The Annenberg Foundation is a private foundation headquartered in Pennsylvania and Los Angeles, California, which focuses grants in the greater Los Angeles area as well as nationally. The foundation was founded by billionaire publisher and Nixon administration U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Annenberg, who was among the most prominent philanthropists in America upon his death. [1] With over $1.6 billion in assets, the Annenberg Foundation is among the 50 largest private foundation in the United States. [2]
Like many large grantmaking foundations, the Annenberg Foundation is known to fund many left-of-center political groups and causes. [3]
History
Walter H. Annenberg enjoyed a very successful career in publishing as chairman and president of Triangle Publications, which published many magazines including TV Guide and Seventeen Magazine, a company Annenberg took over from his father in 1942. From 1969 to 1974, Annenberg served as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, also known as the Court of St. James, appointed by President Richard Nixon. Prior to founding the Annenberg Foundation, Annenberg made several major gifts including an endowment to found the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. [4]
In 1988 Annenberg sold Triangle Publications for $3 billion to Rupert Murdoch and directed $1.2 billion to establish the Annenberg Foundation along with his wife, Leonore Annenberg. [5]
Liberal Programs
Despite the Annenbergs’ significant ties to the Republican Party, with Walter serving as an Ambassador under President Richard Nixon and Leonore being appointed Chief of Protocol at the State Department by President Ronald Reagan,[6] the Annenberg Foundation has a history of affiliations with liberal causes. [7] The Annenberg Foundation regularly donates for left of center organizations and causes.
California Black Freedom Fund
The Annenberg Foundation was one of the original donors to fund the creation of the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) at the end of 2020. The CBFF is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that funds California-based groups that seek to eliminate what it perceives as systemic racism. It used funding from the original donors to provide grants that went towards advocacy for targeted redistricting, so-called racial equity, and the firing of who it determines are racist police officers. [8]
Grantmaking
According to the foundation’s 2017 tax form it has donated to groups including:[9]
- Jewish Voice for Peace
- Academy for Grassroots Organizations
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Ayni Institute
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
- Defenders of Wildlife
- Democracy Now Productions
- EarthJustice
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Equality California Institute
- Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation
- National Audubon Society
- National Wildlife Federation
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- New Venture Fund
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America
- Planned Parenthood Los Angeles
- Sierra Club Foundation
- Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services
Associations with Barack Obama
In the 1990s, Walter Annenberg announced the Annenberg Challenge, a $500 million gift to public schools in America, billed as the largest gift ever to public education. $50 million of the grant went to Chicago where the local chapter of the Annenberg challenge was chaired by future President Barack Obama and co-founded by radical professor and former Weather Underground extremist Bill Ayers. The affiliation between Obama and Ayers came into public light when Obama ran for president in 2008. [10] Further research into the Annenberg Challenge indicated that it had very little lasting impact on the education system. [11]
Other Programs
In additions to giving grants to many of the most notable left-leaning organizations, the Annenberg foundation has several initiatives and programs including support for photography and the arts, a music festival, and a community beach house and tree house. Most of these initiatives are centered in the Los Angeles area despite the origins of the foundation being in Walter Annenberg’s hometown of Philadelphia. [12]
The foundation also founded the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, which publishes a large election survey as well as policy research and papers. The Public Policy Center is best known as the publisher of FactCheck.org, a well-known and sometimes-criticized fact-checking website. [13]