The Ittleson Foundation primarily provides seed money for the startup of innovative programs that will improve the social welfare of citizens of the United States.
Funded projects should be of significance beyond the local area of implementation and result in an outcome of some consequence in the real world.
The Foundation's current areas of interest are the following:
AIDS
The Foundation is interested in efforts that:
- address the needs of underserved, at-risk populations and recognize the overlap between programs that serve them;
- respond to the challenges facing community-based AIDS service organizations and those organizations addressing systemic change;
- provide meaningful school-based sex education;
- make treatment information accessible, available, and easily understandable to those in need of it; and,
- address the psycho-social needs of those infected and affected by AIDS, especially adolescents.
Mental Health
The Foundation is interested in funding projects that:
- fight the stigma associated with mental illness and work to change the public's negative perception of people who have mental illness;
- utilize new knowledge and current technological advances to improve programs and services for people who have mental illness;
- bring the full benefits of this new knowledge and technology to those who presently do not have access to them; and,
- advance preventative mental health efforts, especially those targeted at youth and adolescents, with a special focus on strategies that involve parents, teachers, and others in close contact with these populations.
The Environment
The Foundation seeks to encourage and nurture environmental action by:
- supporting the present generation of environmental activists, whether professionals or volunteers, through education, training, and other activities;
- educating and engaging the next generation of environmentalists with a special interest in supporting the training of those who are teaching that generation;
- strengthening the infrastructure of the environmental movement with a particular focus on efforts at the grassroots and statewide levels; and,
- activating new constituencies, particularly those focused on environmental equity issues.
The Foundation provides support for innovative, pilot, model, and demonstration projects.
The Foundation does not generally provide funds for:
- capital building projects;
- endowments;
- grants to individuals;
- scholarships or internships (except as part of a program);
- direct service programs, especially when outside New York City;
- projects that are local in focus and unlikely to be replicated;
- continuing or general support;
- projects that are international in scope or purpose; or,
- biomedical research.
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