The 21^st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund is a private foundation associated with the successor unions of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union that supports left of center and labor union causes.

The fund was founded in the early 20^th century to promote and secure the rights of workers and their families, particularly the most vulnerable. The fund is targeted towards immigrants, women, and low-wage workers. ¹

Leadership

Jay Mazur serves as chairman and president. Mazur was the last president of the independent ILGWU, stepping down in 2001 after shepherding ILGWU’s merger with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union into UNITE, a predecessor union of Unite Here and Workers United, SEIU. ²

Muzaffar Chishti, the former UNITE immigration policy director and director of the liberal expansionist Migration Policy Institute’s office at NYU School of Law,³ is the 21^st Century Heritage Fund’s executive director. Irwin Solomon serves as secretary. Lloyd Goldenberg serves as treasurer. Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins (D) is another director. ⁴

Financials

According to the 2017 Form 990, the 21^st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund awarded $292,500 in grants. It holds $3.7 million in assets. ⁵

Among the groups that received donations were the Asian American Federation of New York, Civil Justice Inc., the Council on Foreign Relations, the Fiscal Policy Institute, the International Rescue Committee, the Jewish Labor Committee, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Urban Justice Center. ⁶

1. “Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s 38Th Season Benefit Dinner & Celebration Set For Tonight”. 2014. Broadway World. https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Pan-Asian-Repertory-Theatres-38th-Season-Benefit-Dinner-Celebration-Set-for-Today-20141105.
2. “Vice President Jay Mazur: AFL-CIO.” AFL-CIO, August 1, 2001. https://aflcio.org/about/leadership/statements/vice-president-jay-mazur.
3. “Muzaffar Chishti.” migrationpolicy.org, July 1, 2019. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/about/staff/muzaffar-chishti.
4. 21^st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017.. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/311/593/2017-311593055-1008af28-F.pdf.
5. 21^st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/311/593/2017-311593055-1008af28-F.pdf.
6. 21^st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2017/311/593/2017-311593055-1008af28-F.pdf.