Funding search · EIN 136001282 · New York, NY
The Henry Luce Foundation
A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.
- 1,762
- grants reported
- $141.5M
- total given
- 2022–2024
- filing years
- $50,000
- median grant
Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2022–2024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.
What they fund
lucestemresearchfoundationexhibitionamericanuniversityundergraduate
Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is builtReport an error
Funding pattern
What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.
Where the money goes
- Clare Boothe Luce STEM awards for women at named colleges
- Humanities fellowships and academic research on Asia
- Museum exhibitions, collection preservation, gallery installations
- Religion and public life: reporting, convenings, research
- Indigenous and Native-led fellowships, archives, tribal museums
- Local journalism and democracy-focused public education
Typical grant
Median grant is $50,000 and the middle half runs $3,000 to $120,000, so most of the file is small: individual awards, travel, small project support. The big checks cluster at recognizable sizes: $458,200 to institutions carrying the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program, $150,000 to $250,000 for museum exhibitions and gallery installations, and $300,000 to $1,250,000 for fellowship intermediaries like ACLS and First Nations Development Institute. Repeat giving is heavy: 1,762 grants went to 952 recipients over three years, and some grantees appear multiple times in a single year.
Their words
Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.
- “Support for academic research”
- “Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program”
- “Support for collaboration among academic institutions and scholars”
- “Support for an art exhibition”
- “Support for gallery improvements and installation of artwork”
- “Support for fellowships”
Positioning adjacent work
- Frame research as a network or convening with named partner institutions, not a single-PI project.
- For STEM work with women scholars, tie explicitly to Clare Boothe Luce professorships, fellowships, or undergraduate research awards.
- Ask $150,000 to $200,000 for a defined project; reserve larger asks for multi-institution fellowship pipelines.
- Pair scholarship with a public output: exhibition, podcast, documentary, publication, or reporting series.
Worth knowing: Giving is concentrated in New York and Washington, DC, with California and Massachusetts next, and the Clare Boothe Luce roster is a fixed set of institutions that receive the same $458,200 year after year. Asia studies, religion in public life, Indigenous knowledge, and American art run as durable threads, and recent years show real money moving into local journalism and democracy infrastructure.
67 grants matching “exhibits” · $6.5M
- $250,000
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $250,000
Portland Art Museum · Portland, OR · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $200,000
Anchorage Museum · Anchorage, AK · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $200,000
Whitney Museum of American Art · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $175,000
Alaska Native Heritage Center · Anchorage, AK · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $125,000
Minnesota Museum of American Art · St Paul, MN · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $125,000
Holt Smithson Foundation · Santa Fe, NM · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $125,000
Museum of Modern Art · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $115,000
School for Advanced Research On the Human Experience · Santa Fe, NM · 2024
Support for an art exhibition and educational programming
- $100,000
Anchorage Museum · Anchorage, AK · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
Harwood Museum of Art · Taos, NM · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
Mississippi Museum of Art · Jackson, MS · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for a history exhibition and related educational materials
- $100,000
California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center (Cicsc) · San Marcos, CA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
University of New Mexico Maxwell Museum of Anthropology (Mma) · Albuquerque, NM · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $100,000
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art · North Adams, MA · 2024
Support for programming associated with an art exhibition
- $95,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
Rubin Museum of Art · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition and publications
- $75,000
Center for Native Futures · Chicago, IL · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
First Americans Museum · Oklahoma City, OK · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
Heckscher Museum of Art · Huntington, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
Nevada Museum of Art · Reno, NV · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
New Bedford Whaling Museum · New Bedford, MA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $75,000
Newberry Library · Chicago, IL · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $65,000
Clyfford Still Museum · Denver, CO · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $58,333
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art · San Francisco, CA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $58,333
