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 [email protected] or 646-485-5951.