Allen Family Philanthropies
Preselected recipients only
Allen Family Philanthropies is a private foundation in Seattle, Washington. In tax year 2024 it gave $57.9 million in 112 grants; the typical grant was $300,000 and the largest $10.4 million. It only gives to organizations it selects itself and does not accept unsolicited applications.
From its IRS Form 990-PF for tax year 2024.
- Grants paid, 2024$57.9 million
- Number of grants112
- Typical grant$300,000
- Largest grant$10.4 million
- Assets$1.4 billion
- New grantees34%
Giving in 2024 was up from $47.2 million the year before.
34% of its 2024 grantees had not received a grant from it the year before, a mix of repeat and new grantees.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants paid | Number of grants | Assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $47.2 million | 138 | $1.3 billion |
| 2024 | $57.9 million | 112 | $1.4 billion |
How to apply
Allen Family Philanthropies says in its IRS filing that it only makes contributions to preselected organizations, so unsolicited applications are unlikely to be considered. Organizations it funds are usually invited.
Foundation website IRS filings on ProPublica
What Allen Family Philanthropies funds
Where it gives
Its US grants went to recipients in 24 states, the most to Washington. It also paid $6.1 million in 12 grants to recipients outside the US.
| State | Grants | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | 45 | $22.5 million |
| New York | 8 | $7.2 million |
| California | 8 | $5.6 million |
| Massachusetts | 3 | $3.7 million |
| Florida | 6 | $2.6 million |
| District of Columbia | 2 | $2.0 million |
| Illinois | 4 | $1.2 million |
| New Jersey | 2 | $1.0 million |
| North Carolina | 2 | $642,479 |
| Maryland | 2 | $604,726 |
Grants paid in 2024
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Artsfund | To support the community accelerator grant renewal for the second year of program administration. | $10.4 million |
| Childrens Hospital Corporation | To support the allen discovery center for human brain evolution at boston children's hospital and harvard medical school | $2.5 million |
| Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | To support the allen discovery center for neuroimmune interactions | $2.5 million |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | To support the allen discovery center for neurobiology in changing environments | $2.5 million |
| University of Washington Foundation | To support allen discovery center for cell lineage tracing phase 2 | $2.5 million |
| National Geographic Society | To support the slingshot challenge | $1.8 million |
| Friends of Seattle Waterfront | To support cultural programming at waterfront park | $1.5 million |
| Florida International University Foundation Inc | To support a project titled "operation pangolin" | $1.4 million |
| The Earthshot Prize | To support the renewal for the earthshot prize founding partnership | $1.3 million |
| American Heart Association Inc | To support bioscience research in relation to advancing our understanding of brain health and cognitive impairment | $1.3 million |
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | To support decoding mycorrhizal networks at global scale | $1.0 million |
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | To support decoding mycorrhizal networks at global scale | $1.0 million |
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | To support oceans 5 renewal | $1.0 million |
| Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford | To support lion lifeline: transforming conservation at scale by linking investment to measurable success in conserving lions and wider biodiversity | $800,000 |
| Earth Genome | To support a blueprint for scalable seagrass ecosystem mapping | $763,083 |
| American Friends of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess | To support united for wildlife in combating illegal wildlife trade | $750,000 |
| Housing Lopez | To support rooted and rising campaign: lopez island | $750,000 |
| Seattle Symphony Orchestra Inc | To support the amplify campaign | $750,000 |
| University of Washington Foundation | To support the salish sea coupled modeling framework. | $729,869 |
| The Earth Species Project | To support the development of a foundation model for encoding animal vocalizations | $600,000 |
| Mukuru Clean Stoves Foundation | To support combatting air pollution & malaria | $585,000 |
| University of Washington Foundation | To support acoustic monitoring of marine mammals with distributed acoustic sensing (das): applications to southern resident killer and humpback whales | $529,270 |
| Asia Pacific Cultural Center | To support one heart, one home campaign: new building project | $500,000 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York | To support sex hormone morphogenesis: a new frontier in studying organ development | $500,000 |
| Johns Hopkins University | To support composition and functionality of the ev corona: learning from lipoproteins | $500,000 |
| Murdoch Children's Research Institute | To support understanding the effects of gender affirming hormone therapy (gaht) on immune function using a systems immunology approach | $500,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | To support measuring lipid fluxes at membrane contact sites using new chemogenetic proximity sensors | $500,000 |
| Regents Univ of California | To support mechanobiology tools for dissecting drivers of membrane mechanics, form, and function | $500,000 |
| Research Corporation | To support the scialog: neurobiology in a changing environment (nce) program | $500,000 |
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | To support the shark conservation fund | $500,000 |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | To support real-time label-free dynamic imaging of extracellular vesicles in live tissues | $500,000 |
| Trustees of Princeton University | To support intra- and inter-cellular communication driven by membrane contact sites within a virus microenvironment | $500,000 |
| Trustees of Princeton University | To support optical tools for visualizing sex hormones as drivers of dynamic internal states | $500,000 |
| Tubman Center for Health & Freedom | To support fortifying futures for our youth | $500,000 |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham | To support blood-brain communication via extracellular vesicles underlying brain function and behavior | $500,000 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | To support data-driven modeling of inter-organelle dynamic interactions throughout differentiation with multispectral and label free live imaging | $500,000 |
| Regents of the University of California at San Diego | To support extracellular vesicles in maintenance of neuronal circuitry | $499,802 |
| Institute of Science and Technology Austria | To support chemically active membranes in the generation of cell shape | $499,787 |
| Shunpike | To support downtown seattle: make it here | $487,475 |
| European Molecular Biology Laboratory | To support david and goliath at the cell surface: photo-crosslinkable lipid derivatives to control membrane mechanics | $484,219 |
Officers and trustees
- Jo Lynn Allen
- Danielle Harper
- Alison Ivey
- Marilyn Valentine
- Thomas Daniel
- Joyce Lee
Questions people ask
Does Allen Family Philanthropies accept grant applications?
No. Its IRS filing says it only makes contributions to preselected organizations.
How much does Allen Family Philanthropies give?
$57.9 million in tax year 2024, across 112 grants, with a typical grant of $300,000.
Who runs Allen Family Philanthropies?
Its 2024 filing lists Jo Lynn Allen (Chair/Director & President), Danielle Harper (Vice President), Alison Ivey (VP & Secretary) and Marilyn Valentine (Director) among 6 officers and trustees.
What does Allen Family Philanthropies fund?
Based on its grants, mainly education, environment and conservation and international.