Our History

Founded in 1997, the LANL Foundation was established as a non-profit learning organization that would supplement the educational programs of school districts in counties near Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). At the time, this coordinated effort between management at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the University of California (UC), the Department of Energy (DOE), Los Alamos Public Schools and the New Mexico congressional delegation was a unique and original idea. The newly-created foundation originally had no office space, no staff, and no real budget or financial resources.

The DOE worked with UC to enable LANL to provide the initial funding and resources to establish the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, which was officially created on April 17, 1997. Soon thereafter, Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman helped secure federal appropriations to establish a permanent endowment for the LANL Foundation to support public schools in the seven-county region surrounding LANL. 

The people who created the LANL Foundation were changemakers whose work has resulted in positive change for many residents in our region. Growth in investments, as well as outside grants and donations, have allowed the foundation’s work to expand to include grantmaking, a robust college scholarship program — millions of dollars have been given to thousands of Northern New Mexico students — and four dynamic programs that serve Northern New Mexico children, young adults and their families: the Early Childhood Initiative, K-12 Education Programs, an elementary school Inquiry Science program (ISEC) and a College, Career and Community Pathways program.

The LANL Foundation continues to recognize the interdependence of LANL and the Northern New Mexico community and focus its programs on investing in education, learning and community development, making history by responding to 21st century community needs that help improve the quality of education and life in Northern New Mexico.