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ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION

Annie E. Casey Foundation

Contact information:
701 St. Paul Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410-547-6600

Fax: 410-547-6624

Website: http://www.aecf.org/

Type of foundation: Independent

Types of grants: Project

Description: The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization, dedicated to building better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. It was established in 1948 by Jim Casey, a founder of UPS, and his siblings, who named the Foundation in honor of their mother.

The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human service reforms and community supports that meet the needs of vulnerable children and families. In pursuit of this goal, the Foundation makes grants that help states, cities and neighborhoods fashion innovative, cost-effective responses to these needs. The Foundation focuses on making multi-year, multi-site commitments that support long-term strategies and partnerships to strengthen families and communities. Most of the Foundation’s work is part of these long-term commitments/initiatives that it defines. The Foundation does not seek, or often fund, unsolicited proposals.

The Foundation makes grants in the areas of:

  • Child welfare
  • Community change
  • Economic security
  • Education
  • Juvenile justice

In the area of education, the Foundation supports work to promote early childhood learning and school readiness, support literacy, and close the achievement gap. The Foundation was a founder of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a coalition of foundations, civic organizations, businesses and advocacy organizations nationwide. The Campaign focuses on promoting grade-level reading by the end of third grade. It makes explicit connections between grade-level reading and dropout prevention.

The Foundation has made numerous grants to public media. It also supports the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families, which is part of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Sample grants:

  • $500,000 to KCET Community Television of Southern California to support production of The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS (2008).
  • $300,000 to KCET Community Television of Southern California to support Tavis Smiley produced series, No Place Like Home: Keeping the American Dream Alive, which will examine the rise and fall of the real estate market and sub-prime mortgage industry and review new guidelines to prevent predatory lending (2009).
  • $275,000 to National Public Radio to support specialized reporting team and enhanced attention to issues affecting children, families and neighborhoods (2011).
  • $250,000 to University of Maryland Foundation to educate, support, and inspire journalists on critical and social issues (2011).
  • $250,000 to National Public Radio to support specialized reporting team and enhanced attention to issues affecting children, families and neighborhoods (2010).
  • $250,000 to National Public Radio toward specialized reporting team and enhanced attention to issues affecting children, families and neighborhoods (2009).
  • $225,000 to University of Maryland Foundation to support enhancement of quality of print, online and broadcast reporting on disadvantaged children and families by providing professional journalists with services such as conferences, awards, seminars and source assistance (2010).
  • $200,000 to KCET Community Television of Southern California to support Tavis Smiley produced series, No Place Like Home: Keeping the American Dream Alive, which will examine the rise and fall of the real estate market and the sub-prime mortgage industry, and review new guidelines to prevent predatory lending (2010).
  • $200,000 to National Public Radio to support specialized reporting on children, families and neighborhoods (2008).
  • $125,000 to MPT Foundation to continue efforts to engage public attention, create community outreach and stimulate discussion on topics of concern to families and communities (2011).
  • $125,000 to MPT Foundation to continue efforts to engage public attention, create community outreach and stimulate discussion on topics of concern to families and communities (2010).
  • $125,000 to MPT Foundation to continue efforts to engage public attention, create community outreach and stimulate discussion on topics of concern to families and communities (2009).
  • $125,000 to Maryland Public Television for its Revitalize, Re-enter, Rebound initiative to engage public attention and stimulate discussion around issues related to families (2006).
  • $125,000 to Ethno Pictures for the production phase of Aimee’s Crossing, a documentary film about a formerly incarcerated woman (2006).
  • $100,000 to Communications Consortium Media Center to continue support for national dissemination work of Family to Family (F2F) by providing media support to states, organizations and the Foundation. Family to Family (F2F) is reform initiative to work on problems in child welfare system and foster care programs (2010).
  • $50,000 to WNET Channel 13 toward broadcast of Tavis Smiley Poverty Special (2011).
  • $50,000 to Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association (WETA) to support Listening to Generation Next, a multi-media project to learn about the views of 16- to 25-year-olds (2006).
  • $35,000 to University of Maryland Foundation to support enhancement of quality of print, online and broadcast reporting on disadvantaged children and families by providing professional journalists with services such as conferences, awards, seminars and source assistance (2009).
  • $25,000 to National Public Radio for general support (2011).
  • $25,000 to Communications Consortium Media Center to support development of Icebreaker Toolkit DVD, an instructional video for child welfare agencies illustrating how to build strong partnerships between foster and birth parents to ensure child placement stability and increased permanency (2010).
  • $25,000 to FrameWorks Institute to provide technical assistance on effective communications to KIDS COUNT state and territory grantees (2010).
  • $25,000 to Native American Public Telecommunications for general operating support (2009).
  • $25,000 to Educational Broadcasting Corporation to support a national campaign associated with Critical Condition, a film focusing on the health care crisis (2008).
  • $20,000 to Your Public Radio Corporation (Maryland) in general support for WYPR news programming (2008).
  • $15,000 to WNET Channel 13 to sponsor Celebration of Teaching and Learning Conference (2011).
  • $15,000 to Wide Angle Youth Media to support Youth Speak Out Summer Program (2011).
  • $15,000 to Wide Angle Youth Media to provide staffing and program support for training and mentoring of youth producers, ages 14-20, who will in turn serve other youth who will create media projects supporting educational goals and community concerns (2010).
  • $12,000 to Ethno Pictures for general support for video productions related to Responsible Fatherhood Portfolio (2009).
  • $10,000 to Documentary Educational Resources to offer facilitated screenings of Video Letters from Prison to extend reach of the film beyond the broadcast market and directly into communities (2010).
  • $10,000 to Pro Publica for general operating support (2011).

Fit for public broadcasting: While the Foundation does not seek unsolicited proposals, there is a strong fit for public broadcasting projects that intersect directly with the Foundation’s key interest areas. In particular, public media may find a fit in the areas of literacy and dropout prevention (especially American Graduate activities). Other areas that may converge with public media’s work are youth media and juvenile justice. The Foundation’s website is also a good resource for reports and data on issues relating to the status of children and families.

Eligibility: The Foundation does not make grants to individuals, for capital improvement projects or work outside the United States.

Deadline: None.

How to apply: The Foundation does not seek, nor often fund, unsolicited grant applications. In any given year, it has limited resources to fund additional, unsolicited proposals. However, organizations are welcome to share their ideas with the Foundation. Interested organizations can send a brief description of their proposed project, along with contact information.

Giving range: Varies widely from $3,000 to nearly $7 million.

Assets: $2.8 billion (2010).

Total giving: $91.1 million (2010).