Ellis L. Phillips Foundation

The Ellis L. Phillips Foundation is a private American philanthropic foundation established in 1930 by Ellis Laurimore Phillips, a pioneer in electrical power generation and distribution and a founder of the Long Island Lighting Company. Phillips, who graduated from Cornell University in 1895 with a degree in electrical engineering, built a fortune through his business holdings and later transferred assets to the Foundation so that it could begin operation. The Foundation is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, and makes grants to a range of nonprofit organizations, primarily in the United States. The Foundation describes itself as entrepreneurial and innovative in its grantmaking, a disposition it traces to its founder's engineering mindset. Rather than passively waiting for grant applications, the Foundation actively seeks out needs and creates solutions. This approach was championed by Ellis L. Phillips, Jr., and sustained by subsequent generations of the family, including former President Larry Phillips and current President Hardy Watts. The Foundation's grantmaking has supported organizations such as Art Yard Brooklyn, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Boston Jazz Foundation, Co-Counsel NYC, Friends of Historic Kingston, Global Arts Live, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, the National Police Accountability Project, The Calculus Project, The City Bar Fund, and The Rockhouse Foundation, among others. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors and led by President Hardy Watts and Executive Director Julie Wack. Board members include Kathryn Noel Phillips, Cynthia Phillips, Spencer Blasdale, Paula Edgar, Andrew Parsegian, Sarah Prosser, Nicholas Zimmermann, and Martin Zimmermann. The Foundation's history is deeply tied to the Phillips family, with multiple generations involved in its leadership and grantmaking decisions. Its stated mission is to act as a "spark" and a "multiplier" for innovative projects and ideas.

The Ellis L. Phillips Foundation was established in 1930 by Ellis Laurimore Phillips. Phillips was born and raised in the farm country of the Cohocton Valley in central New York state. He won a county scholarship to attend Cornell University, where he graduated in 1895 with a degree in the new field of electrical engineering. Combining his technical skills, business acumen, and industry, Phillips became a pioneer in electrical power generation and distribution. He was a founder of the Long Island Lighting Company, and in 1912, the company's second year of operation, he began a 25-year tenure as President. His vision and leadership developed the Long Island Lighting Company into a stable, profitable business by supplying reliable and affordable electrical service to the rapidly growing population of Long Island. By the late 1920s he had become a wealthy man with numerous business holdings. A farm boy in the city as well as an engineer, Ellis Phillips kept the company mainly of his work associates and his Methodist fellowship during his young adult years. He was 46 years old when he married Kathryn Sisson McLean, daughter of an itinerant prairie minister, a widow and single mother who had become Dean of Women at Ohio Wesleyan University and President of the National Association of Deans of Women, which she had helped to organize. It was to be nearly thirty more years, after the Depression and World War II, that Ellis Phillips transferred assets to the Foundation so that it could begin operation. He and Kathryn Phillips worked together to determine the grant-making. "When the struggle for achievement is over and one has become something of an onlooker," Kathryn said, "it is what we have managed to give that we still possess and that sustains us." The Foundation has developed an institutional predisposition to be entrepreneurial and innovative in its work. The seed of this growth almost certainly was planted by the founder, Ellis L. Phillips, an engineer who made his fortune by creating innovations in electric power generation and distribution and then building successful businesses on the strength of them. His son, Ellis L. Phillips, Jr., recognized that the Foundation might have a greater impact for good by actively applying its resources to identify needs and create solutions, rather than passively relying on the initiative of supplicants who managed to find their way to the Foundation's door. Ellis' grandson, former President Larry Phillips, and great grandson and current President Hardy Watts have sustained this tradition and continue to make grants that act as a "spark" and a "multiplier" for innovative projects and ideas. The Foundation is headquartered at 75 Harland Rd., Waltham, MA 02453. It is governed by a Board of Directors and led by President Hardy Watts and Executive Director Julie Wack. Board members include Kathryn Noel Phillips (Vice President), Cynthia Phillips (Treasurer), Spencer Blasdale, Paula Edgar, Andrew Parsegian, Sarah Prosser, Nicholas Zimmermann, and Martin Zimmermann. The Foundation makes grants to a variety of nonprofit organizations, with recent grants supporting Art Yard Brooklyn, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Jazz Foundation, Co-Counsel NYC, Friends of Historic Kingston, Global Arts Live, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, National Police Accountability Project, The Calculus Project, The City Bar Fund, The Rockhouse Foundation, Bunker Hill Monument Association, Hildebrand Family Self-Help Center, Little Schoolhouse Childcare, Making Music Matters, Ulster County SPCA, Ulster Immigrant Defense Network, and Urban Growers Collective.

• 2026

  Fiscal Year 2026 grants announced to organizations including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Jazz Foundation, and others.

• 2025

  Fiscal Year 2025 grants announced to organizations including Art Yard Brooklyn, Bunker Hill Monument Association, and others.

• 1930

  The Ellis L. Phillips Foundation is established by Ellis Laurimore Phillips.

• 1912

  Phillips begins a 25-year tenure as President of the Long Island Lighting Company.

• 1895

  Ellis Laurimore Phillips graduates from Cornell University with a degree in electrical engineering.

Entrepreneurial and innovative grantmaking foundation that acts as a spark and multiplier for projects and ideas.

1. 1Ellis L. Phillips Foundation | What Needs To Be Doneellislphillipsfoundation.org
2. 2Our History | Ellis L. Phillips Foundationellislphillipsfoundation.org
3. 3About Us | Ellis L. Phillips Foundationellislphillipsfoundation.org
4. 4Ellis L. Phillips Foundationwikidata.org