What Jerome Foundation does

Jerome Foundation is a private charitable foundation established in 1964 from the estate of Jerome Hill (1902-1972), an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, painter, photographer, and composer. Headquartered at 550 Vandalia Street, Suite 109 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the foundation operates with a small staff of 1-10 employees and is funded by an endowment derived from its founder's estate. The organization does not generate commercial revenue; rather, it distributes grants and fellowships from its endowment to support its charitable mission.

The foundation's core function is grantmaking to early career artists and nonprofit arts organizations in two specific geographic regions: Minnesota and New York City. It operates five main programs: the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (multi-year funding for individual artists), Film Production & Mentorship Grants, the Jerome@Camargo residency program in partnership with the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, Arts Organization Grants for nonprofits, and Seeding/Field-building/Ecosystem Development initiatives. Applications are managed through the Submittable third-party platform. In 2025 alone, the foundation awarded $499,513 to 18 early career filmmakers and announced 13 Camargo residency grantees for 2026-28.

In October 2025, Jerome Foundation joined a seven-foundation coalition—including Ford, Mellon, MacArthur, Lannan, Hawthornden, and Poetry Foundation—to launch the $50 million, five-year Literary Arts Fund, addressing the chronic underfunding of nonprofit literature (which received only 1.9% of $5 billion in 2023 arts grants). The foundation reaches applicants through its website, email newsletters, press releases, and partner organization networks, and is governed by its own independent board of directors with no parent company or institutional investors.

Name

Jerome Foundation

Legal name

Jerome Foundation

Website

https://jeromefdn.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Jerome Foundation is a private charitable foundation established in 1964 that provides grants, fellowships, and residency support to early career artists and nonprofit arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City, funded by an endowment derived from filmmaker Jerome Hill's estate.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Philanthropy & Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Arts grantmaking
• Artist fellowships
• Nonprofit foundation grants
• Early career artist support
• Arts philanthropy

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grantmaking: Jerome Foundation operates as a private grant-making foundation funded by an endowment. The foundation distributes grants to early career artists and arts organizations rather than generating revenue. Revenue model type is not applicable as this is a charitable foundation, not a commercial entity.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Jerome Foundation is an endowed private charitable foundation that distributes grants and fellowships to early career artists and nonprofit arts organizations based in Minnesota and New York City. It administers the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (multi-year individual artist support), Film Production & Mentorship Grants, the Jerome@Camargo residency program in France, Arts Organization Grants, and Seeding/Field-building/Ecosystem Development grants. All funding is awarded through open, competitive application calls administered via the Submittable platform.

Product overview

Jerome Foundation is a grant-making foundation that supports early career artists in Minnesota and New York City through multiple grant programs. The Foundation operates five main grant programs: the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (providing multi-year support for individual artists), Film Production & Mentorship Grants (supporting filmmakers), Jerome@Camargo (a residency program at the Camargo Foundation in France), Arts Organization Grants (supporting nonprofit arts organizations), and Seeding/Field-building/Ecosystem Development initiatives. These programs collectively aim to strengthen the nonprofit literary and arts fields by providing financial support, mentorship, residency opportunities, and professional development resources to emerging artists and arts organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Jerome@Camargo: A residency program in partnership with the Camargo Foundation supporting early career artists with residencies in France.
• Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship
• Film Production & Mentorship Grants

Products and services

• Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship Fellowship providing multi-year financial support and resources to early career artists in Minnesota and New York City across disciplines (visual arts, dance, film, music, literature, theater).
• Film Production & Mentorship Grants Grants supporting early career filmmakers in Minnesota and New York City for film production and mentorship.
• Jerome@Camargo Residency program providing early career artists with residencies at the Camargo Foundation campus in Cassis, France.
• Arts Organization Grants Grants supporting nonprofit arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City that deliver programming aligned with the foundation's mission.
• Seeding, Field-building, Ecosystem Development Funding initiative supporting field-building and ecosystem development for the nonprofit literary arts, including through coalition efforts such as the $50 million Literary Arts Fund.

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Literary Arts Fund Coalition (Ford Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Lannan Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Poetry Foundation, and anonymous foundation)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 October 2025A historic $50 million, five-year initiative to strengthen the nonprofit literary arts field in the United States. The coalition addresses chronic underfunding of literature (only 1.9% of $5B in arts grants in 2023) and counters shrinking public funding and rising operating costs. Jennifer Benka directs the fund, which will award grants to U.S.-based nonprofit literary organizations through annual open calls beginning November 10.
• Camargo FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJerome Foundation partners with the Camargo Foundation to operate the Jerome@Camargo residency program, which awards residencies to early career artists at the Camargo Foundation campus in Cassis, France. Thirteen artists were awarded residencies for the 2026-28 cycle.
• SubmittablecoreTechnology or IntegrationThird-party grant application management platform used by Jerome Foundation to process and manage grant applications. Governed by Submittable's privacy policy and terms of use.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Poetry Foundation: Literary foundation supporting poets and poetry organizations, including through grants. Comparable to Jerome as a coalition partner in the Literary Arts Fund and a fellow literary-arts grantmaker.
• Creative Capital: Supports innovative artists through project-based grants and professional development. Comparable in mission (early-career/innovative artist support) and structure (multi-program grantmaking foundation).
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts: Provides grants to innovative performing, visual, and emerging artists. Comparable to Jerome as a small, foundation-led grantmaker targeting artists at early stages of their practice.
• New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA): Provides grants and resources to individual artists and arts organizations in New York State. Comparable to Jerome as an artist-support grantmaker sharing Jerome's NYC geographic focus.
• Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts: Private foundation supporting contemporary visual arts through grants to artists and arts organizations. Comparable to Jerome Foundation as an endowed, named-artist legacy foundation funding both individuals and nonprofit arts organizations.
• Joan Mitchell Foundation: Foundation supporting individual artists, including painters and sculptors, through grants and residencies. Closely comparable to Jerome's mix of direct artist support (fellowships) and field-building initiatives.
• Pollock-Krasner Foundation: A private foundation providing financial assistance to individual working artists, primarily visual artists. Directly comparable to Jerome Foundation as an endowed, artist-focused grantmaker with a similar multi-program structure.

Regional players

• Bush Foundation: Minnesota-based foundation supporting community and economic development including the arts. Comparable to Jerome as a peer Minnesota-based private foundation with overlapping regional grantmaking.
• McKnight Foundation: Minnesota-based private foundation with significant arts and culture grantmaking. Comparable to Jerome as a peer endowed Minnesota funder supporting regional arts and culture, though at a much larger scale.

Emerging players

• Lambda Literary: Organization supporting LGBTQ literature through fellowships and awards. Comparable to Jerome's literary-arts funding focus and as a participant in the broader literary-arts funding ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jerome Foundation