Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation supports underserved communities, children, the arts, sustainability and Lyme disease. Most of this foundation’s grants stay in New York and Connecticut. 

IP TAKE: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is a New York-focused funder with a strong interest in children’s well-being. This foundation works only with pre-selected organizations in its geographic areas, making it less accessible. Get in touch with previous grantees to learn how to get on its radar. A tough nut to crack, much of its funding aligns with the family’s personal interests, so perhaps networking with a family member may get you through the door.

PROFILE: The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation was established in 2001 by former hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen and his wife, Alexandra. Billionaire Steven Cohen took a hit when his hedge fund, SAC Capital, pled guilty to insider trading and was downsized to manage only Cohen’s family fortune. The Cohens have given away more than a half of a billion dollars since 2001. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, this foundation aims to “show the world what giving can do” and inspire generosity and volunteerism in others. Its funding initiatives are underserved communities, children, the arts, sustainability and Lyme disease. There is also a Psychedelic Research & Health Initiative. A majority of the foundation’s grants are directed toward New York and Connecticut organizations. 

Grants for K-12 Education

The foundation’s Sustainability initiative is committed to education reform and the charter school movement. Among its charter school grantees are Harlem RBI, which runs the Dream Charter School and several after-school and summer programs for children in New York City, and Achievement First, a network of 34 schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Equity Project Charter School (TEP) also received $3 million to support its music curriculum. 

It also conducts grants for education through its Children program, which seeks to “make sure young people have access to a quality education at an affordable cost, from elementary school to college and beyond.” The program supports charter schools, universities, and “community organizations that champion academic enrichment.” It also funds scholarships and financial aid at universities.

Previous education grantees include Brown University, to support undergraduate financial aid and to establish the Cohen Gallery at the university’s Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. 

Grants for Visual Arts

The Cohens have amassed a huge art collection that ranks as one of the top private collections in the world. The Arts are one of the foundation’s named focus areas, but only prioritize institutions, generally large, wealthy ones supporting the family’s art interests. The foundation gave more than $2.4 million to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in past years, around a million to the Met, and more than half a million to New York’s Museo del Barrio, located just due north of the Museum Mile in East Harlem. Founded in 1969, El Museo specializes in Latin American and Caribbean art and emphasizes works from Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican community in New York City. Alexandra is of Puerto Rican descent and grew up in Washington Heights. 

Some of the Cohens’ biggest grants have gone to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles where Cohen recently joined the board. Smaller grants support Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Katonah Museum of Art and the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

Cohen is one of the world’s most active art buyers, and sits on the board of trustees to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and pledged more than a million dollars to the museum. Cohen also makes smaller donations every year to museums and arts organizations of all shapes and sizes. These donations focus primarily on the New York City area, and tend to range from around $10,000 for smaller organizations like ArtsConnection or Creative Time, to closer to $100,000 for organizations like the Guggenheim or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Tribeca Film institute has also been a frequent recipient of donations. The foundation gave a $50 million gift to MoMA, for the creation of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions.

Grants for Arts Education

Keeping with the foundation’s interests in education and youth, Cohen supports several arts education programs such as ArtsConnection, Studio in a School, Creative Time and P.S. Arts in Venice, California. They have also made large grants to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and to USC Cinematic Arts for scholarships. 

Grants for Diseases and Public Health

The family’s personal health concerns drive its foundation’s disease-related giving. Alexandra Cohen suffers from Lyme disease, and Cohen’s largest health grantmaking program is undoubtedly its Ticks Suck initiative. It works to “underwrite groundbreaking studies in prevention, diagnostics, and treatment” of the disease. The foundation is the largest funder of research into Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases in the country. In late 2015, the foundation gave $6.5 million to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, the organization’s largest ever donation. In 2021, the Cohen Foundation announced a $16 million gift to Columbia University to create the Cohen Center for Health and Recovery from Tick-Borne Diseases.

The foundation’s public health giving centers on pediatric care through the Children program, and it’s where the foundation’s largest grants have gone. The Long Island Jewish Medical and North Shore University Hospital have received tens of millions to expand pediatric care. The Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital received $50 million to establish the Alexandra and Steven Cohen Pediatric Emergency Department. The foundation awarded a $75 million grant to New York-Presbyterian Hospital in order to build a wing dedicated to newborns and their mothers. 

In addition to pediatric care, the foundation also has a Psychedelic Research & Health Initiative. It has funded operational costs for the first five years of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine—the first such research center in the U.S. and the largest research center of its kind in the world—to study the mind and identify therapies for diseases such as addiction, PTSD and Alzheimer’s. 

Grants for Housing, Homelessness, and Community Development

Underserved Communities program seeks to partner with community nonprofits to “make a direct impact on the lives of those in need. From seriously ill New York City residents seeking nutritional support to Native American women seeking shelter from domestic violence, our giving provides crucial services to people who need it most.” The Bob Woodruff Foundation is a past grantee, as is City Harvest and Domus, for its annual Summer Camp Initiative. 

Grants for Military and Veterans

While Cohen support for veterans is not listed as a primary focus area, the foundation does make substantial grants in this area. Cohen made a $275 million pledge to support military veterans and their families by opening up free mental-healthcare clinics across the country in 2016. The Cohen Veterans Network treats veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress, and other mental health conditions free of charge. The Cohen Foundation also gave $17 million to help create the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Grants for Food Systems; Environmental Conservation and Economic Development

The foundation’s Sustainability program is broad and funds a wide range of issues, including conservation, urban food systems, and education and employment training. It prioritizes support for organizations “that have a vision for protecting our environment, reforming the food industry, educating our children—and leaving the world [a better place].” Hispanic Federation is a past grantee, as is Green Bronx Machine, Mill River Park Collaborative, and New York Restoration Project.

Grants for New York

Cohen’s funding focused on New York serves underserved communities that lack resources. Grantmaking here invests in community nonprofits working directly with those in need. The foundation’s Children’s initiative is its largest area of giving and has recently prioritized health, funding some of the New York area’s largest hospitals and healthcare systems, including New York Presbyterian, the future home of the Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns. In the arts, the Cohen Foundation has supported visual arts education programs for low-income students in New York City as well as the expansion of galleries and museums. 

New York area grantees include the Whitney Museum, Columbia University, City Harvest, New York Presbyterian Hospitals and the Green Bronx Machine, which provides food and nutrition education to schools in low-income areas of New York City. 

Cohen and his wife have donated more than $100 million to the Robin Hood Foundation, which was founded by fellow hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, and supports a variety of programs that aim to combat poverty in the New York City area. The foundation supports other organizations in the Tri-State Area like the New York Restoration Project and Person to Person in Connecticut.

Important Grant Details:

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is active mainly in the states of Connecticut and New York, but national organizations that align closely with its priorities have been funded.

The Cohen Foundation does not accept applications for funding and works exclusively with pre-selected organizations.

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