Funding

ACLS was founded in 1919 thanks to the foresight of a small group of learned societies and generous philanthropists who believed in their vision for the humanities and social sciences. Among the most instrumental funders in the first fifty years of our existence were the Bollingen Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Other funders who lent their support in those years included Corning Glass Works Foundation, the Markle Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The New York Times. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation became one of our most important partners after they were established in 1969, and in later years, they were joined by the Arcadia Charitable Trust, Atlantic Philanthropic Companies, Freeman Foundation, Getty Trust, Hewlett Foundation, Robert H.N. Ho Foundation, Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Henry Luce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Alfred Sloan Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. In 1926, fellowships and grants totaled $4,500 for a handful of scholars. Nearly 100 years later, our fellowships exceed $25 million in support of over 300 scholars.

Today, ACLS continues to be funded by public and private grants, endowment income, annual dues from member institutions dues and gifts from individual donors. Our $125 million centennial campaign was launched in 2019 at our centennial dinner which honored the tenure of Pauline Yu, ACLS’ president for 16 years until her retirement that year.

We are pleased to recognize all of our current funders in our annual report. We would especially like to thank our major funders for their cumulative generosity, listed below:

$5 million + 
Carnegie Corporation of New York 
The Robert H.N. Ho Foundation
The Henry Luce Foundation 
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

$1,000,000 – $4,999,999 
Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin 
CCK Foundation
Getty
Susan McClary & Robert Walser

$500,000 – $999,999 
Pauline Yu

$250,000 – $499,999 
Lilian Handlin 
H. and T. King 
Carl & Betty Pforzheimer 
Lea Wakeman

$100,000 – $249,999 
Roger & Whitney Bagnall 
James J. O’Donnell 
The Barrington Foundation 
Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Foundation 
Scott L. Waugh 
Wen-hsin Yeh & James C. Sha

$25,000 – $99,999 
D. Ronald Daniel 
Frances Ferguson 
Renée B. Fisher Foundation 
Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation 
Yvette & William Kirby 
Carl H. Pforzheimer III 
Preston M. Torbert 
Nancy J. Vickers 
Anonymous

$5,000 – $24,999 
James H. Averill Jr. 
Sheila Biddle 
BMM Art & Computer, Inc. 
Jonathan D. Culler & Cynthia Chase 
Valerie Wilson Travel and Matthew Gill 
Madeline Einhorn Glick 
Monticello Associates 
Charlotte V. Kuh & Roy Radner 
Nicholas R. Lardy 
Robert S. Rifkind 
Abby Smith Rumsey 
Matthew S. Santirocco 
Lavori Sterling Foundation, Inc.

JOIN US
For further information on becoming a major donor, please contact Mary Richter at mrichter@acls.org or 646-485-5951.