Hawthornden Foundation

About Hawthornden Foundation

A $2.1 million grant to Charities Aid Foundation America in 2023 sets the tone for Hawthornden Foundation’s recent giving: it channels large, targeted support into the literary arts. Across its recent grants, the foundation backs organizations that publish, present, and sustain writing and reading culture, along with the infrastructure that supports authors, poets, journals, presses, and literary festivals. The pattern is selective rather than broad, with repeated support for a relatively small set of literary institutions and intermediaries. Hawthornden Foundation’s portfolio includes national literary organizations such as the National Book Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. It also supports literary venues and programs tied to place, including Brooklyn-based initiatives and international partners. Several awards are sizable enough to fund organizational activity over a meaningful period, while the foundation’s residency and prize programs show that it also operates directly in the literary field, not only through outside grantees. The result is a funder defined by concentration: literary arts, repeated support for core institutions, and a mix of organizational grants and direct literary programs.

What Hawthornden Foundation Funds

One clear thread in Hawthornden Foundation’s grantmaking is support for literary infrastructure. It gave $500,000 to the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses in 2024 and another $75,000 in 2025, pointing to continued backing for independent magazines and presses. The foundation also awarded $500,000 to National Book Foundation in 2024, linking its work to national literary programming and public engagement with books. Poetry is another recurring area. In 2024, Hawthornden Foundation granted $500,000 to The Academy of American Poets and $100,000 to The National Poetry Series Inc., indicating support for both poet-centered institutions and literary recognition. Its grant to Cave Canem Foundation Inc. for $150,000 in 2024 and $100,000 in 2025 adds Black literary development to that picture. The foundation also backs event-based literary programming. Grants to Royal Shakespeare Company America Inc., Jlf Colorado, and Words Without Borders show support for literary presentation, festivals, and international literary exchange.

How Hawthornden Foundation Gives