Riverside Art Museum · Riverside, CA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $58,000
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum · Boston, MA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $55,000
The Foundation for City College · New York, NY · 2024
Support for a history exhibition and related catalog
- $50,000
Community Resource Corporation (Crc) · Peachtree Corners, GA · 2024
Support for an exhibition and associated curriculum
- $50,000
Detroit Institute of Arts · Detroit, MI · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $41,667
Walker Art Center · Minneapolis, MN · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $41,667
The Speed Art Museum · Louisville, KY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $37,500
University of California Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara, CA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $37,500
El Museo Del Barrio · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $37,500
Telfair Museum of Art · Savannah, GA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $35,000
Montana State University Foundation · Bozeman, MT · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $35,000
Boston Athenaeum · Boston, MA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $33,333
Museum of Fine Arts Boston · Boston, MA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $25,000
New-York Historical Society · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $25,000
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art · Memphis, TN · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $25,000
Minneapolis College of Art and Design (McAd) · Minneapolis, MN · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $25,000
Menil Foundation · Houston, TX · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $10,000
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum · Boston, MA · 2024
Support for an art exhibition and archival project
- $200,000
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art · Iowa City, IA · 2023
Homecoming:Inaugural Exhibition of the SMA's American Art Collection
- $150,000
Delaware Art Museum · Wilmington, DE · 2023
Collection-based Exhibitions at Delaware Art Museum
- $150,000
Abbe Museum · Bar Harbor, ME · 2023
Abbe Museum Curator of Exhibits and Collections
- $150,000
New Bedford Whaling Museum · New Bedford, MA · 2023
NBWM: Wider World and Scrimshaw exhibition
- $150,000
The University of Tennessee Foundation · Knoxville, TN · 2023
Beauford Delaney Graduate Research Fellowship and Community Exhibitions
- $75,000
Center for Book Arts · New York, NY · 2023
Book Arts As Intersection: A Collections-Based Exhibition
- $75,000
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation · New York, NY · 2023
For the exhibition catalogue, Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility
- $75,000
Harwood Museum of Art · Taos, NM · 2023
Harwood Museum of Art Centennial Exhibition and Publication
- $45,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2023
Museum Exhibition of Milton Snow?s Photographs
- $20,000
The Drawing Center · New York, NY · 2023
Exhibition catalogue, "Joan Jonas: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral"
- $250,000
The Studio Museum in Harlem · New York, NY · 2022
Reimagining The Studio Museum in Harlem: An Inaugural Exhibitions Project For Our New Home - Phase Two
- $200,000
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art · Iowa City, IA · 2022
Homecoming:Inaugural Exhibition of the SMA's American Art Collection
- $180,000
China Institute in America · New York, NY · 2022
Exhibition: Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower and Bird Painting, 1368-1911 - Masterworks from Tianjin Museum
- $175,000
Harwood Museum of Art · Taos, NM · 2022
Harwood Museum of Art Centennial Exhibition and Publication
- $155,000
University of Arizona Foundation · Tucson, AZ · 2022
Louis Carlos Bernal Exhibition and Publication
- $150,000
Minneapolis Institute of Art · Minneapolis, MN · 2022
Native Photography Exhibition (working title)
- $100,000
School for Advanced Research On the Human Experience · Santa Fe, NM · 2022
Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery Exhibition
- $98,000
Otterbein University · Westerville, OH · 2022
Exhibition, Publication, and Open-Access to the C.Y. Woo (Wu Zhongxiong) Paintings and Artifacts in The Ohio Collections
- $90,000
University of Connecticut · Storrs, CT · 2022
Future of Truth [Exhibition Component, Seeing Truth: Art, Science, and Making Knowledge (1750-2020)]
- $75,000
Frist Art Museum · Nashville, TN · 2022
For the exhibition and catalogue, Multiplicity: Collage in Contemporary America
- $70,000
John Michael Kohler Arts Center · Sheboygan, WI · 2022
Cloth as Land: Hmong Indigeneity exhibition and convening
- $65,000
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Pafa) · Philadelphia, PA · 2022
For the exhibition catalogue, "John Rhoden: Determined to Be"
Top recipients
Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.
- First Nations Development Institute13 grants · $4.8M
- American Council of Learned Societies12 grants · $4.5M
- Georgetown University5 grants · $1.6M
- University of Wisconsin Foundation7 grants · $1.5M
- University of Notre Dame5 grants · $1.5M
- Seton Hall University4 grants · $1.4M
- Fordham University7 grants · $1.3M
- Trinity Washington University4 grants · $1.3M
- Santa Clara University3 grants · $1.3M
- St Johns University3 grants · $1.3M
Giving over time
Grant history
The 100 largest of 1,762 grants.
