Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust
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About Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Helmsley Trust concentrates its giving on biomedical research and health-system capacity with a strong emphasis on inflammatory bowel disease/Crohn's research and Type 1 diabetes access and treatment. It also invests in health infrastructure and capacity-building in Israel and in global health programs (neglected tropical diseases, WASH, rural connectivity) that expand access to care. Grants span academic translational science, hospital equipment and facility upgrades, and programmatic support to organizations building delivery systems for affordable medicines and diabetes care.
Focus Areas
Translational research and clinical trials for Crohn's disease and inflammatory bowel disease (precision diagnostics, microbiome therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies)Expanding access to Type 1 diabetes care and affordable insulin (registries, quality-improvement collaboratives, biosimilars/affordable insulin initiatives)Hospital and medical infrastructure development in Israel (equipment, ICU and radiotherapy capacity, pandemic preparedness)Neglected tropical disease elimination and WASH-led community health programs in low-resource countriesGlobal health delivery and capacity building (NGO-led last-mile programs, rural connectivity/engineering for development)
About Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust’s largest recent grants show a clear pattern of health-system building: $22.5 million to The End Fund Inc. for neglected tropical disease work reaching the last mile, and $15.6 million to Blue Circle Health Inc. for underserved communities with Type 1 diabetes. Those two grants capture the trust’s mix of global health delivery and diabetes access work. The trust also backs major medical infrastructure projects, including cancer centers, rehabilitation facilities, emergency medicine upgrades, and equipment investments in hospitals and health systems. Recent awards range from large translational and clinical initiatives to capital-heavy grants for radiotherapy, MRI, surgical units, and prehospital care. The foundation gives at national scale, with grants landing in U.S. states, Israel, and other countries, and its recent portfolio includes repeated support for health programs that combine research, infrastructure, and service delivery. In the most recent grants, it also funded rural connectivity, WASH, and emergency response projects that extend care to remote or underserved settings.
What Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust Funds
Type 1 diabetes is one of the trust’s core areas. It gave $15.6 million to Blue Circle Health Inc. to create Blue Circle Health for underserved communities with T1D, and $6.75 million to Mass General Brigham for accelerating progress and promoting quality T1D care through the Global PEN-PLUS partnership. The trust also funds emergency care and first-response capacity. Grants include $12.6 million to the Regents of the University of Minnesota for the Minnesota First Responder AED Project and $6.63 million to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services for a similar AED project. On the infrastructure side, it supported $9.91 million to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for the Helmsley Cancer Center and $6.44 million to Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation for an MRI and medical equipment upgrade project. The trust also backed global health delivery through $7.02 million to Engineering Ministries International USA for the Alaska WASH Project.
How Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust Gives
Typical grants are substantial: the distribution sits at $156,612 at the 25th percentile, $382,594 at the median, and $876,022 at the 75th percentile. The recent list also shows several multi-year relationships, including repeated awards to Mass General Brigham, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Engineering Ministries International USA, and Stichting the Ocean Cleanup across different years. The trust is a regular funder and also makes program-related investments. Its public programs are invitation-based rather than open to unsolicited applications, with active program areas covering Type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, Israel, New York City, rural healthcare, and vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.7B
Total Assets
$7.1B
Total Revenue
$497.3M
Total Expenses
$422.2M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $157K and $876K, with a median of $383K.
25th Percentile
$157K
Median
$383K
75th Percentile
$876K
Geographic Reach
National46 states funded
About 17% of grants go to recipients in CO.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust Funds
Top 10 recipient countries by grant volume for Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 1,672 | $1.3B | 70.8% |
| 2 | Israel | 228 | $316.8M |
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