The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and around the world. Some of the Foundation's core initiatives are the Annenberg/ Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) project (now Annenberg Learner), which funds many

educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...

shows broadcast on

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educa ...

(PBS) public television in the United States as well as The Annenberg Community Beach House, The Annenberg Space for Photography, Metabolic Studio, explore.org, Wallis Annenberg PetSpace and the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts.

Overview

The Annenberg Foundation receives grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Annenberg Foundation continues its programming focus, but its efforts include environmental stewardship,

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

, and

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...

. The foundation has roots as a traditional

grantmaking A grant is a fund given by an end entity grant – often a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a loca ...

institution and is also involved in the community. The Annenberg Foundation promotes charitable activities through which large-scale solutions to systemic problems are pursued. The foundation has $1,59B in assets. The following current projects are implemented by Annenberg Foundation Trustees and guided by their philanthropic vision:

Ownership and Board of Directors

Walter H. Annenberg headed the Annenberg Foundation until his death in 2002. Leonore, his wife, ran it until her death in March 2009. Since then, the foundation's trusteeship has been led by Wallis Annenberg and three of her children: Lauren Bon, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Charles Annenberg Weingarten. *Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Wallis Annenberg *Vice President and Director, Lauren Bon *Vice President and Director, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten *Vice President and Director, Charles Annenberg Weingarten

Projects

The Annenberg Foundation is involved in a number of projects, some of which are listed below.

Annenberg Alchemy

Alchemy is a free

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

leadership development Leadership development is the process which helps expand the capacity of individuals to perform in leadership roles within organizations. Leadership roles are those that facilitate execution of an organization's strategy through building alignmen ...

program that offers

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

with a focus on the strength of Executive Directors and Board Chairs. Participation is open to non-profits with

operating budget The operating budget contains the revenue and expenditure generated from the daily business functions of the company; see . Edriaan Koening (N.D.What is Corporate Budgeting? chron.com It concentrates on the operating expenditures, i.e.: cost of ...

s of $2 million or less based in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. However, the Executive Director and Board Chairperson are asked to participate together through the duration of the training. Among the issues addressed are effective governance,

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, and public accountability.

The Annenberg Community Beach House

Spearheaded by Wallis Annenberg's commitment for building community spaces, The

Annenberg Community Beach House The Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach is a public beach facility, open to all. The Beach House is on the location of a now-demolished 110-room mansion that was built for Marion Davies by William Randolph Hearst. The man ...

at Santa Monica State Beach opened in 2009. Built on an historic site, The Beach House is a free public swim and gathering facility located on of oceanfront property.

Annenberg Learner

Annenberg Learner, formerly Annenberg Media, is an entity of the Annenberg Foundation that creates educational resources (video, print, and Web-based) to improve teaching methods and subject-matter expertise. Their

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...

and

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...

resources are distributed to schools,

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...

community agencies,

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

s and

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

. Annenberg Learner delivers its materials free-of-charge through learner.org. The website, which also houses interactive activities, downloadable guides, and resources coordinated with each video series, receives more than 10 million visits per month from teachers and learners worldwide. The website offers integrated multimedia K–12 materials to teachers for in-class use and

professional development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive ...

. Programs are also available for viewer's use at home.

The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands

The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, is the former private estate of Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg. It opened in March 2012 as a high-level retreat, historic house, and visitor center. Sunnylands has been informally referred to as "Camp David West". It has been visited by numerous

U.S. Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government and ...

, heads of state, and international dignitaries. The visitor center includes a desert garden, historical exhibitions and programming highlighting its architectural significance as well as the Annenberg's collections of art.

The Annenberg Space for Photography

The Annenberg Space for Photography, was an exhibit space for where digital and print photography. The Space held roughly two exhibits per year of digital technology or traditional prints by established and emerging photographers. It was in Los Angeles'

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

district, across the street from

Century Plaza Hotel The Fairmont Century Plaza is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel in Los Angeles. Located in Century City, the hotel forms a sweeping crescent design fronting the Avenue of the Stars, adjacent to the twin Century Plaza Towers and the 2000 Avenue o ...

. On June 8, 2020, it was announced that the facility will not re-open following the closing in March due to pandemic. Photographers that have been exhibited include John Baldessari, Lauren Greenfield,

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (born February 16, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker and portrait photographer based in New York City. The majority of his work is shot in large format. Early life Greenfield-Sanders was born on February 16 ...

