Harnisch Family Foundation
The Harnisch Family Foundation is a private foundation based in New York, NY, established in 1998 and tax-exempt since January 2000. Operating as a 501(c)(3) organization, it is a small but active foundation committed to creative, progressive philanthropy focused on advancing equality and fairness.
Financial Overview
From 2024 IRS Form 990-PF · View filing
Total Assets
$1.5M
-14.8% YoY
Annual Giving
$4.4M
+213.5% YoY
Grant Count
86
+24.6% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$51K
+151.5% YoY
Mission & Focus Areas
The foundation's mission is to create a fair, equitable, and inclusive world. They support the work of effective leaders and creative communities working to advance equality, with a special focus on women and girls, as well as gender and racial equity more broadly.
The foundation funds work across three primary strategic areas:
Leadership Development — Including their signature Funny Girls™ curriculum, which uses improv comedy as a tool to strengthen girls' leadership skills. The curriculum matches developmental social markers and leadership skills with corresponding improv exercises in self-awareness, learning agility, collaboration, empathy, and resiliency.
Storytelling — Investing in creative storytelling and working to change the ratio of storytellers and stories to be more inclusive of women and people of color.
Convenings — Supporting in-person gatherings where relationships deepen and ideas flourish, recognizing that meetings are magnifiers for social change.
The foundation also maintains a commitment to smaller grants through the Awesome Without Borders program, which distributed $1,000 grants weekly for over 570 weeks before concluding in 2024.
Grantmaking
The foundation accepts applications and is open to applications.
Grant Range
s & Distribution:**
How to Apply
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Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
The foundation's grantmaking focuses primarily on New York, California, and the District of Columbia.
Grant Distribution by State
States
Cities
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
Most Recent (2024):
- Total Assets: $1,524,497
- Total Revenues: $4,454,076
- Total Expenses: $4,720,809
- Total Giving: $4,355,202
Historical Trends:
- 2023: Assets $1.79M, Expenses $2.14M, Revenue $3M
- 2022: Assets $930K, Total Giving $517K
The foundation's giving rate exceeds 100% of assets, indicating it distributes more than its annual asset base.
| Metric | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $1,524,497 | $1,790,230 | $930,005 |
| Revenue | $4,454,076 | $2,997,510 | $714,523 |
| Expenses | $4,720,809 | $2,136,585 | $1,048,720 |
| Qualifying Distributions | $4,948,353 | $2,113,900 | $1,039,021 |
| Net Investment Income | $4,452,018 | $1,666,117 | $713,324 |
| Distributable Amount | $335,014 | $230,143 | $136,941 |
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2024
Grant Size Distribution
242 grants across all recorded years
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
No grants recorded for .
Leadership & Key People
Officers and directors from IRS filings
Compensation Overview
From 2024 IRS filing
From 2024 filing
| Name | Title | Hours | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| RUTH ANN HARNISCH | PRESIDENT | 40 | — |
| WILLIAM F HARNISCH | TREASURER | 10 | — |
Recent News & Activity
Recent developments and announcements
**Awesome Without Borders Conclusion (2024):**
Awesome Without Borders Sunsets Weekly Grant Program After $550,000+ DistributedAfter eleven years of operation, the Awesome Without Borders program concluded in 2024. The program distributed nearly 600 grants totaling over $550,000 to advance creative and social enterprises, receiving tens of thousands of applications throughout its tenure.
Awesome Without Borders Sunsets Weekly Grant Program After $550,000+ Distributed**Notable Partnerships & Initiatives:**
The Second City in Chicago became a pilot partner for the Funny Girls program
The foundation supports the Athena Center for Leadership at Barnard College, including pre-college programs, the SPARK event series, and the Athena Film Festival
Recent grants have supported organizations including YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee ($100,000 for social justice and advocacy initiatives) and the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange ($100,000)
The Harnisch Foundation Invests $100,000 in YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee\u2019\Related Funders
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Data last updated April 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated April 2026.
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