The Richard Allan Barry Family Charitable Foundation focuses largely on education and civic causes, making sizable multi-year gifts to a small set of organizations. Its portfolio mixes local Los Angeles K–12 and youth education support with larger gifts to prominent higher-education and civic institutions, and occasional pass-through/community foundation gifts. The foundation appears to value innovation in education and legal/civil-rights advocacy alongside strategic, repeat investments in a few core partners.
The Richard Allan Barry Family Charitable Foundation gives in a concentrated way to a small set of repeat partners, with education at the center and civil-rights and civic work alongside it. One of the clearest signals is its multi-year support for Crossroads School in Santa Monica, which received multiple grants across 2023, 2024, and 2025, including awards of $150,000 and $75,000. The foundation also backed 9 Dots in Los Angeles with repeated six-figure grants, showing a similar pattern of sustained support for youth-focused education programs. Beyond those education grants, the foundation has made repeat gifts to organizations in legal advocacy, research, public media, and regional philanthropy. Aclu received several grants over multiple years, while The Boston Foundation appears as a recurring recipient as well. The overall portfolio suggests a preference for backing established organizations over making a wide number of one-time awards, with grant sizes ranging from modest support to substantial commitments.
Independent progressive K–12 education is a clear thread in the foundation’s giving. Crossroads School in Santa Monica received grants in 2023, 2024, and 2025, including a $150,000 award and a later $75,000 grant for support. Alternative and youth-focused education also appears through 9 Dots in Los Angeles, which received repeated $100,000 grants across several years. That pattern points to sustained backing for programs serving young people outside a traditional school setting. The foundation also funds civic and legal advocacy. Aclu in New York received multiple grants, including $100,000 in 2025 and $50,000 awards in earlier years. In addition, The Carter Center in Atlanta received repeated $50,000 grants, adding a civic and public-policy dimension to the portfolio.
Typical grant size is moderate to substantial: the p25 is $5,000, the median is $15,000, and the p75 is $50,000. The recent-grants list shows a patterned mix of repeat awards and larger strategic gifts, rather than a broad set of one-off grants. Several recipients appear in multiple years, including Crossroads School, 9 Dots, Aclu, The Carter Center, Southern California Public Radio, and Cancer Commons. The foundation is a private family foundation, does not fund individuals, and does not make program-related investments. Grantmaking is national, with awards spread across recurring partners.
$696K
$9.8M
$1.3M
$749K
Most grants fall between $5K and $50K, with a median of $15K.
25th Percentile
$5K
Median
$15K
75th Percentile
$50K
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Concentrated giving with repeated, large grants to a handful of core grantees (multiple multi-year commitments), combining local LA-focused education support with selective national gifts to higher-education and civil-rights organizations.
Notable grantees: Crossroads School, 9 Dots, The Boston Foundation, MIT, ACLU
Grant recipients are all in the United States, with California accounting for 52% of grants. The strongest concentration of recipient cities in the recent list is Los Angeles and nearby Southern California, including Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Mountain View. Outside California, recurring recipient locations include Boston, Cambridge, New York, Atlanta, and Chicago. Georgia stands out as the top state by grant count, even though the foundation is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Its recent grants center on education and civic causes, especially independent progressive K–12 education, alternative and youth-focused education programs, higher education and research institutions, and legal and civil-rights advocacy. The recent grant list also includes regional philanthropy through a community foundation and support for public media and medical-research-related work.
Repeat support is a clear pattern. Crossroads School received multiple grants across 2023, 2024, and 2025; 9 Dots received repeated grants over several years; and Aclu, The Carter Center, Southern California Public Radio, and Cancer Commons also appear more than once in the recent-grants list.
The grant-size distribution is centered in the midrange. The p25 is $5,000, the median grant is $15,000, and the p75 is $50,000. Recent awards also include larger six-figure gifts to a few recurring partners.
