was minimal in year one ($506,134 dividends; $41,294 interest), implying the investment portfolio is still being structured. At $90.6M in assets, the foundation could theoretically distribute $4.5M+ annually under standard 5% payout rules — far above the $485,000 in FY2024 grants — indicating the program is in early ramp-up.

Geographic focus: Both FY2024 grantees are New York-based institutions, consistent with the artist's primary career geography (New York City and the Hamptons). National or international expansion is plausible but unconfirmed.

Sector focus: 100% sculpture and visual arts education. No grants to adjacent fields (education, community development, health) have been observed. Officers received nominal compensation totaling $32,500 in FY2024, suggesting a lean governance structure.

The following table compares the Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation to four peer foundations of comparable asset size within Arts & Culture, all identified in the foundation's own peer data:

Strong-Cuevas is the newest foundation in this peer set, with its IRS exemption granted in September 2024, while comparable institutions such as the Boris Lurie Art Foundation (honoring the Holocaust-survivor artist) and the Brant Foundation (Peter Brant's contemporary art center) have been operating for many years. All peers in this asset band operate primarily as legacy or mission-specific foundations rather than broad open-call grantmakers. Strong-Cuevas's relatively low FY2024 disbursements reflect a startup year, not steady-state giving — applicants should anticipate meaningfully higher annual grantmaking as the foundation matures and its program staff establishes giving priorities.

The Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation is less than two years old (IRS tax-exempt status granted September 2024), so its organizational history is brief but meaningful for prospective partners.

FY2024 inaugural grants: Two awards totaling $485,000 — $450,000 to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and $35,000 to the Reserve Board Club at the Federal Reserve Building in New York City. Both grants reference specific Strong-Cuevas sculpture catalog numbers in their purpose statements, confirming an artwork-placement strategy.

February 2025 hiring: The foundation issued a formal job announcement (coordinated through artistshomes.org, authored by David Furchgott) for a senior executive or program director position with $84,000 annual compensation. This hire will be pivotal for setting grantmaking policy, establishing application procedures, and expanding partnerships. The involvement of artistshomes.org (a nonprofit specializing in artist estates and residency programs) suggests professional estate-management infrastructure is being brought in.

990-PF filing: The foundation filed its first Form 990-PF on November 14, 2025, providing the first public financial disclosure and confirming the board composition: Deborah Carmichael (President, $0 compensation), Alice B. Stock (VP/Secretary, $10,000), Peder C. Johnson (Treasurer, $10,000), Steven Goldgrab (Trustee, $7,500), and Thomas DeNapoli (Trustee, $5,000). No additional major grants or program announcements have been identified in public records through early 2026.

Given the Strong-Cuevas Sculpture Foundation's structure as a legacy/artwork-placement foundation with no formal open application process as of early 2026, prospective partners must adapt their approach significantly from standard grant-seeking practice.

Lead with institutional capacity, not program need. The foundation's two known grants were to institutions capable of displaying and stewarding major sculpture works in public-facing contexts (a national philanthropic fund and a Federal Reserve Building gallery). Your proposal should foreground your organization's physical space for outdoor or indoor large-scale sculpture, conservation expertise, and existing public programming around visual arts education.

Frame the educational value. Every known grant purpose statement ends with 'to promote and educate the public in the sculptural and visual arts.' Write any inquiry letter explicitly around how your institution would advance public education about Strong-Cuevas's work and sculpture more broadly — visitor programming, guided tours, curricula, digital documentation.

Do not submit unsolicited applications yet. The foundation has no published application guidelines. Instead, send a brief institutional introduction to Goldgrab CPA (46 Stauderman Ave, Lynbrook, NY 11563; 516-908-7770) expressing interest and capacity. Once a program director is in place (hire posted February 2025), follow up directly with that individual.

Timing: The foundation's fiscal year ends December 31. The 990-PF filed November 2025 covered FY2024. Watch for any public announcements of a formal grant cycle emerging in late 2025 or 2026 as program staff is onboarded.

Alignment language: Reference Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas's specific media (bronze, stainless steel, aluminum), her exhibition history at Parrish Art Museum, The Bruce Museum, and Grounds For Sculpture, and your institution's ability to install and interpret her distinctive geometric-abstract works for diverse public audiences.

Avoid: Generic arts funding language, community development framing, or requests unrelated to sculpture or visual arts. This foundation has no history of cross-sector or social services grantmaking.