Frank and Helen Altschul created Overbrook to fund education causes including his alma mater, Yale University.
[2] After Altschul's death in 1981, the foundation hired professional management under the stewardship of family members.
The foundation provides grants averaging $40,000 to causes including human rights and environmental causes primarily in the western hemisphere.
The foundation supports, for example, In Our Backyard, a crowdfunder of New York City environmental projects.
[3] In 2015, Overbrook joined with like-minded foundations including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Turner Foundation to decry corporate contributions to political causes in the wake of the Citizens United v. FEC case.