DEUTSCHE BANK AMERICAS FOUNDATION

Contact information:
60 Wall St., NYC60-2112
New York, NY 10005-2858
Phone: 212-250-0539
Fax: 212-797-2255

Website: http://www.db.com/us/content/en/social_responsibility.html

Type of foundation: Corporate foundation

Types of grants: General support, project

Description: This corporate foundation makes grants in the areas of:

• Art and Music: The foundation supports premier arts and cultural institutions that contribute to the vitality of their local communities, particularly in New York City. It has a particular interest in emerging artists and contemporary visual arts. It is also interested in providing distressed communities with opportunities for arts-related economic development. Many of its Art and Music grants are made through its Arts & Enterprise grants program (launched 2001), which supports the role of cultural institutions in facilitating community revitalization.

  In January 2012, the Foundation announced grants totaling $1.4 million to fifteen New York City arts and cultural organizations for initiatives that use emerging technologies to further their educational programming, reach new audiences, engage new artists and maximize their organizational efficiency. One of the recipients, The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, will use the grant to offer an exhibition design tool and an online sharing community to engage children through the interaction with art and objects in their Digital Media Center. Another recipient, The Queens Museum of Art (QMA), will create an Arts and Digital Literacy Program that offers visitors the opportunity to develop content based on personal experiences and interests. The program will use interactive technology such as QR codes, mobile devices and tablet PCs, which will be accessible in multiple languages over time. “As the digital world continues to influence art and music, we seek to strengthen the position of cultural institutions as community hubs particularly in their role of expanding opportunities for underserved communities,” said Alessandra Digiusto, chief administrative officer of the Foundation.


• Education: The foundation supports programs that focus on improving educational outcomes for low-income, minority students. It also partners with non-profit organizations to better prepare and support teachers to meet the unique academic needs of underserved students. In 2009, the foundation announced that it would invest $2 million over two years in its College Ready Communities Initiative. The initiative created collaborative projects among community based organizations that worked to improve middle and high school educational outcomes and support college readiness initiatives. This initiative was also funded with $2 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Sustainability: The foundation works to address climate change, especially by promoting energy efficiency in U.S. cities.

• Social Investments: The foundation supports projects aimed at revitalizing low-income urban communities in New York City and across the United States (especially affordable housing and economic development).

Sample grants:

• $300,000 to Asian Americans for Equality for College Ready Communities - Collaboration with The Brotherhood Sister Sol/Coalition for Education Justice
• $40,000 to Brooklyn Workforce Innovations For Art and Enterprise (2009). Employment in support of Made in NY Production Assistant Training Program (2006).
• $20,000 to Investing in Education (Washington, DC) for 125 Ages Project (2009).
• $20,000 to Fund for the City of New York, NY Community Media Alliance (2009).
• $10,000 to Houston Grand Opera for general support (2009).
• $5,000 to Childrens PressLine for Volunteer Assistance Fund (2008).
• Unspecified grant to College Track (San Francisco), an after school program working to increase high school graduation rates, college eligibility and enrollment and college graduation rates among low-income, under-resourced high school students.

Fit for public media: While no direct grants to public media were found, the foundation has strong interests in areas of high priority for public media: arts and education. The foundation has recently invested in building the capacity of arts institutions to use digital technologies to engage their communities – an approach that resonates with emerging public media initiatives. The foundation’s 2009-2011 investment in dropout prevention also converges with recent public media initiatives. Notably, the foundation took an explicitly community-based approach to both of these major investments. Again, this approach is one that would be in keeping with many public media initiatives.

Eligibility: To be considered for a grant, U.S. applicants must be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations and must serve locations in which Deutsche Bank conducts business and has a grant-making program. Most grants are awarded in New York City. The foundation will not support endowment and capital campaigns; individual artists; films or the performing arts. The Foundation typically will not provide more than three successive years of funding to any organization.

How to apply: Interested applicants should submit a letter of inquiry.

Giving range: Grants range widely in size, from $1,200 to $4 million.

Total giving: $22,159,246 (12/31/10).

View 2010 Annual Report here.