About Maurice Sendak Foundation
The Maurice Sendak Foundation concentrates its giving on a small number of targeted gifts that reflect the founder’s interests in education, children’s wellbeing, and the arts. The largest single award is an institutional grant to the University of Connecticut for educational, cultural and research purposes, while smaller grants support child- and family-focused causes (including school-safety/commemoration and animal-assisted therapy) and regional arts institutions. Grants are few but meaningful and often tied to cultural, educational, or child-centered missions.
Focus Areas
University-level educational, cultural and research programs (University of Connecticut)Child safety and school-community resilience (Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation / Sandy Hook-related work)Animal-assisted therapy and therapeutic programming for children and patients (The Good Dog Foundation)Regional visual arts institutions and community cultural development (Columbus Museum of Art)
Who They Fund
professional visual artists and illustratorsartists-in-residencechildren and youth (summer theater campers)
About Maurice Sendak Foundation
The Maurice Sendak Foundation Inc’s defining grantmaking thread is the Sendak Fellowship, an annual four-week residency for artists who tell stories with illustration. That program reflects the foundation’s emphasis on picture books, visual arts, creative mentorship, and the working conditions artists need to develop their practice. Recent fellowship awards went to Sophie Gilmore, Dena Seiferling, Bruno Zocca, Charlotte Ager, and Roco Araya Gutierrez, showing that the residency supports illustrators from the US, the UK, Canada, Italy, and France. Outside the fellowship, the foundation also makes targeted grants tied to children’s wellbeing, arts institutions, and educational or cultural programming. Its largest recent award went to The Uconn Foundation Inc Attn Data Services for the educational, scientific, cultural, research, and recreational objectives of the University of Connecticut. Other recent support included The Good Dog Foundation for therapy dog services in New York, the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation for general operations, and the Columbus Museum of Art for creativity, economic growth, and cultural growth in Columbus. The pattern is selective rather than broad, with gifts aimed at specific institutions and programs connected to the founder’s interests.
What Maurice Sendak Foundation Funds
The foundation’s arts support has two clear lanes: artist development and institutional culture work. In artist residency funding, it awarded $7,143 each to Sophie Gilmore, Dena Seiferling, Bruno Zocca, Charlotte Ager, and Roco Araya Gutierrez through the Sendak Fellowship for artists who tell stories with illustration. For arts organizations, it gave $11,000 to the Corporation of Yaddo in 2023 and another $11,000 in 2024 to support uninterrupted creative work in a residential setting. It also gave $21,500 to the Columbus Museum of Art to stimulate creativity and economic and cultural growth in the Columbus community, followed by $10,000 in general support in 2024. Beyond the arts, the foundation funds child- and family-centered work, including $125,000 to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation for general operations and $5,000 to APNH a Place to Nourish Your Health for client pet care support.
How Maurice Sendak Foundation Gives
Typical grants are modest: the p25 grant size is $1,000, the median is $5,000, and the p75 is $7,857. The grant list shows both one-time gifts and repeat support across years, including Yaddo, Columbus Museum of Art, Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary, and the Sendak Fellowship awards to multiple individual artists. That mix suggests a small, targeted portfolio with recurring relationships rather than a broad open-call program. The foundation funds individuals directly, and its active fellowship program is structured as a four-week residency for two to four artists. Unsolicited applications are not accepted for the Sendak Fellowship.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$229K
Total Assets
$46.8M
Total Revenue
$7M
Total Expenses
$2.3M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $1K and $8K, with a median of $5K.
25th Percentile
$1K
Median
$5K
75th Percentile
$8K
Geographic Reach
Regional14 states funded
About 25% of grants go to recipients in NY.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Maurice Sendak Foundation Funds
Top 5 recipient countries by grant volume for Maurice Sendak Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 22 | $1.3M | 78.6% |
| 2 | United Kingdom |
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