About Saul Steinberg Foundation
The Saul Steinberg Foundation is a highly targeted arts donor that primarily gifts artwork to museums and cultural institutions for public display. Grants are concentrated at major museum partners — both in the U.S. and internationally — and are structured as one-time, high-value donations of works rather than broad operating support. The foundation favors university and municipal art museums as well as specialized collections (drawing, sculpture, graphic arts), indicating an emphasis on collection-building and exhibition enrichment.
Focus Areas
Major art museums and museum collection acquisitions (e.g., Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou)University and college art museums (e.g., Williams College Museum of Art, Harvard Art Museums)Specialized collections and institutes (drawing, graphic arts, sculpture — e.g., Menil Drawing Institute, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts)International cultural institutions and European museum partnerships (e.g., Milan Biblioteca Braidense, Triennale Milano)
Who They Fund
museums or galleriescultural institutionsgeneral public / museum visitors
About Saul Steinberg Foundation
The Saul Steinberg Foundation primarily gives artwork to museums and cultural institutions for public display, making its grantmaking pattern unusually centered on in-kind art donations rather than cash support. Recent gifts have gone to major institutions such as Milan Biblioteca Braidense, Centre Pompidou, and the Art Institute of Chicago, along with university museums and specialized collection centers. The foundation’s recent record shows a mix of U.S. and international recipients, with artworks placed in settings that can support exhibition, study, and collection building. Its portfolio includes both large museum partners and smaller academic or regional museums, suggesting a focus on where artworks can be seen by the public and integrated into established collections. The recent grants list also shows repeated attention to museums with dedicated strengths in drawing, graphic arts, sculpture, and modern art. Several awards explicitly note that the donation is for display, and some international gifts were made under Revenue Procedure 2017-53 compliance language. The foundation’s giving is not broad operating support; it is structured around the transfer of artworks to institutions that can exhibit them.
What Saul Steinberg Foundation Funds
In museum collection work, the foundation gave $866,500 to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater for artwork to be displayed, and $575,000 to Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown for the same purpose. It also supported RISD Museum in Providence with a $359,000 artwork donation, reinforcing its emphasis on collection enrichment in academic settings. Among major art museums, the foundation awarded $717,000 to New Orleans Museum of Art and $341,500 to High Museum of Art in Atlanta, both for artwork to be displayed. Specialized institutions also appear in the record: the Menil Drawing Institute received $222,500, and the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts received $224,000, showing interest in drawing and graphic arts collections. Internationally, the foundation made a $313,000 gift to Dnp Foundation for Cultural Promotion in Tokyo for display, and a $271,825 gift to Albertina Modern in Austria, extending its collection placements beyond the United States.
How Saul Steinberg Foundation Gives
Typical grant size sits at $69,625 at the 25th percentile, $130,250 at the median, and $223,625 at the 75th percentile, with many awards clustered in the low-to-mid six figures. The recent record looks like one-off artwork donations rather than recurring operating grants, and the stated grant language consistently describes gifts as donations of artwork to be displayed. The foundation does not fund individuals and does not make program-related investments. Its filing history and recent grants suggest a family foundation style of grantmaking centered on institutional placements of art rather than open application support.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$853K
Total Assets
$2.8M
Total Revenue
$163K
Total Expenses
$1.2M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $70K and $224K, with a median of $130K.
25th Percentile
$70K
Median
$130K
75th Percentile
$224K
Geographic Reach
National26 states funded
About 9% of grants go to recipients in IL.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Saul Steinberg Foundation Funds
Top 7 recipient countries by grant volume for Saul Steinberg Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 69 | $8.6M | 88.5% |
| 2 | Italy | 4 | $2.8M |
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