About Hartwell Foundation
The Hartwell Foundation Corporation concentrates its giving in a few large, high-impact awards, splitting major support between emergency humanitarian relief and fellowships at leading U.S. research universities. The largest single beneficiary is the Tragedy Assistance Program, reflecting a strong interest in funding emergency medical response and support for military bereavement/trauma services, while significant multi-year fellowship grants to UC and UPenn indicate a parallel priority for research fellowships and scholar support.
Focus Areas
Emergency medical response and ambulance procurement for conflict zones (e.g., Ukraine)Support for military bereavement and trauma assistance organizationsPostdoctoral/graduate research fellowships at major U.S. research universitiesInternational disaster relief and humanitarian aid (e.g., Haiti earthquake)
Who They Fund
individual researchers / fellows (Hartwell Scholars)children attending camps and programsUkrainian refugees / refugee childrenHaiti earthquake-affected populations
About Hartwell Foundation
The Hartwell Foundation Corporation’s clearest pattern is a split between large humanitarian awards and sustained research fellowships. On one side, it has made major grants to the Tragedy Assistance Program for children’s camps and programs, including a $1,000,000 grant in 2024 and a $900,000 grant in 2025, along with additional support for ambulances in Ukraine. On the other, it repeatedly backs graduate and postdoctoral training at U.S. research universities, with fellowship awards appearing across multiple years at institutions such as the Regents of the University of CA, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Ctr. The foundation also funds named child-focused initiatives tied to military bereavement, youth programs, and education, including AMIkids and the Hobart Shakespeareans. Its recent record shows a funder that combines high-dollar emergency relief with recurring scholar support rather than dispersing many small grants. The giving profile is national in scope and includes both direct support to organizations and support for individual researchers through fellowship awards.
What Hartwell Foundation Funds
The Hartwell Foundation Corporation funds biomedical research through a mix of fellowship support and mission-linked research infrastructure. A $300,000 grant to the Regents of the University of CA in 2025 was labeled a fellowship award, and the foundation also supported The Hartwell Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as a biomedical resource integrating bioinformatics and biotechnology services. Child-focused giving is another recurring thread: AMIkids received $125,000 in 2025 for children’s programs, and the foundation also made support grants tied to youth development and juvenile services. In education, it backed Memphis University School scholarships with $110,000 in 2023. Humanitarian aid appears in the recent record as well, including $250,000 to Cross International for Haiti earthquake relief and $50,000 to Multipli International for Ukrainian refugee children.
How Hartwell Foundation Gives
Recent grants cluster around a median size of $100,000, with the lower quartile at $50,000 and the upper quartile at $125,000. The pattern is not dominated by one-off microgrants; instead, the foundation repeatedly returns to the same recipients over multiple years, especially in fellowship support and TAPS-related work. That points to recurring, structured grantmaking rather than a broad open application pool. The foundation’s active programs also show that some funding is by invitation or nomination, including the Top Ten Centers of Biomedical Research program, and several mission-support initiatives are marked as unsolicited false. It also funds individuals through scholar awards.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$4M
Total Assets
$71.9M
Total Revenue
$11.7M
Total Expenses
$8.6M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $50K and $125K, with a median of $100K.
25th Percentile
$50K
Median
$100K
75th Percentile
$125K
Geographic Reach
National16 states funded
About 7% of grants go to recipients in PA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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