Walter Iooss Walter Iooss Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1943) is an American photographer noted for his images of athletes, including Michael Jordan, Kelly Slater, Tiger Woods, Scottie Pippen, and Muhammad Ali. He has been called "the poet laureate of sports." ...

, Lynn Johnson, Douglas Kirkland,

Neil Leifer Neil Leifer (born December 28, 1942) is an American sports photographer and filmmaker known mainly for his work in the Time Inc. family of magazines. Early life and education Neil Leifer grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York ...

, Michael Nichols, Catherine Opie, Matthew Rolston,

Julius Shulman Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 – July 15, 2009) was an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph " Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." The house is also known as the Stahl House. Shulman ...

Melvin Sokolsky Melvin Sokolsky (October 9, 1933 – August 29, 2022) was an American photographer and film director. Early life Born in New York City in 1933, Sokolsky was raised on the Lower East Side. He had no formal training in photography, but started to ...

John Stanmeyer John Stanmeyer (born March 1964), is an American photojournalist based in Otis, Massachusetts. He is one of the founders of VII Photo Agency. Stanmeyer has received the World Press Photo of the Year,

, Bert Stern, Tim Street-Porter, Tyen and Albert Watson, Harun Mehmedinovic,

Gavin Heffernan Gavin Heffernan (born April 2, 1980) is a Canadian filmmaker/screenwriter/photographer. He co-wrote the psychological horror feature '' The Taking of Deborah Logan'' (2014) and Paramount's '' Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension'' (2015) w ...

Exhibits

* March 23, 2013 - June 2, 2013 – ''War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath'' * October 26, 2013 - April 27, 2014 – ''The Power of Photography:

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

125 Years'' * May 31, 2014 - September 28, 2014 – ''Country: Portraits of an American Sound'' – regarding

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

* October 24, 2015 - March 20, 2016 – ''Life: A Journey Through Time (

Frans Lanting Frans Lanting (born 13 July 1951) is a Dutch National Geographic photographer, author and speaker. Life Lanting was born in Rotterdam in Netherlands. He studied economics at the Erasmus university in Rotterdam and later immigrated to the United St ...

)'' * April 23, 2016 – August 21, 2016 – ''Refugee'' * September 24, 2016 - February 26, 2017 – ''Identity: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders The List Portraits'' * October 22, 2016 - February 26, 2017 – ''#girlgaze: a frame of mind'' * April 8, 2017 - August 13, 2017 – ''Generation Wealth by Lauren Greenfield'' * September 9, 2017 - March 4, 2018 – ''Cuba is'' & ''Resolviendo'' * April 21, 2018 – September 9, 2018 – ''Not an Ostrich: And Other Images from America’s Library'' * October 13, 2018 – January 13, 2019 – "National Geographic Photo Ark" * April 26, 2019 – August 18, 2019 – "CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop"

Explore.org

Led by Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Explore is a

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

organization that creates video

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and photographic essays about

s around the world. Explore team members document their missions, which include traditional philanthropic site visits to potential grantees whose leaders have devoted their lives to extraordinary causes. Explore combines global grant-making,

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...

, and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...

as tools to educate and inspire.

The Metabolic Studio

The Metabolic Studio is Lauren Bon’s practice at the intersection of art and philanthropy. The Studio incorporates creativity and innovation to remediate brownfields, places incapable of supporting life. Ms. Bon’s signature projects include: Not A Cornfield, 2005–2006; Farmlab, 2006–2008; Strawberry Flag, 2009–2010; and Silver and Water, 2006–Present. Ms. Bon’s work creates solutions to critical social issues, often engaging complex bureaucracies including the

California Department of Parks and Recreation The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 28 ...

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

, California State Lands Commission, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The Wallis Annenberg Heart Program

Coordinating with the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department as well as private and public

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pro ...

agencies, the Wallis Annenberg Heart Program, helped create a new

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

system for improving the diagnosis and treatment of chest pain in thousands of Los Angeles area residents each year. Implemented in 2005, the new method replaced previous 4-lead EKG procedures, with a more accurate and revealing 12-lead system that helps paramedics and hospital-based physicians better diagnose and treat patients with symptoms of

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

The Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project

On January 28, 2013, the Annenberg Foundation signed
Memorandum of Understanding
with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and several other state agencies to explore the possibility of constructing a 46,000 square foot facility in the protected Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve which would have included adoption and veterinary services for domestic pets. However, on December 2, the Foundation announced that it was suspending its plans. Th

reported that some wetlands advocates had opposed the proposal. Th
Los Angeles Daily News
noted that this was the Foundation's second failed attempt to construct this project on public land. The LA Times' and LA Daily News' editorial boards had called the project
a bad fit
and
inappropriate
" respectively.

