The Jenifer Altman Foundation

Our lives are touched by those who lived centuries ago, and we hope that our lives will mean something to those who will live centuries from now. It's a great 'chain of being,' someone once told me, and I think our job is to hope, to dream and to do the best we can to hold up our small segment of that chain.
-- Dorothy Day

THE JENIFER ALTMAN FOUNDATION is a private foundation dedicated to the vision of a socially just and ecologically sustainable future through program interests in environmental health and mind-body health. Jenifer Altman was a Senior Research Associate at Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute in Bolinas, California. She established the Jenifer Altman Foundation shortly before her death in 1991.

In addition to its own grants program, the Jenifer Altman Foundation (JAF) manages the Barbara Smith Fund. JAF also advises the StarFire Fund, the Upstream Fund, and the Environmental Health and Justice Program of the Marisla Foundation. The Upstream Fund, the Barbara Smith Fund and the StarFire Fund do not accept unsolicited proposals.

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Jenifer Altman Foundation expanded its work with grantees and colleagues in the region, and continues to play an active role in the Gulf Coast Ecological Health and Community Renewal Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund is a collaborative grant making effort supporting work that engages, empowers and benefits displaced and returning residents, and promotes the sustainable and just rebuilding of neighborhoods, cities and ecosystems throughout the Gulf Coast. The Fund, housed at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, engages with an Advisory Group comprised of local and state community leaders from the Gulf Coast region. The Advisory Group informs the grant making process and identifies both the issues of greatest concern to the affected communities and the organizations capable of providing the necessary leadership to address these key areas of need. The Fund has been designed to support projects that help to strengthen and amplify local organizing, address justice concerns and build movement.

The Jenifer Altman Awards Program annually honors outstanding commitment and service in promoting and protecting human and ecological health. 2005 PRESS RELEASE

This web site contains information about our areas of interest and how to apply for grants. Our Grant Report lists recent grantees.