Scherman Foundation

In 2021, the foundation formally announced a reimagining of its grantmaking framework around racial justice and equity. That process resulted in updated program guidelines that declared a preference for organizations “accountable to or directed by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.” ^{2 4}

Background

Harry Scherman co-founded the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1926, a mail-order subscription service that had grown to more than 1 million members by the time of his death in 1969. Scherman established the foundation in 1941 and remained its principal figure until his death. The foundation’s early grants supported economic policy research and direct-service organizations, including the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and the Bowery Residents Committee. ^{5 6 2}

Control of the foundation passed to Scherman’s son-in-law, Axel Rosin, who had fled Nazi Germany in 1934 following a Nazi decree barring Jews from courthouses and subsequently became president of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Rosin oversaw the foundation as chairman, with several early bequests significantly increasing the foundation’s grantmaking capacity. In 1993, Rosin stepped back to the role of chairman while his daughter, computer scientist Karen R. Sollins, became president of the foundation; Sollins subsequently became board chair in 1997 and held that position until stepping down in 2021. Marianna Schaffer, a philanthropy professional with no family connection to the founder, succeeded Sollins as chair in 2021 and was the first racial-minority woman and first non-family member to hold that role. ^{2 7 8}

Activities

The Scherman Foundation’s program guidelines expressly prioritize race-based grantmaking, specifying that it gives preference to organizations where “BIPOC communities have clear influence and decision-making power over the organization’s strategy, direction, programmatic work, and finances.” ⁴

Democracy Program

The foundation’s Democracy program funds left-of-center voter-mobilization and civic-engagement organizations that serve as year-round organizing infrastructure for Democratic-aligned constituencies. In October 2024, the foundation awarded $250,000 in what it termed “rapid response” funding to current Democracy grantees, explicitly describing the disbursement as intended to help organizations “prepare for and respond to potential challenges from Election Day through Inauguration Day, including unanticipated threats of violence and disruption.” ⁹

Active Democracy grantees as of June 2026 include the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute ($150,000, two years), State Voices ($150,000, two years), the Alliance for Justice ($100,000, two years), Demos ($100,000, two years), Michigan Voices ($100,000, two years), Pennsylvania Voice ($100,000, two years), and ProGeorgia ($100,000, two years). The foundation also funded the RJ Voter Collab+, a joint vehicle for the National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, with a $200,000, one-year grant. ¹⁰

Environmental and Climate Justice Program

The foundation’s environmental grantmaking funds organizations that frame climate policy within a racial-justice context. Active grantees as of 2026 include Earthjustice ($80,000, two years), the Climate Justice Alliance ($100,000, two years), Friends of the Earth ($50,000, two years), the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund ($60,000, two years), the Center for Constitutional Rights ($70,000, two years), the Indigenous Environmental Network ($80,000, two years), and the Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, a project of the New Venture Fund ($225,000, two years). ¹¹

Reproductive Justice Program

The foundation’s Reproductive Justice grantmaking funds abortion advocacy groups at the national and state levels. Active grantees as of 2026 include SisterSong ($100,000, two years), URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity ($100,000, two years), the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice ($100,000, two years), Advocates for Youth ($100,000, two years), the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum ($100,000, two years), Physicians for Reproductive Health ($75,000, two years), and the Progressive Multiplier Fund Reproductive Justice Cohort ($225,000, one year). ¹²

Leadership

Mitchell C. (“Mike”) Pratt has worked as president and CEO of the Scherman Foundation since 2009 and announced his retirement effective June 2026. Pratt first joined the foundation in 1996 as a program officer, coming from a background in public-interest law and left-of-center organizing: he previously worked as a senior staff attorney at the New York City Legal Aid Society and as director of the New York Public Interest Research Group‘s Straphangers Campaign. During his tenure, Pratt moved the foundation’s grantmaking away from direct-service organizations and toward left-of-center advocacy groups and what he described as “systemic change.” He earned $334,718 in compensation in 2024, plus $88,747 in additional compensation. ^{13 14 3}