Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
ActivePhilanthropy & VoluntarismFunds Individuals
About Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation concentrates on major cultural institutions, providing large, unrestricted and endowment gifts to art and history museums and to performing-arts education. Grants are sizable and few, often repeated to the same institutions, and prioritize general operating and endowment support rather than project-restricted funding. While based in Brooklyn, the foundation funds prominent national and regional museums and a leading drama school, signaling a preference for sustaining institutional capacity and long-term financial health.
Focus Areas
Major art museums (general operating support)Regional history/natural history museums (general support)Endowment funding for performing arts education (Yale School of Drama)High-value repeat grants to established cultural institutions
Who They Fund
students (including student matinees and student athlete artists)artists and performing artists (musicians, choreographers, composers)teachers and arts educatorsarts organizations and cultural institutions (galleries, music schools)
About Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
A defining thread in the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation’s recent giving is its willingness to fund long-term institutional needs, especially endowments and capital campaigns. That pattern appears across major cultural organizations: the foundation gave $640,000 to Santa Barbara Museum of Art for capital campaign and education work, $510,000 to High Desert Museum for general support, and $500,000 to National Gallery of Art for general support. It also backed Yale School of Drama with $400,000 for endowment in 2024 and another $400,000 for program endowment in 2025, showing repeated support for the same institution over time. The foundation’s grants often land at established museums, theaters, and arts education organizations, with support ranging from broad operating help to named purposes such as exhibitions, digital programming, and education. Recent gifts also reached Brooklyn Academy of Music, Portland Art Museum, and the American Dance Festival, reinforcing a portfolio centered on cultural institutions and arts education. The overall picture is a funder that favors sustained capacity, not one-off project funding, and that returns to organizations it already knows.
What Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation Funds
The foundation gives across visual arts, performing arts, and arts education, with several grants tied to institutional infrastructure. In museum and exhibition work, it awarded $250,000 to National Gallery of Art for exhibitions and $210,000 to Portland Art Museum for capital campaign support. In arts education and outreach, Opera Santa Barbara received $110,000 for student matinees, while Brooklyn Academy of Music received $225,000 for education and outreach and digital infrastructure. Performing arts education appears in repeat support for Yale School of Drama, which received $400,000 for endowment and $400,000 for program endowment. The foundation also funds community-facing arts programming, including $101,910 to Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club for art programs and $100,000 to Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Assn Inc for a Leonardo da Vinci documentary.
How Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation Gives
Typical grants are modest relative to the foundation’s larger awards: the distribution shows a p25 of $5,000, a median of $10,000, and a p75 of $20,000. At the same time, the recent-gifts list includes several six-figure commitments, indicating a dual pattern of smaller discretionary awards alongside larger institutional support. Recipients often reappear across years: High Desert Museum, Tides Center, National Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Portland Art Museum, American Dance Festival, and Yale School of Drama all received repeat grants. The foundation uses trustee discretion through general discretionary and general grantmaking programs, and those programs are described as quarterly decisions. Unsolicited applications are not accepted.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$3.7M
Total Assets
$71.3M
Total Revenue
$3.7M
Total Expenses
$4.7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $5K and $20K, with a median of $10K.
25th Percentile
$5K
Median
$10K
75th Percentile
$20K
Geographic Reach
National16 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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