What Henry Luce Foundation does
The Henry Luce Foundation (HLF) is a private nonprofit grantmaking organization founded in 1936 by Henry R. Luce. Its mission is to deepen knowledge and understanding in pursuit of a more democratic and just world, and it pursues that mission through grantmaking and leadership-development initiatives that connect scholarship, public discourse, and leadership in higher education, culture, religion, and public policy. The Foundation’s current grantmaking is organized across multiple program areas spanning Asia, American art, religion and theology, women in STEM, and democracy/civic life (along with additional focus areas reflected in its program portfolio). In addition to institutional grants, HLF operates leadership programs such as the Luce Scholars Program, which provides selected emerging leaders with an immersive fellowship experience in Asia. As of late 2025 and through 2026, the organization has emphasized expanding support for democratic culture and civil society (including a stated multi-year increase in grantmaking capacity) while also continuing programmatic commitments around Asia-focused scholarship and cross-cultural understanding, interfaith and religion-in-public-life research, and STEM gender equity.
The Foundation is led by President and CEO Jonathan Holloway, who began effective October 1, 2025, after being appointed by the Board of Directors. Operationally, HLF’s grantmaking scale is reflected in its annual grantmaking totals (for example, 2025 grantmaking reported as 298 grants totaling about $56.1M). Financial statements for December 31, 2025 report total assets of about $1.13B and grants payable of about $41.7M.