JPB Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The JPB Foundation’s funding for poverty, medical research, and the environment supports research, activism, and projects related to civic engagement, economic opportunity, voting, clean energy, green infrastructure, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.
IP TAKE: According to the JPB Foundation’s president-elect Deepak Bhargava, the foundation is currently in a “period of transformation” as founder and long-time president Barbara Picower prepares to hand over leadership to Bhargava. While foundation’s current program areas revolve around poverty, medical research, and the environment, Bhargava hints that it may be “evolving the structure and the programming” of its grantmaking in the coming years. While what exactly this entails remains to be seen, there are indications that combatting the socio-economic impacts of climate change will play a larger role in the foundation’s strategy moving forward.
While JPB’s grants can be quite substantial, it is not the most transparent or accessible funder. Its website does not list or publicize its past grants or partners in any way. It also does not accept unsolicited applications or requests for funding, preferring instead to conduct grantmaking by invitation only. According to some previous applicants, “cultivating a relationship with the President or senior-level staff is essential to receiving an invitation to apply,” but even those who receive the coveted invitation may find the application process Byzantine and opaque. Multiple previous applicants report that the foundation can be unresponsive and difficult to communicate with throughout the process. Overall, JPB prioritizes evidence-based practices, scalable projects, and collaborative work.
PROFILE: The New York-based JPB Foundation was established in 2011 by Barbara Picower, the wife of Jeffry Picower, one of the main beneficiaries of Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme. The Foundation was established with the remains of Picower’s estate following a legal settlement totaling $7.2 billion. In 2023, Barbara Picower announced plans to step down as president and continue as president emerita. She will be replaced by Deepak Bhargava, a current member of the JPB board of directors and CEO of Center for Community Change. The foundation’s stated mission is to “advance opportunity in the United States through transformational initiatives that empower those living in poverty, enrich and sustain our environment, and enable pioneering medical research.” To those ends, it has given away nearly $2.5 billion in grants since its inception. The foundation’s grantmaking strategy involves supporting “research and dissemination,” identifying barriers, scaling “high quality, promising, and proven services,” and building capacity of “organizations and fields.” The foundation carries on the giving legacy of Jeffry and Barbara Picower with program areas in Poverty, Medical Research, and the Environment.
Grants for Economic Development, Civic Engagement, and Democracy
JPB’s Poverty program area works to help Americans living in poverty overcome the “steep and unfair obstacles to attaining financial security, good health, and a voice in decisions that affect them.” Grants for economic justice support programs that “ensure financial security for people in poverty by increasing access to good jobs, protecting and strengthening the safety net, and alleviating financial hardship.”
JPB’s poverty grantmaking also supports health equity and democracy initiatives. Grants for health equity “enable people in poverty to lead healthy lives by reducing the incidence and impact of obesity, diabetes, and toxic stress,” while grants for democracy work to “increase the voice and power of people in poverty” by broadening the “civic engagement and voting rights” of traditionally disenfranchised communities. It also supports democracy-related work by “protecting the rights and full participation of immigrants in society.” Previous grantees include the Center for American Progress, Center for Community Change, and Innovation Network Inc.
Grants for Diseases and Brain Research
JPB’s Medical Research programs awards grants to consortiums of scientists performing research in its two targeted areas: Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. For each disease, the foundation “supports five to eight world-class scientists who agree to conduct their research within a collaborative framework.” JPB hand-picks groups of scientists who are “approaching their targeted disease from different angles, and whose work has complementary aspects.” JPB also provides funding for MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, which studies “the mechanisms that drive the quintessentially human capacity to remember and to learn,” “related functions like perception, attention, and consciousness,” and diseases that cause neurological dysfunction. Other past grantees include Dr. Bradley Hyman of Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Ted Johnson of Johns Hopkins University.
Grants for the Environment and Climate Change
JPB’s Environment program area works to “enable healthy and resilient communities by enriching and supporting the environment,” with a strong priority on “low-income communities and underserved communities of color.” The foundation has four focus areas in this program. Energy grants promote the “transition to a clean and just energy future by increasing the supply of clean power and its efficient and affordable use.” Environmental health grants support programs that ensure that “natural systems and the built environment are free of toxic chemicals by detoxifying the indoor and outdoor environments.” Green infrastructure grants promote the “benefits of natural spaces by delivering, improving, and maintaining parks, natural areas, and the routes to get there” in order to “protect against climate change and improve overall community health.” Finally, grants for Field strengthening work to “advance powerful communities that are environmentally just, by building the power of the environmental justice community.” JPB also conducts climate change-related grantmaking through this program area. Overall, climate change efforts tend to support green infrastructure, environmental health, and clean energy. Past grantees include Bluegreen Alliance Foundation, Earth Day Network, and EarthJustice.
Important Grant Details:
JPB’s grant amounts are substantial, often ranging from $150,000 to $700,000. The foundation does not maintain a grant database or post information about its past grantmaking on its website, but grantseekers may review the foundation’s tax filings for more information on its grantmaking habits.
JPB does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding.
Grantmaking is typically initiated by the foundation’s Advisory Committee, which refers its recommendations to the Board of Directors.
For further inquiries, grantseekers are welcome to contact the foundation at info@jpbfoundation.org.
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