Total Assets (2013): $6,285,619[1]
Total Assets (2001): $18,608,408[2]
Total Giving (2013): $1,561,000
Total Giving (2001): $1,300,850
Prominent Grants: Giving primarily in the New York City area. Prominent grantees include Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries Metro Baptist Church, Forest Hills Neighborhood Center Queens Community House, and the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services.
Summary: The Robert Bowne Foundation was established in 1968 by Edmund A. Stanley, Jr. and named in honor of Robert Bowne (1744-1818), founder of Bowne & Company.
Its mission is to support the development of quality programs that offer literacy education to children and youth of New York City, in the out-of-school hours, especially for those living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The out-of-school-time programs it supports are typically part of community-based organizations with deep roots in their neighborhoods. An out-of-school-time program can, for example, enable children of immigrants to explore the values and cultures of their home and adopted cultures through literature, song, dance, and art.
The foundation’s first priority is to support individual programs that make literacy education an integral part of their work and provide quality experiences for young people, and organizations that support the ongoing development of participants, staff, families, and communities as learners. An additional priority is to identify, develop, support, and disseminate research and practices that will significantly impact out-of-school education policy. It is the foundation’s hope that improved policies will lead to youth-centered, quality out-of-school programs for all young people.
In 2010, The Robert Bowne Foundation decided to cease program funding and close its doors on December 31, 2015, after 47 years of working to foster and sustain afterschool and youth literacy.