The AG Foundation, formerly known as the Agnes Gund Foundation, is the private foundation created by left-of-center philanthropist and arts patron Agnes Gund. Most of the foundation’s grantmaking goes towards supporting the arts.

Founding and History

The AG Foundation was established in 1988 as the Agnes Gund Foundation by Agnes Gund, then a member of the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) Board of Trustees. In 2001, according to publicly available filings, the foundation was renamed the AG Foundation.

The AG Foundation made about 90 percent of its grants in support of the arts. ¹ Such art grants go almost entirely to educational institutions, museums, and art nonprofits in New York City and Cleveland, where Gund was born. ²

Gund, who would later serve as president of the MoMA, frequently funds her foundation’s grantmaking in part through the sale of her personal artwork collection. The AG Foundation’s 2018 publicly available filings show, for example, total revenues of nearly $24 million from the sale of two pieces of art: a painting by Brice Marden and a sculpture by Eva Hesse. ³

Finances

The AG Foundation’s 2018 publicly available filings show total revenues of $58,066,523 and total expenses of $28,124,258. A frequent contributor to the AG Foundation is the Domani Trust, which also operates out of the foundation’s offices.

The AG Foundation’s largest grants were made to the Cleveland Institute of Art, Chess in the Schools, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, and various museums including the MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian.

Leadership

Trustees

Agnes Gund and her daughters, Catherine Gund and Anna Traggio, are the trustees of the AG Foundation. Catherine Gund also serves chair of The George Gund Foundation, the foundation that was created by Agnes Gund’s father, George Gund II.

Anna Traggio is an assistant coach for The Hotchkiss School’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team.

Agnes Gund

Agnes Gund is the founder of the AG Foundation. A longtime patron of the arts, Gund has amassed a large personal collection of artwork from prominent contemporary artists. Her time as president of the MoMA has been called the “golden era” of the museum’s history and she also serves on the board of several museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland MoMA. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Honor, the lifetime achievement award from the Getty Museum, and the inaugural Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award. ⁴

Outside of the AG Foundation, Gund is a major supporter of left-of-center causes and political candidates. The New York Times—in an article entitled “Is Agnes Gund the Last Good Rich Person?” —described Gund as “a virtual A.T.M. for Democratic politicians.” ⁵ Another New York Times spotlight featured praise for Gund by the former president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards. ⁶

In January 2017, citing Ava DuVernay’s documentary “13th” as inspiration, Gund sold Roy Liechtenstein’s Masterpiece for $165 million to hedge fund investor Steven Cohen. Using the proceeds from the sale, Gund funded the left-of-center Art for Justice Fund, in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. ⁷ The Art for Justice Fund provides grants to nonprofits that support various left-of-center criminal justice reforms including defunding prisons and artwork expressing support for such policies. ⁸

1. Garrard, Alice. “Agnes Gund, Arts Patron and President Emerita, Museum of Modern Art: Grooming the Next Generation of Arts Leaders.” https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/newsmakers/agnes-gund-arts-patron-and-president-emerita-museum-of-modern-art-grooming-the-next-generation-of-arts-leaders, October 28, 2008. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/newsmakers/agnes-gund-arts-patron-and-president-emerita-museum-of-modern-art-grooming-the-next-generation-of-arts-leaders.
2. “AG Foundation: Grants for Visual Arts.” Inside Philanthropy. Accessed June 6, 2021. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-in-chicago/ag-foundation-agnes-gund-foundation-grants-for-ohio.
3. “AG Foundation 2018 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 6, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/341606084/02_2020_prefixes_33-35%2F341606084_201812_990PF_2020021817158332.
4. Solomon, Tessa. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Give Leadership Award to Art Collector Agnes Gund.” ARTnews.com. ARTnews.com, February 7, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/ruth-bader-ginsburg-agnes-gund-1202677350/.
5. Bernstein, Jacob. “Is Agnes Gund the Last Good Rich Person?” The New York Times. The New York Times, November 3, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/style/agnes-gund-philanthropy.html.
6. Pogrebin, Robin. “A Patron Gives, of Herself and Her Art.” The New York Times. The New York Times, November 6, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/giving/a-patron-gives-of-herself-and-her-art.html.
7. Bernstein, Jacob. “Is Agnes Gund the Last Good Rich Person?” The New York Times. The New York Times, November 3, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/style/agnes-gund-philanthropy.html.
8. “Our Strategy.” Art for Justice, May 13, 2021. https://artforjusticefund.org/strategy/.