The New York Foundation is a charitable foundation which gives grants to non-profit organizations supporting community organizing and advocacy in New York City.
History
1909–1919
The New York Foundation was established in 1909 when Louis A. Heinsheimer, a partner in banking firm Kuhn, Loeb & Co., died. In his will Heinsheimer bequeathed $1 million to "the Jewish charities of New York" under the condition that they choose to federate within a year of his death.
One year later when the conditions stipulated in Heinsheimer's will had not been met (the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies would not be founded until 1917) the $1 million bequest reverted into the hands of his brother, Alfred M. Heinsheimer, who, in turn, donated the money to the New York Foundation.
The New York Foundation was created by Edward Henderson, Jacob H. Schiff, Isaac Seligman, and Paul Warburg in order that they might "distribute... resources for altruistic purposes, charitable, benevolent, educational, or otherwise, within the United States of America".
The Foundation was officially incorporated in April 1909, when the charter drafted by Henderson, Schiff, Seligman, and Warburg was enacted by the New York State Legislature and signed by the Governor, making it one of the oldest organizations of its kind.
In an article published on November 5, 1910, the New York Times wrote an article about Alfred Heinsheimer's decision in which the Foundation's significance as a "non-sectarian" organization was emphasized.
That same year the Foundation gave a $4,100 grant to the Henry Street Settlement so that they might provide low-income families who were unable to afford "hospitals beds" with visiting nurse service. This groundbreaking program led directly to the foundation of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
One year later, in 1911 the Foundation gave a grant to the Public Education Association so that they might establish a similar "visiting teacher" service.
In 1912 The New York Prohibition Association received funds from the Foundation for a "protective league" for "girls... working in factories, offices, and shops".
Two grants were awarded to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "a newly formed organization" whose Director of Publicity and Research, W. E. B. Du Bois had personally requested funding from the Foundation for "an investigation of the Negro Public Schools in the United States" as well as for the "Bureau of Legal Redress for Colored People".
The then-recently formed National Urban League also received a grant from the Foundation in that year.
In 1919 the Home for Hebrew Infants tested and proved the superiority of an alternative to institutionalized care by placing orphans with foster parents in private homes. This program was made possible in part by funds from the Foundation.
1920–1949
In 1925 Lionel J. Salomon bequeathed $2.4 million to the Foundation in his will. He specified that the money go toward funding groups aiding children and elderly.
In 1929, ten years after his brother's death, Alfred M. Heimshiemer died, leaving the Foundation $6 million.
In 1930 the Foundation financed studies which "served to focus attention on serious yet previously ignored problems". The Committee on the Costs of Medical Care surveyed the need for medical care in the United States while the Committee for Mental Hygiene analyzed state mental hospitals, then notorious for their "secrecy and ignorance".
In 1934 the Foundation funded a program which helped scholars forced out of Germany by Nazi persecution get jobs at leading American universities.
In 1935 $3,000 given by the New York Foundation to the New York City Bureau of Laboratories led to the development of a vaccine preventing infantile paralysis.
In 1939 the Medical Society of New York received funds from the Foundation in order that they might "experiment in voluntary prepaid medical care". The Foundation's president, David M. Heyman, chaired the mayoral committee which established the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, a model for prepaid health care systems to come.
Seeking to give grants to groups that might "correct the condition[s] which cause... social maladjustment", in the 1930s the Foundation was determined to "seek out neglected areas and tension points" where their resources would be most effective.