How We Fund - The Abell Foundation

We are always interested in learning about your ideas for how to improve life outcomes in Baltimore, a city brimming with potential. We support initiatives that promote positive change and reduce racial disparities in Baltimore through grants, program-related investments, mission-related investments, and direct investments.

Grants

We award grants to nonprofit community partners working to improve the quality of life in Baltimore. The Foundation provides seed funding for innovative pilots, support for ongoing community programs and services, and funding for capital projects.

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Program-Related Investments

We support our nonprofit community partners with flexible financing solutions. Through a limited number of low- or no-cost loans and loan guarantees, the Foundation provides PRIs to meet unique, non-recurring capital challenges.

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Mission-Related Investments

Aligned with our mission and strategic goals, we provide a limited number of loans, guarantees, and equity investments to companies and impact funds that have innovative ideas for social and economic change.

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Direct Investments

We make direct investments in innovative companies that create jobs in Baltimore, offer significant social and economic benefits to our community, and provide above-market returns that expand the Foundation’s capacity to improve the quality of life in Baltimore.

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Featured Work

Photo courtesy of the UMBC Reach Together Tutoring Program.

Case Study: Intensive Academic Tutoring Supports

Baltimore is home to several proven tutoring programs, including Reading Partners, The Literacy Lab, and Success for All’s Tutoring with the Lightning Squad. These programs serve hundreds of students in pre-K to third grade, providing high-dosage tutoring, either 1:1 or in small groups, to help support the development of early literacy skills.

Case Study: The Charles Theatre

Cinemas are critical to Baltimore City’s cultural life, the vibrancy of it arts infrastructure, and variety of entertainment offerings. The Charles Theatre assembled a redevelopment plan to add new screens and double the number of seats, offering the potential for better features and bigger audiences, increasing the profitability of the business, and adding vitality to the neighborhood surrounding the theater.

Photo courtesy of Breethe.

Case Study: Breethe

Founded by Dr. Bartley Griffith in 2014, Breethe originally licensed its OXY-1^TM technology to improve the treatment and outcomes of people suffering from acute and chronic lung problems. OXY-1^TMis a compact, portable, external respiratory system connected to patients via tubes and works by recycling out deoxygenated blood and recycling back in oxygenated blood to the patient. Abell received over a four times return on its net investment in Breethe, and reinvested those proceeds into its grant funding portfolio.