Phillip & Edith Leonian Foundation
Bronx, NY · EIN 36-3204862. Reported 192 grants totalling $2,791,964 to 91 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Phillip & Edith Leonian Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $7,500 and $20,000; the smallest was $3,520 and the largest $51,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronx Documentary Center | Bronx, NY | $250,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Fotofest International | Houston, TX | $150,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Nyc Salt | New York, NY | $135,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Eddie Adams Workshop Organization Inc | Jeffersonville, NY | $130,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| William Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Co International Center for Photography | New York, NY | $125,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| United Photo Industries | Brooklyn, NY | $121,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Museum of Contemporary Photography | Chicago, IL | $120,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts-Dba Blue Sky Gallery | Portland, OR | $115,750 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Center for Photography at Woodstock | Woodstock, NY | $115,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| En Foco Inc | Bronx, NY | $80,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Penumbra Foundation | New York, NY | $69,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| National Museum of Mexican Art | Chicago, IL | $59,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York | New York, NY | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| International Center for Photograph | New York, NY | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Center Santa Fe-the Project | Santa Fe, NM | $47,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Studio Museum in Harlem | New York, NY | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Visual Studies Workshop | Rochester, NY | $44,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Houston Center for Photography | Houston, TX | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Josephine Herrick Project Inc | New York, NY | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Museum of the City of New York | New York, NY | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Proof Media for Social Justice | New York, NY | $37,900 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Evanston Art Center | Evanston, IL | $33,027 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Bethel Wood Center for the Arts Inc | Liberty, NY | $32,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Case Art Fund Inc | Chicago, IL | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Silver Eye Center for Photography (radial Survey Vol 3) | Pittsburgh, PA | $27,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| International Center for Photography | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Las Foto Project of Community Partners | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Photo Legacy Foundation Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Tilt Institute for Contemporary Image | Philadelphia, PA | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Magnum Photos Foundation | New York, NY | $24,800 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Halide Project | Philadelphia, PA | $24,100 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Museum of Fine Arts Houston | Houston, TX | $22,050 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Magnum Foundation | New York, NY | $22,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Inc | Liberty, NY | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Four Youth Production | Wilmington, DE | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Katherine E Nash Gallery University of Minnesota | Minneapolis, MN | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Photography Collections Preservation Project | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| New York Foundation for the Arts (ba Van Sise) | Long Island City, NY | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The Print Center (artist-in-Schools Program) | Philadelphia, PA | $17,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Tides Center | Los Angeles, CA | $17,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Fractured Atlas (back to Lab & Two By Two Media) | Hartsdale, NY | $16,417 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Aperture Foundation Inc | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Brooklyn Arts Council | Brooklyn, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Brooklyn Darkroom (artist-in-Residence Program) | Brooklyn, NY | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Center for Exploratory & Perceptual Art ( Portrait of Buffalo Ii) | Buffalo, NY | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| East Bay Photo Collective (2023-2024 Exhibitions Program) | Oakland, CA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Kioo Project | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Trustees of Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The VII Foundation | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| WNET- the Bigger Picture Project | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lens on Life | New York, NY | $13,220 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Women Photojournalists of Washington (wpow Speaker Series) | Takoma Park, MD | $12,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Colorado Photographic Arts Center | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Colusa County Arts Council | Colusa, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Curtis Legacy Foundation (descendants Project) | Buena Vista, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Flower City Arts Center | Rochester, NY | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| George Eastman Museum | Rochester, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| International League of Conservation Photographers | Arlington, VA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Maysles Documentary Center | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Memphis Brooks Museum of Art | Memphis, TN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Milwaukee Art Museum | Milwaukee, WI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Museum of Photographic Arts | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Myriad USA Inc | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Photography Network | Washington DC, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Photojournalism Archive Project | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sitka Center for Art and Ecology | Otis, OR | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Somerville Museum( Padres Latinos De Somerville) | Somerville, MA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Atlanta Celebrates Photography | Atlanta, GA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of the Alice Austen House Inc | Staten Island, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Jewish Creativity International | Orrick, MO | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Photographic Center School | Seattle, WA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Photowork Foundation | Woodstock, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Historic Neighborhood Trust | Williamsport, PA | $5,200 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Aurora Photocenter | Indianapolis, IN | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Cincinnati Art Museum | Cincinnati, OH | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Artists Collective | Houston, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Edge for Torrow(photography Enrichment Programming) | Wilmington, DE | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Filter Photo | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Griffin Museum of Photography | Winchester, MA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Inliquid | Philadelphia, PA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Louisville Visual Art (picture This) | Louisville, KY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Maine Media College | Rockport, ME | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| New Museum of Contemporary Art | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Outside the Lens | San Diego, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Queer Art | New York, NY | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Visual Arts Center | Austin, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Women Photograph | New Orleans, LA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Brattleboro Museum & Art Center | Brattleboro, VT | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
43 of 91 (47%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 65%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Milwaukee Art Museum
TRUE STORY: PHOTOGRAPHY, JOURNALISM AND MEDIA EXHIBIT - Tides Center
FIRST EXPOSURES ACADEMIC YEAR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM - Queer Art
2024 COMMUNITY PORTRAIT PROJECT - Flower City Arts Center
STUDIO 678 YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHY AND WRITING PROGRAM - Community Artists Collective
THE COLLECTIVE ARCHIVING PROJECT - Cincinnati Art Museum
NANCY REXROTH COLLECTION CONSERVATION
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 93 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | $515,420 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 29 | $503,000 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 36 | $566,674 | $11,000 |
| 2024 | 42 | $514,300 | $9,250 |
| 2025 | 54 | $692,570 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Where its money goes
62% of its giving went to organizations in New York. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Phillip & Edith Leonian Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 3400 Fort Independence St 2H, Bronx, NY, 10463. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 36-3204862 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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