California recipients make up 52% of grants, and the recent list shows a strong California cluster in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Mountain View. Even so, the foundation’s overall geographic scope is national, with grants also going to Boston, Cambridge, New York, Atlanta, and Chicago.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Boston Foundation | Boston, MA | $185,000 | 2025 | support |
| ACLU | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2025 | support |
| 9 Dots | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 2025 | support |
| Crossroads School | Santa Monica, CA | $75,000 | 2025 | support |
| The Carter Center | Atlanta, GA | $50,000 | 2025 | support |
| Cancer Commons | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 2025 | support |
| J3 Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 2025 | support |
| Southern California Public Radio | Pasadena, CA | $25,000 | 2025 | support |
| Math Circles of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 2025 | support |
| The Archer School for Girls | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 2025 | support |
| Putney Open Door Fund | Putney, VT | $15,000 | 2025 | support |
| Kabuki Syndrome Foundation | Northbrook, IL | $15,000 | 2025 | support |
| Determined to Succeed | Santa Monica, CA | $10,000 | 2025 | support |
| Help Hope Live | Radnor, PA | $10,000 | 2025 | support |
| Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Boston, MA | $10,000 | 2025 | support |
| Kehillat Israel | Pacific Palisades, CA | $5,950 | 2025 | support |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley & Eastside | Monterey Park, CA | $5,000 | 2025 | support |
| Crossroads School | Santa Monica, CA | $150,000 | 2024 | support |
| The Boston Foundation | Boston, MA | $110,000 | 2024 | support |
| 9 Dots | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 2024 | support |
| ACLU | New York, NY | $50,000 | 2024 | support |
| The Carter Center | Atlanta, GA | $50,000 | 2024 | support |
| Math Circles of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 2024 | support |
| Southern California Public Radio | Pasadena, CA | $25,000 | 2024 | support |
| J3 Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 2024 | support |
| Cancer Commons | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 2024 | support |
| Putney Open Door Fund | Putney, VT | $15,000 | 2024 | support |
| The Archer School for Girls | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 2024 | support |
| Help Hope Live | Radnor, PA | $10,000 | 2024 | support |
| Pan Mass Challenge | Needham, MA | $5,000 | 2024 | support |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | $5,000 | 2024 | support |
| Kehillat Israel | Pacific Palisades, CA | $5,000 | 2024 | support |
| Big Sunday | Los Angeles, CA | $1,000 | 2024 | support |
| Crossroads School | Santa Monica, CA | $150,000 | 2023 | support |
| Crossroads School | Santa Monica, CA | $150,000 | 2023 | support |
| MIT | Cambridge, MA | $110,000 | 2023 | support |
| 9 Dots | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 2023 | support |
| 9 Dots | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 2023 | support |
| ACLU | New York, NY | $50,000 | 2023 | support |
| The Carter Center | Atlanta, GA | $50,000 | 2023 | support |
| ACLU | New York, NY | $50,000 | 2023 | support |
| The Carter Center | Atlanta, GA | $50,000 | 2023 | support |
| Southern California Public Radio | Pasadena, CA | $25,000 | 2023 | support |
| Cancer Commons | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 2023 | support |
| Cancer Commons | Mountain View, CA | $25,000 | 2023 | support |
| Southern California Public Radio | Pasadena, CA | $25,000 | 2023 | support |
| J3 Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 2023 | support |
| Putney Open Door Fund | Putney, VT | $15,000 | 2023 | support |
| Putney Open Door Fund | Putney, VT | $15,000 | 2023 | support |
| The Archer School for Girls | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 2023 | support |
9 Dots
$100,000support
support
J3 Foundation
$25,000support
Southern California Public Radio
$25,000support
Putney Open Door Fund
$15,000support
Kehillat Israel
$5,950support
Boys & Girls Clubs of West San Gabriel Valley & Eastside
$5,000support
9 Dots
$100,000support
Southern California Public Radio
$25,000support
J3 Foundation
$25,000support
Putney Open Door Fund
$15,000support
Kehillat Israel
$5,000support
9 Dots
$100,000support
9 Dots
$100,000support
Southern California Public Radio
$25,000support
Cancer Commons
$25,000support
Southern California Public Radio
$25,000support
J3 Foundation
$15,000support
Putney Open Door Fund
$15,000support
Putney Open Door Fund
$15,000support