- $1.3M
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2024
Support for academic fellowships
- $750,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2024
Support for fellowships
- $750,000
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2023
Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies
- $750,000
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2022
Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies
- $600,000
Morgan State University · Baltimore, MD · 2022
Lifeways of Hope
- $600,000
University of California Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2022
Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative
- $550,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2024
Support for fellowships
- $500,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2024
Support for fellowships
- $500,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2023
Cohort 5- Supporting Public/Community Intellectuals in Native American Communities
- $500,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2023
Cohort 4-Supporting Public/Community Intellectuals in Native American Communities
- $500,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2022
Cohort 4-Supporting Public/Community Intellectuals in Native American Communities
- $500,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2022
Cohort 5- Supporting Public/Community Intellectuals in Native American Communities
- $458,200
Colby College · Waterville, ME · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Creighton University · Omaha, NE · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Fordham University · The Bronx, NY · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Georgetown University · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Marymount University · Arlington, VA · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Mount Holyoke College · South Hadley, MA · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Santa Clara University · Santa Clara, CA · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Seton Hall University · South Orange, NJ · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
St Johns University · Queens, NY · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Trinity Washington University · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
University of Notre Dame · Notre Dame, IN · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $458,200
Villanova Preparatory School · Ojai, CA · 2024
Support for the Clare Boothe Luce STEM program
- $450,000
University of Wisconsin Foundation · Madison, WI · 2024
Support for academic research
- $450,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2022
Cohort 3-Supporting Public/Community Intellectuals in Native American Communities
- $450,000
Northeastern University · Boston, MA · 2022
Sacred Writes: Public Scholarship on Race, Justice, and Religion
- $440,000
Boston University · Boston, MA · 2022
Boston University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Colby College · Waterville, ME · 2022
Colby College CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Creighton University · Omaha, NE · 2022
Creighton University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Fordham University · Bronx, NY · 2022
Fordham University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Georgetown University · Washington, DC · 2022
Georgetown University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Marymount University · Arlington, VA · 2022
Marymount University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Mount Holyoke College · South Hadley, MA · 2022
Mt Holyoke College CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Santa Clara University · Santa Clara, CA · 2022
Santa Clara University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Seton Hall University · South Orange, NJ · 2022
Seton Hall University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
St Johns University · Queens, NY · 2022
St. John's University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Trinity Washington University · Washington, DC · 2022
Trinity Washington University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
University of Notre Dame · Notre Dame, IN · 2022
University of Notre Dame CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $440,000
Villanova Preparatory School · Ojai, CA · 2022
Villanova Preparatory School CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2022
- $430,800
Boston University · Boston, MA · 2023
Boston University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Colby College · Waterville, ME · 2023
Colby College CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Creighton University · Omaha, NE · 2023
Creighton University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Fordham University · Bronx, NY · 2023
Fordham University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Georgetown University · Washington, DC · 2023
Georgetown University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Marymount University · Arlington, VA · 2023
Marymount University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Mount Holyoke College · South Hadley, MA · 2023
Mt Holyoke College CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Santa Clara University · Santa Clara, CA · 2023
Santa Clara University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Seton Hall University · South Orange, NJ · 2023
Seton Hall University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
St Johns University · Queens, NY · 2023
St. John's University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Trinity Washington University · Washington, DC · 2023
Trinity Washington University CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
University of Notre Dame · Notre Dame, IN · 2023
University of Notre Dame CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $430,800
Villanova Preparatory School · Ojai, CA · 2023
Villanova Preparatory School CBL STEM Program Escrow Account - 2023
- $406,668
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2024
