Starr Foundation (NY)

Overview: The Starr Foundation is probably the most under-utlized large foundations in America. In spite of giving more than $200 million annually, it has a very low profile. In response to the economic crisis. Standing commitments will be honored, but the Foundation expects to be awarding smaller grants and putting some new proposals on hold.

Most of the Foundation's grants are awarded to elite colleges and self-named scholarship funds at other colleges. Nevertheless, millions of dollars are also awarded to inner city youth organizations, literacy campaigns, human service agencies that encourage self-sufficiency, and virtually anything that has to do with China or Taiwan.

The Foundation has also shown favortism towards youth camps, Vermont, entrepreneurship, adult literacy, and Roman Catholic/Jesuit institutions.

Interest Areas

1. Education: Traditionally has been one of the largest areas of giving for the Foundation, because of Mr. Starr's personal interest in providing scholarships to deserving students. The Foundation has endowed C.V. Starr Scholarship Funds at more than 140 colleges and universities and selected secondary schools. Applications for an endowed scholarship fund are accepted from schools on an invitation-only basis.

The Foundation funds organizations that provide need-based financial aid to students seeking to attend secondary and post-secondary schools. In keeping with Mr. Starr's international perspective, the Foundation has funded a number of exchange programs over the years to encourage the education of U.S. students abroad and students from foreign countries in the U.S.

2. Medicine and Healthcare: These areas are increasingly important to the Foundation. The Foundation's grants in these areas are far ranging, including capital grants to hospitals, significant research grants and grants to assist in the provision of healthcare to under-served communities in New York City and overseas. The Foundation does not provide funding for individual research projects and prefers to focus its project funding at New York City hospitals and research centers.

3. Human Needs: The Foundation has made significant gifts to emergency food programs, job training, literacy programs, programs for the disabled and programs that provide emergency or transitional housing for the disadvantaged. The Foundation rarely funds local charities outside of New York City but may fund national organizations that serve communities within and outside of New York. The Foundation's human needs grants abroad include refugee and relief efforts, the provision of medical care and microenterprise development.

4. Public Policy: The Foundation has concentrated its giving in the area of public policy on international relations and the promotion of democratic institutions around the world.

5. Culture: The Foundation has made significant grants since its inception both to large cultural institutions such as museums and to small, community-based arts groups providing special services to specific populations, such as the elderly and the disabled. The Foundation funds cultural exchange organizations that further Mr. Starr's interest in international relations and understanding. The Foundation rarely funds documentaries or film projects and will not fund individual artists.

7. The Environment: The Foundation funds selected organizations working on issues relating to the environment and conservation.

Background

There are two Starr Foundations located in New York. They are different in three respects. CV Starr (the profiled funder) awards millions, the other awards thousands. The CV Starr Foundation was formerly associated with AIG Insurance Company. Finally, the CV Starr Foundation has a strong preference for international giving.

• Arts & Culture: The Foundation awards grants to both to large cultural institutions such as museums and to small, community-based groups providing special services to specific populations, such as the elderly and the disabled.
• Education: The Foundation has endowed C.V. Starr Scholarship Funds at more than 80 colleges, universities, and selected secondary schools, primarily for students involved in business and insurance-related fields of study. The Foundation also funds a number of exchange programs to encourage the education of U.S. students abroad and students from many other countries in the U.S.
• Education, Higher Education:
• Health:
• Health Care:
• Human Needs: The Foundation makes gifts to food programs for the poor, job training, literacy programs, programs for the disabled and programs that provide adequate housing for the underprivileged. The Foundation rarely funds local charities outside of New York City but may fund national organizations that serve communities outside of New York.
• Medical Research:
• Museums, Art:
• Performing Arts:
• Public Policy: The Foundation has concentrated its giving in this area on international relations and the promotion of democratic institutions around the world.