Other organizations and programs of the Foundation

Annenberg Challenge: In 1993, the largest gift to public education was made by Ambassador Walter Annenberg, a $500 million grant named the Annenberg Challenge. The grant was designed to unite the resources throughout the United States and ideas of those committed to increasing the effectiveness of public schooling. Recognizing that no single gift could improve all schools, the Challenge served as a catalyst to energize and support educational reform efforts across the country. Annenberg Institute at Brown University: The

Annenberg Institute at Brown University The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University is an education research and reform institute at Brown University. Its mission is to "understand the causes and consequences of educational inequality and to reduce this inequality thr ...

was established in 1993 through an anonymous gift of $5 million. Several months later, a $50-million gift – part of Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg's $500-million Challenge to the Nation to improve public education in America – enabled the fledgling Institute to expand the scope of its work. In appreciation of the Ambassador's gift, the Annenberg Institute was renamed in his honor. The Institute adopted its current mission in 1998: "To develop, share, and act on knowledge that improves the conditions and outcomes of schooling in America, especially in urban communities and in schools serving disadvantaged children." The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania: The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

developed FactCheck.org. Factcheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania: The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania offers students a firm grounding in various approaches to the study of communication and its methods, drawn from both the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

and the

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of s ...

s. The Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism of the University of Southern California: The Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism fosters dynamic synergies and

multidisciplinary approach Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

es to the study of

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (p ...

through unparalleled access to the nation's and the world's entertainment,

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

and technology industries. With more than 83 full-time faculty members and 120 adjunct professors, more than 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students are served. The school houses dozens of

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefor ...

programs, including the

Norman Lear Center The Norman Lear Center is a multi-disciplinary research and public policy center exploring implications of the convergence of entertainment, commerce, and society. It is based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. Through scholarship and ...

and the Knight Digital Media Center. USC Annenberg has become a center for discussion among scholars and professionals in journalism, communication,

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

, media, and education.

Other programs and projects

Ocean Alliance's Tarr and Wonson Paint Manufactory: The foundation provided funding to help purchase, preserve and restore the Tarr and Wonson Paint Manufactory in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

. This historic 1863 building at the entrance to the harbor will become the headquarters for

Ocean Alliance Ocean Alliance, Inc., is a 501(c)3 organization founded in 1971 as one of the world's first organizations dedicated to protecting cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). The organization is headquartered in the iconic Tarr & Wonson Paint Man ...

, a world-renowned nonprofit oceanographic research center. Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (Beverly Hills, California): This effort preserves the landmark, historic

Beverly Hills Post Office Beverly Hills Post Office (BHPO) is the name given to a section of Los Angeles, California, that lies within the 90210 ZIP code, assigned to the Beverly Hills Post Office. Los Angeles mailing addresses with the ZIP code 90210 may be writte ...

(adjacent to Beverly Hills City Hall) by transforming the building into a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

and cultural facility for the presentation of

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, professional

children's theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

and other cultural activities. The Center features a 500-seat theater, 150-seat studio theater/rehearsal hall, classrooms, café, gift shop, and

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaping, landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be privat ...

. The center opened to the public in October 2013. The Universally-Accessible Treehouse in Torrance, California: The first universally accessible treehouse in a public space in California was opened April 10, 2005, at Wilson Park in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

. The treehouse, a wooden structure, was designed to give children and adults of all ages and physical abilities an awe-inspiring experience—and a bird's eye view. Created as a service to the immediate community and as an inspiration for others, nearly 30 treehouses have been built nationally.

References

External links

Annenberg Foundation

The Annenberg Space for Photography

The Annenberg Community Beach House

The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts

Annenberg Learner
at learner.org
Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands

Annenberg Political Fact Check
A nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate which monitors the factual accuracy of statements by political players
Annenberg Center for Health Sciences
{{Authority control Foundations based in the United States Organizations established in 1989 1989 establishments in California Annenberg Non-profit organizations based in Los Angeles