Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation invests in urban education in the cities in which its parent company maintains offices. Its community grants support local organizations and schools, and its relationship grants support larger organizations with funding and pro bono legal work.
IP TAKE: The Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation prioritizes urban education in the cities where its parent company, a law firm, maintains offices. This funder’s larger grants are made through its relationship grants programs, which accepts letters of inquiry early each year. Applications for its smaller community grants program, which supports schools and community organizations involved in K-12 education, are accepted on an ongoing basis. Overall, this is an accessible funder working in several large Northeaster cities, Orange County California and London.
PROFILE: The Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Brown Rudnick LLC, an international business law firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The foundation aims to “make positive social change” through investment in urban education in the cities where it maintains law offices. Brown Rudnick runs two separate funding programs. Its community grants support smaller local organizations and schools at the “front lines” of education. Its relationship grants maintain partnerships with larger organizations that usually receive pro bono legal support from Brown Rudnick employees.
Grants for Early Childhood and K-12 Education
Brown Rudnick’s community and relationship grants primarily aim to help frontline educators to “foster connections, encourage activities and unleash countless contributions to improve inner-city education.” The foundation awards an average of 12 grants per year of up to $2,000 to public, private, and charter schools, as well as educational nonprofits and municipal institutions such as public libraries. The main purpose of the grants is to “fully fund a specific, one-time education-related need or idea which promises to improve inner-city education.” Recently funded programs include musical instruction at Harbor Pilot Middle School in Massachusetts, “community garden curriculum” at Samuel Mills Sprole School, literacy programs at Hartford Public Library, and science lab materials for Septima Clark Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.
Grants for the Arts and Art Education
The firm of Brown Rudnick contributes to the arts in its giving regions by partnering with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in Massachusetts to “close the gap in legal counsel, education, and organizational support to the Massachusetts arts community” through three initiatives. The VLA-MA Holiday Card Contest is an effort to engage school students through art enrichment; the VLA-MA Artist Pro Bono Initiative provides free representation to “artists who are being denied payment for their artistic endeavors or who are seeking to protect their ownership of such artwork”; Teen Art Law is an educational program that introduces Boston-area students to the principles of intellectual property law.
Important Grant Details:
Brown Rudnick made just under $300,000 in grants in a recent year. The foundation’s average grant size is about $25,000, but the foundation’s community grants are generally awarded in the amount of $2,000. This funder is active in the metro areas of Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; Washington, D.C.; Orange County, California; New York City and London. Organizations operating nationally have also been funded. Descriptions of grantees are available on the community grants and relationship grants pages of the foundation’s website. Community grants are awarded in amounts up to $2,000 to local schools and organizations.
The foundation runs an ongoing, open application process for its community grants. Application for relationship grants is by invitation, but letters of inquiry are accepted early each year.
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