About Us

About Cloudsplitter Foundation

The Cloudsplitter Foundation formed as a 501c3 charity in 1987, re-domiciled in New York in 1999. From 2011-2020, $11,264,232 million distributed to the Adirondack region, with $26 million in assets.

An Adirondack focus, at least 70% of our grants go to Adirondack grantees.

Through our strategic giving, we promote public support or support of other foundations, support a policy direction or change and provide leadership grants.

Areas of Interest

Program/Project Support Grants

Environment

Protecting our natural resources through advocacy, land protection, stewardship

Mission Support Grants

Community Building

Supporting cultural, physical, & civic facilities like theaters, community centers, parks, trails, community revitalization

Rapid Response Grants

Economic Stability

Supporting Tourism, critical infrastructure like museums & historic sites, recreational facilities


Child Care Excellence Awards

Communications and Data Infrastructure

Broadband everywhere, public radio and television, focused fact-based journalism

Other Grants & Loans

Helping our most vulnerable neighbors

Birth-to-Three program, food programs, family resources, aging in place

Activist Philanthropy

  • Grants should provide measurable long-term benefits
  • Priority grants: financially, socially, politically leveraged
  • We want to provide more than just money:
  • Local knowledge
  • Networking
  • Strategy
  • We will initiate as well as fund projects, e.g.,
  • Birth-to-Three initiative
  • Attempt to save St Gabriel’s church
  • Improving regional 211 dispatch services
  • We like to work with other grant-makers (e.g., Adirondack Funders Coalition)

Strategic Philanthropy

  • Be active in identifying and meeting community and environmental needs
  • Identify opportunities to leverage our financial support, like bringing other funders into projects, leveraging public monies (e.g., grants requiring a match) and creating incentives (e.g., last-dollar in grants).
  • Bring grantees together when goals are aligned to increase impact, funding
  • Use in-depth local knowledge to identify needs and initiate projects
  • Help local government with critical projects where philanthropy matters
  • Subsidize research when having data can create leverage

Grant Making Process

  • Simple three-page grant request form
  • Grants of up to 20% of project budget
  • Smaller recurring mission-support (vs. project) grants are possible
  • Rapid-response grants to meet emergencies
  • Grants requests must be in by prior month.
  • Requests are scored on “bang for buck” metrics (reach, leverage, return)
  • Endowment grants are not favored
  • Multi-year grants acceptable with performance criteria