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
Environment
Protecting our natural resources through advocacy, land protection, stewardship
Community Building
Supporting cultural, physical, & civic facilities like theaters, community centers, parks, trails, community revitalization
Economic Stability
Supporting Tourism, critical infrastructure like museums & historic sites, recreational facilities
Communications and Data Infrastructure
Broadband everywhere, public radio and television, focused fact-based journalism
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