Support for PhD dissertation fellowships
- $400,000
Morgan State University · Baltimore, MD · 2024
Support for research networks and public programs
- $400,000
National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for convening and related publication
- $400,000
University of California Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · 2024
Support for research network
- $400,000
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2023
Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art
- $400,000
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2022
Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art
- $400,000
Public Religion Research Institute (Prri) · Washington, DC · 2022
Religion and Renewing Democracy
- $380,000
University of Wisconsin Foundation · Madison, WI · 2023
Social Justice in Southeast Asia
- $350,000
The Stimson Center · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for policy research and workshops
- $350,000
Baltimore Museum of Art · Baltimore, MD · 2022
BMA Prints, Drawings, and Photography Center - Part 2
- $346,000
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2023
Tracing Authoritarianism: Linking Southeast Asia with Southeast Asian America Through Archives, Language, and Pedagogy
- $335,000
Social Science Research Council · Brooklyn, NY · 2022
A Digital Platform on Religion in International Affairs
- $330,000
Social Science Research Council · Brooklyn, NY · 2023
A Digital Platform on Religion in International Affairs
- $315,000
East-West Center · Honolulu, HI · 2024
Support for academic research
- $315,000
California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA · 2022
California Institute of Technology - One CBL STEM Professorship
- $300,000
Aapi Civic Engagement Fund · Los Angeles, CA · 2024
Support for civic engagement
- $300,000
First Nations Development Institute · Longmont, CO · 2024
Fellowship support
- $300,000
National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for convening and publication
- $300,000
Public Religion Research Institute (Prri) · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for research fellows
- $300,000
Columbia University · New York, NY · 2023
?Digitizing Vietnam: The Virtual Future of Global Vietnam and Vietnamese Studies"
- $300,000
Public Religion Research Institute (Prri) · Washington, DC · 2023
Religion and Renewing Democracy
- $300,000
The Aspen Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Racial Justice & Religion Initiative
- $300,000
Northeastern University · Boston, MA · 2022
Northeastern University - Two CBL STEM Graduate Fellowships
- $300,000
United Lutheran Seminary · Gettysburg, PA · 2022
Toward a Common Public Life
- $300,000
Washington University in St Louis · St Louis, MO · 2022
Washington University in St. Louis - Two CBL STEM Graduate Fellowships
- $290,000
Institute for Diversity and Civic Life · Austin, TX · 2022
Grounded Religion: Developing the Field of Community Engaged Public Humanities
- $280,000
University of Washington · Seattle, WA · 2022
Tracing Authoritarianism: Linking Southeast Asia with Southeast Asian America Through Archives, Language, and Pedagogy
- $276,128
Worcester Polytechnic Institute · Worcester, MA · 2022
Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Two CBL STEM Graduate Fellowships
- $275,000
The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (Suny) · Albany, NY · 2023
Building the SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium (SEAC)
- $275,000
UCLA Asian American Studies Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
The AAPI Multimedia Education Initiative: A Pathway to Sustainability and Visibility
- $275,000
American Association for the Advancement of Science · Washington, DC · 2022
Advancing SEA Change
- $260,000
University of Texas at El Paso · El Paso, TX · 2023
University of Texas at El Paso - Two CBL STEM Professorships
- $260,000
Saint Mary'S College · Notre Dame, IN · 2022
Saint Mary's College - One CBL STEM Professorship
- $256,000
University of California Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz, CA · 2022
SEACOAST: The Southeast Asian Coastal Studies Initiative
- $255,000
Ohio University Libraries · Athens, OH · 2022
The Southeast Asia Digital Library: A new approach to building and curating a digital library
- $250,000
Amalgamated Foundation · Washington, DC · 2024
Support for advocacy of higher education
- $250,000
Burke Museum · Seattle, WA · 2024
Support for preservation of an art collection
- $250,000
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art · New York, NY · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $250,000
Native American Rights Fund · Boulder, CO · 2024
Support for a museum
- $250,000
Portland Art Museum · Portland, OR · 2024
Support for an art exhibition
- $250,000
Texas Tribune · Austin, TX · 2024
Support for an educational series on Texas history
- $250,000
Environmental Law Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing Tribal Sovereignty and Community Health in California
- $250,000
Interfaith America · Chicago, IL · 2023
Black Interfaith
- $250,000
Northeastern University · Boston, MA · 2023
Strengthening Democracy by Building Public Sector Capacity
- $250,000
American Council of Learned Societies · New York, NY · 2022
COVID Emergency Grant: ACLS Public Humanities Project
- $250,000
Hammer Museum · Los Angeles, CA · 2022
Luce Curatorial Fellowships
- $250,000
Interfaith America · Chicago, IL · 2022
Black Interfaith
Who else funds this kind of work
Same state
- The Bloomberg Family Foundation815 grants · $3.00B
- Pfizer Patient Assistance Foundation134 grants · $5.49B
Similar grant size
- Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral16,278 grants · $1.08B
- Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund19,135 grants · $6.79B
- The Chicago Community Trust14,939 grants · $5.82B
Grants already paid are the record; PaperOrbit reads your paper and finds the funders whose record matches it — then explains why.
Search funders like this oneSource: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.

