Grants Program

Grants Program is sponsored by The Annenberg Foundation. The Annenberg Foundation awards grants for one year, prioritizing organizations that invest in their communities' long-term wellness and health. General operating support grants are typically limited to 10% or less of the organization's total budget.

The Annenberg Foundation | Inside Philanthropy OVERVIEW: The Annenberg Foundation makes grants globally, though its giving is concentrated in Southern California, with core support for arts and culture, education and the environment.

Tax filings and grantee lists point to a wider portfolio that also reaches animal welfare, conservation, health and human services, journalism, civic and community work, and major Annenberg-affiliated institutions. IP TAKE: The Annenberg Foundation remains a major force in Los Angeles philanthropy, with more than $5 billion in grants made since its founding.

Its future direction is less clear following Wallis Annenberg’s death in July 2025, though the foundation says new leadership is “reimagining what philanthropy can be—a force for healing, connection, and transformation. ” For now, change is visible. The foundation’s website has been pared back sharply, with little detail on active initiatives or program areas.

This funder takes a proactive funding approach and does not accept unsolicited requests or LOIs. This is not an open-cycle funder. Warm entry is the only realistic path, especially through current or recent grantees, Annenberg-affiliated initiatives, aligned coalitions and visible work in Southern California’s arts, education, environment, animal welfare, journalism, tech-equity and civic ecosystems.

Strong prospects include established Los Angeles-area organizations, arts and culture institutions, education-access groups, conservation and animal welfare nonprofits, local news initiatives, and organizations working at the intersection of youth opportunity, workforce development and economic mobility.

Grantseekers should distinguish the Annenberg Foundation from the separate but closely related Wallis Annenberg Legacy Foundation , which received $160 million from Annenberg in 2023 and $11 million the following year.

Another related vehicle, GRoW @ Annenberg Foundation , led by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, supports global community development, with grants spanning libraries, universities, museums, health care, ocean research and leadership development.

PROFILE: Founded in 1989, the Annenberg Foundation is a Los Angeles-based family foundation created by Walter Annenberg , whose media fortune came through Triangle Publications, publisher of TV Guide and Seventeen, as well as a network of radio and television stations. Annenberg also served as U.S. ambassador to the Court of St.

James’s from 1969 to 1974 and built a distinguished career as a publisher, broadcaster, diplomat and philanthropist. After his death in 2002, his wife, Leonore Annenberg, assumed leadership of the foundation, then based in Philadelphia, while his daughter, Wallis Annenberg, and grandchildren, including Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, joined the board.

That same year, the foundation opened a Los Angeles office, underscoring its growing commitment to West Coast grantmaking. Following Leonore’s death in 2009, the foundation moved its headquarters to Los Angeles, and Wallis became board chair.

Most recently guided by Wallis Annenberg , the foundation is now led by Lauren Bon, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Charles Annenberg Weingarten, who are steering it into what the foundation describes as “a new era of creativity and purpose. ” The Annenberg Foundation “invests in visionary nonprofit organizations and leaders that provide impactful programs and services through collaborative models.

” Annenberg’s work focuses on arts and culture, education, and the environment . Tax filings and grantee lists show a broader pattern that also includes animal welfare, conservation, health/human services, journalism, civic/community work , and major Annenberg-affiliated institutions.

Grants for Arts and Culture Arts and culture comprise one of the foundation’s largest giving areas, although grants for the arts tend to stay in Southern California. The foundation does not name specific goals for this giving; however, recent filings and current materials show support for museums, performing arts, cultural preservation, arts education and major cultural institutions.

Historically, the foundation provides ongoing support to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles and the Sound in Focus concert series held at Los Angeles’ Century Park.

The Annenberg Foundation also supports Metabolic Studio , Lauren Bon’s Los Angeles-based arts and research practice, which uses art, public infrastructure and environmental intervention to address social and ecological harm.

