Grantmaking Policies and Procedures              

Notice to all current and potential grantees seeking funding

The Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation will be spending down its remaining funds.  We will not be accepting any unsolicated proposals. Please see the full statement below for details. 

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After almost 65 years of making grants in the Baltimore area and elsewhere the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation will spend down its remaining funds. The Foundation will make final grants to organizations that will honor the Founders’ vision of enhancing Maryland and making a meaningful difference in the lives of Marylanders.

The Foundation was created through the will of Fanny Blaustein Thalheimer, who died in 1957. It began operating in 1959 to perpetuate her philanthropic commitment to the vitality of Baltimore’s cultural, educational, civic and Jewish communal institutions.

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Since 1959 the Foundation has made over $55 million dollars in grants largely in the Baltimore area.  The Foundation’s work has attempted to assist people in need in a dignified way and has tried to remove structural and institutional impediments to human development resulting in a positive lasting impact on people’s lives.  In the Baltimore Area, the Foundation focused primarily on public education reform and literacy for more than 25 years through funding teacher and principal training and professional development, curriculum enhancement, early learning and literacy programs, tutoring and after-school programming as well as summer supports. For high school youth and other young adults there were grants for high school completion and college placement as well as workforce training and economic development opportunities combined with wraparound services. 

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Globally, the Foundation looked to assist Jewish communities in rebuilding following the Holocaust and the fall of the Soviet Union.  The overseas grantmaking prioritized renewing Jewish life in Europe, Russia and the countries of the Former Soviet Union.  Grants included supporting young leadership development training and building connections to Judaism through rabbinic training and teacher training for Jewish schools.  Domestically the grants were more limited and targeted to inspiring Jewish values and culture.

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The Foundation also established endowments at the Maryland Institute College of Art, The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and several others.

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The Foundation will spend the next 12 to 24 months winding down by making grants that will carry on the legacy and tradition of its Founders and the generations that have followed.  

We would like to thank the Blaustein Philanthropic Group, primarily Betsy Ringel and Lara Hall, for devoting their time and energy to helping us make meaningful change within the Baltimore community. The Foundation would also like to thank the many family members who served as Directors and Officers on the Foundation Board over the years as well as Juliet A. Eurich, Deborah T. Long, Rebekah Coleman and Rebecca Sirody for their leadership roles running the Foundation.  

The Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation

By Louis B. Thalheimer, President

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Staff

Rebecca Sirody, Executive Director

Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation

110 West Road, Suite 430
Towson, Maryland 21204
Phone: 410-415-7660

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