About Virginia A Groot Foundation
The Virginia A. Groot Foundation is a highly targeted arts funder that prioritizes support for sculptural and ceramic arts, funding both artist residencies and institutions that advance excellence in craft. Their grants favor studio-based makers, craft centers, and individual sculptors, often underwriting program support and residency opportunities that help artists develop and exhibit three-dimensional work. Funding appears practice-driven (ceramics/sculpture) rather than broadly geographic, with repeat and sizable awards to a small set of specialty organizations.
Focus Areas
Ceramic arts and ceramic artist residency programsContemporary sculptural practice and individual sculptorsRegional craft centers and studios that provide exhibition and trainingArtist development through residencies, studio support, and program grants
Who They Fund
ceramic artistssculptors (sculptural artists)resident artists participating in artist-in-residence programs
Giving Approach
About Virginia A Groot Foundation
The Virginia a Groot Foundation centers its giving on ceramic and sculptural arts, with a visible pattern of underwriting artist residency programs, studio practice, and awards that recognize excellence in three-dimensional work. A defining recent commitment was a $12,612,048 grant in 2026 to Peter & Penelope West Charitable Fund, alongside a $115,000 grant to Center for Craft for ceramic and sculptural arts. That combination signals a funder able to make both unusually large special-purpose awards and focused support for artists and institutions working in clay, sculpture, and related visual arts. Their recent grants also show repeated attention to artists themselves. The foundation has funded individual sculptors and ceramic artists in multiple years, including Gabriel Dawe, Richard T Notkin, and Elise Siegel, as well as organizations that host or support makers through residency and training settings. Grants are often framed around pursuing or promoting excellence in the ceramic arts, sculptural arts, or both. The annual sculpture competition program further reinforces that the foundation treats artistic excellence as a core organizing principle, not just a side theme. Across the grant list, the pattern is consistent: support for practicing artists, specialty craft institutions, and residency-based development in ceramics and sculpture.
What Virginia A Groot Foundation Funds
In ceramic arts, the foundation gave $100,000 to Rair Inc Foundation in Philadelphia for the artist-in-residency program, and $1,050 to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Boulder to promote and pursue excellence in the ceramic arts. It also supported the Center for Craft in Asheville with $115,000 in 2026 and $50,000 in 2023 for ceramic and sculptural arts. In sculptural practice, grants went to artists such as Raven Halfmoon in Norman for sculptural arts and Claire Morgan in Gateshead for the same purpose. The foundation also backed Ceramic Studio in Faversham and Jason Taylor in Faversham, showing attention to both institutions and individual makers. The mix of award purposes is narrow and consistent: excellence in ceramic arts, excellence in sculptural arts, and artist-in-residence support. That focus suggests a funder built around practice development in three-dimensional art rather than broad arts generalism.
How Virginia A Groot Foundation Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$12.9M
Total Assets
$0
Total Revenue
-$86K
Total Expenses
$13M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $5K and $73K, with a median of $30K.
25th Percentile
$5K
Median
$30K
75th Percentile
$73K
Geographic Reach
National14 states funded
About 5% of grants go to recipients in NY.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Virginia A Groot Foundation Funds
Top 3 recipient countries by grant volume for Virginia A Groot Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 32 | $13.9M | 88.9% |
| 2 | United Kingdom |
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