What Teagle Foundation does

The Teagle Foundation is a private, New York-based philanthropic foundation established in 1944 that supports liberal arts education in the United States. It distributes grants to colleges, universities, and community colleges through a formal request-for-proposals process and a public grants database, with grant sizes historically ranging from $50,000 planning grants to $300,000 multi-year awards. Its four flagship initiatives — Cornerstone: Learning for Living (jointly sponsored with the National Endowment for the Humanities), Knowledge for Freedom, Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts (jointly sponsored with the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations), and Civics in the City — target humanities revitalization in general education, pre-college civic exposure for underserved high school students, transfer pathways from community colleges to four-year institutions, and civic engagement in New York City, respectively.

The foundation supplements its grantmaking with a knowledge-sharing stack including the "How & Why I Teach This Text" video and webinar series, "Insights from Grantees" publications, and external Evaluation Reports. It has built a national grantee network across more than 115 institutions and coordinates co-funded programming with peer foundations (NEH, Arthur Vining Davis, Davis Educational Foundation) and intermediary organizations (AAC&U, NEBHE, NCICU, Ithaka S+R). President Andrew Delbanco, a prominent higher-education scholar, and board member Roosevelt Montás provide the foundation's intellectual leadership. The organization is intentionally lean (1-10 employees) and operates from 570 Lexington Avenue, 38th Floor, in New York City.

Its business model is that of a grantmaking foundation: it does not sell products or services and earns no operating revenue from customers in the conventional sense. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, but the foundation deploys capital from its endowment into multi-year grants, co-funded initiatives, and program evaluation, and amplifies its reach through consortium structures and partnerships with other foundations and higher-education associations.

Name

Teagle Foundation

Legal name

The Teagle Foundation

Website

https://teaglefoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Teagle Foundation is a private, New York-based philanthropic foundation founded in 1944 that supports liberal arts education in the United States through grants to colleges, universities, and community colleges, with flagship initiatives in general education reform, transfer pathways, and civic education.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

Keywords

• Education philanthropy
• Liberal arts grants
• Humanities education
• Curricular reform funding
• Faculty development programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Disbursements: As a private foundation, Teagle receives contributions and distributes grants to support liberal arts education initiatives at colleges, universities, and community colleges.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Teagle Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation that awards grants to colleges, universities, and community colleges to support liberal arts and humanities education. Its core offerings are structured initiatives — Cornerstone: Learning for Living, Knowledge for Freedom, Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts, and Civics in the City — combined with publicly available educational resources, webinars, and evaluation reports.

Product overview

The Teagle Foundation operates as a philanthropic organization focused on strengthening liberal arts education in American colleges and universities. Rather than a unified technology product, the Foundation offers a portfolio of grant initiatives, educational resources, and knowledge-sharing platforms. The core initiatives include Cornerstone: Learning for Living (humanities-focused general education reform), Knowledge for Freedom (pre-college civic education), Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts (community college transfer partnerships), and Civics in the City (NYC civic engagement). Supporting these initiatives are digital resources including the How & Why I Teach This Text video series, Insights from Grantees publications, and Evaluation Reports documenting program outcomes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cornerstone: Learning for Living A joint initiative with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) that revitalizes the role of the humanities in general education at American colleges and universities, supporting faculty development, course redesign, and thematic modules centered on transformative texts.
• Knowledge for Freedom Programs that invite underserved high school students to study humanity's deepest questions about leading lives of purpose and civic responsibility. The model originated at Columbia University's Freedom and Citizenship program and has spread to other institutions.
• Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts A joint initiative with the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations that develops statewide, regional, and consortial partnerships between community colleges and independent colleges to facilitate transfer and completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts.
• Civics in the City An initiative supporting efforts to prepare students to become informed and committed participants in the civic life of New York City.
• How & Why I Teach This Text A resource featuring videos and webinars of teacher-scholars demonstrating how they teach transformative texts, engage students with the humanities, and encourage reflection on civic responsibilities.
• Insights from Grantees A collection of reports, guides, journal articles, and webinars sharing findings and lessons from Teagle Foundation grantees on topics including curricular coherence, faculty development, transfer pathways, and liberal arts education.
• Evaluation Reports White papers and reports by external evaluators examining issues tackled by Teagle initiatives, including student learning culture, consortial arrangements, and faculty preparation in the arts and sciences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 115 institutions implemented projects through Faculty Planning and Curricular Coherence initiative
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2016Partner for Purposeful Pathways: Faculty Planning for Curricular Coherence project supporting four institutions (University of Houston-Downtown, Winston-Salem State University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Community College of Philadelphia) in implementing curricular reforms.
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly sponsoring Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative to revitalize the role of the humanities in general education across American colleges and universities.
• Arthur Vining Davis FoundationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly sponsoring Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative to develop statewide, regional, and consortial partnerships between community colleges and independent colleges to facilitate transfer and completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts.
• Metis AssociatesminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerExternal evaluator conducting assessment of College-Community Connections initiative from 2006 to 2008.
• Ithaka S+RcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch organization partnered on transfer pathways reports and hybrid learning evaluations, co-sponsoring Playbook for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts.
• North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Independent Transfer Pathways in North Carolina Project, a national model for building scalable transfer pathways between independent colleges and community colleges.
• New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordinating the New England Independent College Transfer Guarantee to assure acceptance at independent nonprofit four-year institutions for community college graduates with associate degrees in liberal arts.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mellon Foundation: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is one of the largest U.S. funders of higher education and the humanities, supporting liberal arts institutions, faculty, and curricular reform — directly overlapping Teagle's mission at substantially greater scale.
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): The federal grantmaking agency for humanities, and Teagle's joint co-funder of the Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative — operating in the same humanities-in-higher-education funding space with a national footprint.
• Arthur Vining Davis Foundations: Private foundation that jointly sponsors Teagle's Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative and funds humanities, liberal arts, and interfaith higher education programs — direct programmatic overlap with Teagle's mission.
• Spencer Foundation: Private foundation focused on education research, with significant programming around higher education and liberal arts pedagogy — directly comparable grantmaking mission in the education space.
• Davis Educational Foundation: Co-funder with Teagle of the New England Independent College Transfer Guarantee project; funds curricular innovation and faculty development at independent colleges and universities — direct programmatic overlap.
• Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U): Teagle's strategic partner on the Purposeful Pathways curricular coherence project and a leading membership organization promoting liberal education; comparable in mission to advance general education and humanities reform.

Broad incumbents

• Lumina Foundation: Major private foundation focused on higher education access, attainment, and equity — broader mission than Teagle but a frequent co-funder and thought partner in higher education reform, including community college-to-bachelor's pathways.
• Kresge Foundation: National foundation funding higher education and humanities programs among other social sector priorities; operates in adjacent higher education grantmaking space at a much larger asset scale.
• Carnegie Corporation of New York: Major national foundation with substantial higher education and humanities grantmaking; one of Teagle's most relevant incumbents operating at a far larger scale with overlapping civic education and equity priorities.

Emerging players

• Ithaka S+R: Research and strategic consulting organization partnering with Teagle on transfer pathways and hybrid learning evaluations; produces the kind of evidence and policy analysis that complements Teagle's grantmaking in higher education.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/TeagleFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/teagle-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments3 records

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Frequently asked questions about Teagle Foundation