The Lambs Foundation, Inc., is recognized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It supports numerous theatrical charities, educational programs, and non-profit theater companies. The Lambs Foundation board of directors are officers of The Lambs, Inc. The Foundation also owns all of the Club artwork and memorabilia, a collection that has several thousand items.
History of the Lambs Foundation, Inc.
No history of The Lambs® would be complete without reference to the Club’s charitable work and its response to the needs of the entertainment community. The Lambs was founded in 1874 and since the beginning the social club has supported the needs of the acting profession. The charter members of the Club were instrumental in founding:
- The Actors Fund of America (1882), today called the Entertainment Community Fund;
- The first Actors Burial Ground (1887) in Brooklyn;
- The first Actors Home (1902) on Staten Island.
The Lambs Foundation has roots going back to World War I and the creation of a modest charity by a Lamb who was not an actor. Frank W. Kitching (1839-1917) was a commodities broker who during the Civil War had been a prisoner of war. He was a theater lover elected to The Lambs in 1897. Kitching launched the Lambs’ Memorial Relief Fund in 1916 as a way to assist worthy members of the Club in temporary financial distress. Kitching gave a gift of 100 shares of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad stock. Other loyal members contributed over the decades, including Lambs Edwin Burke, John Golden, William S. Hart, Robert L. Hague, and David Warfield.
The Memorial Relief Fund helped members for 25 years. When America entered World War II, Lambs’ treasurer Joseph Buhler (1881-1961) changed the direction of the relief fund to be more patriotic in nature. A new name was adopted: the Lambs Servicemen’s Morale Corps. The club raised funds to assist Allied service members passing through New York City. For four years during wartime the clubhouse was open to the military to raise morale for those in uniform. It presented 210 consecutive weekly entertainment nights for troops, and served more than 50,000 dinners at the Lambs’ clubhouse on Forty-fourth Street. The Lambs welcomed everyone from privates to generals at the club.
The Lambs Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in 1943 as a charity organized under the laws of the State of New York. Supported by donations, it dispensed funds for the benefit of needy, sick, or destitute members of the entertainment profession.
The Lambs’ board of directors in 1961-62 changed the corporate name to The Lambs Foundation, Inc., and its purview was expanded to include the support of theatrical organizations, education in the arts, development of new works of theater, and supporting emerging talent.
For the past 60 years the Lambs’ Foundation has been supported by individuals and bequests. An all-volunteer staff runs the Foundation today, supporting numerous theatrical charities, educational programs, and non-profit theater companies.
For more information please contact us at (212) 586-0306, or e-mail us. The Lambs Foundation gladly accepts donations, which are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (check with your tax advisor).
The Lambs Foundation, Inc., is not connected in any way to other similarly-named charities, such as “Friends of the Lambs” or “The Lamb Foundation.”
List of 2022 Lambs Foundation Beneficiaries
| Actors Fund/Entertainment Community Trust |
| Actors Equity Association Foundation |
| Amas Musical Theater |
| American Musical and Dramatic Academy |
| ASCAP Foundation |
| Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids |
| Classic Stage Company |
| Episcopal Actors Guild |
| Empire State Center for the Book |
| Goodspeed |
| H. Otway & F. Otway Opportunity Project |
| Irish Rep Theatre |
| La Mama |
| League of Professional Theater Woman |
| Library for Performing Arts |
| Mable Mercer Foundation |
| Mama Foundation for the Arts |
| Manhattan Theater Club |
| Manhattan Class Company Theatre |
| Metropolitan Playhouse |
| Mint Theater |
| Museum of the City of New York |
| Museum of the Moving Image |
| New Group Theater |
| New-York Historical Society |
| New York Theatre Barn |
| Outer Critics Circle |
| Parity Productions |
| Prospect Theater Company |
| Roundabout Theater |
| SAG-AFTRA Foundation |
| Second Stage Theater |
| The Drama League |
| The Rehearsal Club |
| The Seeing Place |
| Theater Breaking Through Barriers |
| Theater Development Fund |
| Theater for the New City |
| Theater Hall of Fame |
| Theater World Awards |
| Twelfth Night Club |
| Vineyard Theater |
| Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy |
| York Theater |