The Ares Charitable Foundation is a grantmaking organization founded by the Ares Management Corporation. Its philanthropic goal is to advance global wealth equity with grants to nonprofits that provide career training, encourage entrepreneurship, and offer training in personal finance. It is funded by Ares Management Corporation, Ares Management employee-directed grants, and other donors including the National Philanthropic Trust, the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust, the American Online Giving Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ^{1 2}

Background

The Ares Management Corporation, a global alternative investment management company with approximately $227 billion in assets under management in 2021, launched the Ares Charitable Foundation (the Ares Foundation) in June 2021. ¹ An alternative investment manager is one that manages financial assets such as real estate, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and collectibles rather than the typical equity and cash investments. ³ It engaged FSG social impact advisors in its launch and to develop its grantmaking strategies. ⁴

The Ares Foundation’s goal is to “accelerate equality of economic opportunity through grants to nonprofit organizations.” Ares Management Corporation plans to invest up to five percent of its net annual income from selected funds into the foundation. It encourages its employees to donate to the foundation as well. ¹ Eligible grantees will be ones that “provide career preparation and reskilling, encourage entrepreneurship, and deepen individuals’ understanding of personal finance.” ⁵

Initiatives

In partnership with Jobs for the Future and the World Resources Institute, the Ares Foundation launched Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow (CREST) to train and re-skill “marginalized populations” for “climate-resilient” jobs in the United States and India. Its goal is to “disrupt the racial, gender and systemic inequities that create occupational segregation.” The foundation made a $25 million commitment over five years to this initiative. ^{6 4}

The AltFinance program was launched by the Ares Foundation in partnership with alternative investment companies Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital Management to prepare students at historically Black colleges and universities for careers in the alternative investment industry. The program includes scholarships, fellowship programs, and courses through a virtual institute. The Ares Foundation has committed $30 million over 10 years for this initiative. ^{1 7}

In 2022 the Ares Foundation committed $1 million in grant funding over a five-year period to Ownership Works, a group that advocates for employee ownership programs by coaching companies on developing employee ownership and training employees on personal financial management. ⁵ Other investors in Ownership Works include the Ford Foundation, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Rockefeller Foundation. ⁸

In October 2024, the Ares Foundation launched ELEVATE (Examining Latino Entrepreneurship for Value-Add to the Economy) to support Latino entrepreneurs and advance growth in Latino-owned businesses. Part of this initiative includes a grant to the Brookings Institution for research support. ⁹

Grants

In its first year, the Ares Foundation committed $56 million to its first three signature initiatives and another $3.4 million to ten smaller employee-directed grants. ⁷

The Ares Foundation awards employee-directed grants to organizations that support the Ares Foundation’s philanthropic goals. Employee-directed grant recipients include WorkingNation, the Urban Institute, and Strive. The grant to WorkingNation was for research to support more successful Black-, Hispanic-, and women-owned real estate development firms. The $500,000 grant to left-of-center economic think tank  Urban Institute was for research to create a toolkit for employers on ways to advance economic equity in the workplace. ⁵ The $100,000 grant to Strive, a national workforce development group, supported a career path program for women in New York and Atlanta as part of Strive’s Women’s Empowerment Initiative. ¹⁰

Funding

The Ares Charitable Foundation’s 2022 tax return reported $4,895,656 in revenues and $5,992,890 in expenses. ¹¹

Much of the foundation’s revenue comes from the Ares company, tied to the performance of about two dozen specific funds. Ares company employees also donate and make pledges to the foundation. ⁷

Donors to the Ares Charitable Foundation include the National Philanthropic Trust, the Blackbaud Giving Fund, the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust, the American Online Giving Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²

Leadership

Michelle Armstrong is head of philanthropy at Ares Management Corporation and executive director of the Ares Foundation. ¹ She has focused on philanthropy throughout her career, working for the MetLife Foundation, the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation. She consulted on several large public health initiatives funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Northwest Health Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to “mitigate health disparities for uninsured, underinsured, and racially/ethnically marginalized populations.” She joined Ares Management Corporation with the task of launching the foundation. ^{12 13}

Michael Arougheti is the president, CEO, and co-founder of Ares Management Corporation and board chair of the Ares Foundation. ⁵ As of November 2024, Arougheti has a net worth of $2.2 billion. ¹⁴ He graduated from Yale University with a major in ethics, politics, and economics. He worked at Kidder, Peabody & Co., Indosuez Capital, and Royal Bank of Canada before co-founding Ares Management Corporation. He is the current president and CEO, taking over that role in 2018. Arougheti is on the board of Operation HOPE and on the leadership council of PATH, a global nonprofit focused on advancing health equity. ^{15 16}

1. “Ares Management: Launches the Charitable Foundation.” Market Screener. June 22, 2021. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ARES-MANAGEMENT-CORPORATI-50061101/news/Ares-Management-Launches-the-Charitable-Foundation-35666527/
2. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Search for 84-3666714. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?sort=best&form%5B%5D=IRS990ScheduleI&q=84-3666714&submit=Apply
3. James Chen. “What Are Alternative Investments? Definition and Examples.” Investopedia. Updated July 4, 2024. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/alternative_investment.asp
4. “Empowering Employees Through Engagement and Leadership: Defining a Strategy for Ares Management Corporation’s Global Philanthropy.” FSG. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.fsg.org/projects/ares-global-philanthropy/
5. “Ares Charitable Foundation.” Ares Philanthropy 2023 Annual Report. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://aresfoundationreport.aresmgmt.com/2023-annual-report/ares-charitable-foundation
6. “Ares Charitable Foundation Launches $25 Million Initiative for Climate-Resilient Job Preparation and Reskilling.” Business Wire. April 21, 2022. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220420005904/en/Ares-Charitable-Foundation-Launches-25-Million-Initiative-for-Climate-Resilient-Job-Preparation-and-Reskilling
7. Wendy Paris. “Private Credit Philanthropy: The Ares Charitable Foundation Ties Funding to Investment Performance” Inside Philanthropy. October 10, 2023. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/50995/private_credit_philanthropy__the_ares_charitable_foundation_ties.25ca63a3eb3e.pdf
8.  “Partners.” Ownership Works. Accessed November 13, 2024. https://ownershipworks.org/partners/
9. “Ares Charitable Foundation Launches New Initiative to Support Latino Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in the U.S.” Yahoo! Finance. October 21, 2024. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ares-charitable-foundation-launches-initiative-130000164.html
10. “STRIVE Receives $100k from Ares Charitable Foundation to Advance Economic Equity for Women in New York and Atlanta.” EIN Presswire. March 2, 2023. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.einpresswire.com/article/619947810/strive-receives-100k-from-ares-charitable-foundation-to-advance-economic-equity-for-women-in-new-york-and-atlanta
11. Ares Charitable Foundation. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part I). 2022.
12. Wendy Paris. “A Conversation with Ares Charitable Foundation’s Michelle Armstrong.” Inside Philanthropy. October 10, 2023. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/50995/a_conversation_with_ares_charitable_foundations_michelle_armstro.ba3050296594.pdf
13. LinkedIn – Michelle Armstrong. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellenarmstrong/details/experience/
14. “Michael Arougheti.” Forbes Profile as of November 14, 2024. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-arougheti/
15. LinkedIn – Michael Arougheti. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-arougheti/
16. “Mission and Strategy.” PATH. Accessed November 14, 2024. https://www.path.org/who-we-are/mission-and-strategy/