The Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg
The Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation is a New York-based private foundation focused on community-led wildlife and wildlands conservation worldwide. The website describes the foundation's mission, recent grants, staff and trustees, and states it operates on an invitation-only grantmaking model (does not accept unsolicited proposals).
Source: Website · Mar 2026
Ideal Applicant
Established conservation or community-led wildlife organizations (including indigenous-led groups and international partners) with multi-year project plans or strong partnerships and nominations from trusted networks.
Good Fit
- • Work on community-led wildlife or wildlands conservation, especially Indigenous-led efforts.
- • Programs in geographies the foundation has funded (e.g., Montana, Indonesia, Tanzania, Latin America, Canada).
- • Multi-year project scopes or capacity-building proposals tied to existing initiatives.
- • Partnerships or referrals involving current or prior grantees or program officers.
Geography
Observed grants cover about 16 U.S. states and numerous international projects, indicating a broad national and global footprint rather than a local-only focus.
Recipient Variety
The latest year shows 44 distinct recipients and 66 grants, with substantial multi-year repetition (32 returning recipients) alongside new entrants, indicating a sizable and diverse recipient set for the foundation's scale.
New Applicants
Directly stated invitation-only policy and the foundation's requirement that applicants be preselected make unsolicited applicants unlikely to enter the portfolio, even though the foundation did add about 12 new grantees in the latest year (these appear to be invited or network-mediated).
Source: Zeffy Agent · Mar 2026