The foundation identifies Metabolic Studio as one of the family’s pioneering initiatives, while a 2024 Art Newspaper profile described it as part of the Annenberg Foundation and closely associated with Bending the River. It is best understood not as a grant program, but as an interdisciplinary art, research and public-environmental practice.

The 2024 grants list includes, among others, Actors’ Gang at $200,000, American Cinematheque at $100,000, American Friends of the National Gallery London at $128,309, American Friends of the Paris Opera and Ballet grants, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Association at $2,680,404.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the foundation has made grants to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Washington, D. C. Performing Arts Society.

Access appears preselected/invitation-only through foundation relationships, family/director priorities, GRoW, and named institutional relationships. Grants for Journalism and Higher Education According to recent 990s and the site’s history, the Annenberg Foundation emphasizes major communications-related gifts to the University of Pennsylvania, USC and public broadcasting. This is an observed funding pattern rather than a stated one.

The foundation provides ongoing support to the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at USC and University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. The University of Pennsylvania is also home to the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which conducts and disseminates research on media, politics, health and child and adolescent development.

Other higher education recipients include UCLA, College Track, Brown University, Duke University and the University of Utah. Recent grants include the American Journalism Project for the Los Angeles Local News Initiative at $100,000, and 2024 future commitments include support tied to USC. Grants for K-12 Education Annenberg names education as one of its key focus areas.

Grantmaking supports K-12 education in California and throughout the U.S. via its initiatives and other grantmaking. Annenberg Learner sunset on July 1, 2026. It has funded and distributed educational video programs and resources for K-12 teacher professional development.

Grants related to K-12 education and youth development include the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, the Center for Powerful Schools, Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, Facing History and Ourselves and Dream Yard, a youth development organization based in the Bronx.

Grants for Animals, Wildlife and Marine Conservation The environment is listed among the foundation’s funding priorities, and Annenberg demonstrates a strong interest in the well-being of domestic animals, the conservation of endangered species and related ocean and freshwater conservation efforts.

The foundation’s grantees for animal welfare and wildlife include the African Wildlife Foundation, Katamai Conservancy Otis Fund, Conservation International, East Coast Assistance Dogs, Orangutan Foundation International, National Audubon Society, Kitten Rescue and Pacific Orca Society. Many of these grants appear to run through or relate to explore. org/Dog Bless You/Pearls of the Planet, not a public animal-welfare RFP.

Grants for Community and Economic Development The Pledge LA initiative aims to improve and increase the level of civic engagement in Los Angeles. PledgeLA/AnnenbergTech focuses on access, diversity, equity and community engagement in Los Angeles’s tech and venture-capital ecosystem.

The Annenberg site says PledgeLA is hosted by the Annenberg Foundation and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti and focuses on diversity, equity and community engagement in the tech and VC sectors. There is a PledgeLA VC Fellowship, not a general nonprofit grant program. PledgeLA’s site has a VC Fellowship section and announced 2025 and 2026 cohorts.

Also located in Los Angeles, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace is a community center that priorities creativity and learning for senior citizens. Other community organizations funded by Annenberg include the Annenberg Community Beach House and the Universally Accessible Treehouse, both of which offer outdoor experiences to the public.

Most Annenberg grants range from $10,000 to $5 million, although grants of over $1 million tend to support named projects and initiatives. The latest 2024 Form 990-PF shows $53,343,335 in grants paid during the year and $212,796,499 approved for future payment.

This is a global funder, but a significant portion of Annenberg’s initiatives and giving supports the greater Los Angeles area, including Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. It was initially an East Coast funder, it gradually broadened its focus to support causes the world over.

Southern California is a clear geographic priority, with many signature initiatives and offshoot organizations serving the greater Los Angeles area. The foundation suspended its grant application program during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not resumed accepting proposals since. Keep up with news about the foundation by signing up for updates at the bottom of the website.

Submit questions to the Annenberg Foundation via email at info@annenberg. org or grantsinfo@annenberg. org or by telephone at (310) 209-4560.

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