Sample Grants
$ 40,000 to A Better Chance of New York , New York , NY
$ 1,000,000 to Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation
$ 200,000 to American Academy in Rome , New York , NY
$ 25,000 to Best Practices in Education, Inc. , Brooklyn , NY
$ 400,000 to Blair House Restoration Fund , DC
$ 75,000 to Bowdoin College , Brunswick , ME
$ 15,000,000 to Brown University , Providence , RI
$ 1,400,000 to Burden Center for the Aging , New York , NY
$ 500,000 to CIA Officers Memorial Foundation , DC
$ 50,000 to Childrens Storefront , New York , NY
$ 75,000 to Choate Rosemary Hall Foundation , Wallingford , CT
$ 50,000 to Church of the Holy Resurrection/Saint Herman of Alaska , Allston , MA
$ 100,000 to City Year of Boston , Boston , MA
$ 15,200 to Community Preparatory School , Providence , RI
$ 10,000 to Concord Review , Canton , MA
$ 100,000 to Corcoran Gallery of Art , DC
$ 80,000 to Covenant Health System's Isom Heart Center for Children , Lubbock , TX
$ 200,000 to Dickinson College , Carlisle , PA
$ 25,000 to East Harlem Tutorial Program , New York , NY
$ 12,000 to Environmental Concern , MD
$ 5,000 to Global Kids , New York , NY
$ 10,000 to Griffith Foundation for Insurance Education , Columbus , OH
$ 75,000 to Hantam Community Education Trust , VA
$ 10,000 to Heart Access Texas , Houston , TX
$ 250,000 to Himalayan Cataract Project , Burlington , VT
$ 100,000 to Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Fund , New Haven , CT
$ 200,000 to Hudson Institute , Indianapolis , IN
$ 65,000 to Insurance Education Foundation , Indianapolis , IN
$ 1,650,000 to International AIDS Vaccine Initiative , New York , NY
$ 20,000 to International Stanislavsky Theater Studio , DC
$ 5,000,000 to International Trachoma Initiative , New York , NY
$ 175,000 to Jackie Robinson Foundation , New York , NY
$ 5,000 to Jesuit Volunteer Corps , Baltimore , MD
$ 2,500,000 to Juilliard School , NY
$ 300,000 to Keewaydin Foundation , Salisbury , VT
$ 10,000 to Larry King Cardiac Foundation , Washington , DC
$ 250,000 to Lyme Historical Society , Old Lyme , CT
$ 75,000 to Mary McDowell Center for Learning , Brooklyn , NY
$ 35,000 to Mobile Medical Care , Bethesda , MD
$ 50,000 to Mount Vernon Ladies Association , Mount Vernon , VA
$ 100,000 to Music Associates of Aspen , CO
$ 49,500 to Music of the Baroque , IL
$ 100,000 to National AIDS Foundation
$ 70,000 to National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering , New York , NY
$ 61,000 to National Multiple Sclerosis Society/New York City Chapter , New York , NY
$ 75,000 to Nativity Mission Center , New York , NY
$ 50,000 to New York Presbyterian Hospital , New York , NY
$ 50,000 to Outward Bound USA, Inc. , Garrison , NY
$ 60,000 to Planned Parenthood Association of Metropolitan Washington , DC
$ 500,000 to Primary Care Development Corporation , New York , NY
$ 750,000 to Rogosin Institute's Maurice R. Greenberg Comprehensive Lipid Control Center , New York , NY
$ 300,000 to Samaritan Inns , DC For Shared Hope Partnership Program, initiative to address both addictions and homelessness in the Washington, DC area
$ 25,000 to Smokey House Center , Danby , VT
$ 25,000 to SoundWaters , Stamford , CT
$ 25,000 to Star Spangled Banner Flag House and Museum , MD
$ 1,500,000 to United Negro College Fund , Fairfax , VA
$ 25,000 to Urban League of Southwestern Connecticut , Bridgeport , CT
$ 112,500 to VZV Research Foundation , New York , NY
$ 200,000 to Valparaiso University , IN To establish C.V. Starr Scholarship Fund
$ 30,000 to Vermont Humanities Council , Morrisville , VT
$ 5,000,000 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University Department of Cardiology , New York , NY
$ 10,000,000 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University's Campaign Initiative for Cardiology , New York , NY
$ 5,000,000 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University's SET-ASIDE: Cardiovascular Genetics Center , New York , NY
$ 250,000 to Wilberforce University , Wilberforce , OH To establish C.V. Starr Scholarship Fund
$ 150,000 to Yale-China Association , New Haven , CT
$ 25,000 to Youth Orchestra of the Americas , VA

Application Procedures:: Although the foundation has no formal application procedure, unsolicited applications will not be accepted, nor filed for future reference.

Grants Paid

2000 ($187,700,000 )

2001 ($192,500,000 )

2002 ($185,000,000 )

2003 ($188,856,235 )

2004 ($168,167,773 )

2005 ($159,130,952 )

2006 ($198,580,427 )

2007 ($207,284,873 )

2008 ($169,909,034 )

2009 ($133,871,297 )

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