The Barbara Lee Family Foundation is a private foundation created by Barbara Lee that conducts research focused on women’s leadership in politics and in the arts and funds largely left-of-center nonprofit organizations. The Foundation was created in 1999 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ^{1 2 3}

Activities

The Barbara Lee Family Foundation was founded in 1999 to research and produce studies on women running for executive offices. The Foundation is devoted to advancing the number of women represented in the fields of American politics and contemporary art through political research and partnerships as well as issue grants and endowments. ^{4 5}

In 2022, the Babara Lee Family Foundation published a single research project entitled “Shared Hurdles; How Political Races Change When Two Women Compete.” The research was indented to demonstrate gender bias against female politicians and how that bias remains in effect even when a race is only between two women. The research purports to show how a candidate’s sex, race, and political party interact and influence voter opinion when multiple women are on the ballot. The Foundation spent $358,910 to produce this report. ⁶

In addition to its research project, in 2022 the Barbara Lee Family Foundation also distributed grants to largely left-of-center nonprofits, including $10,000 to left-of-center media outlet 19^th News in Austin, Texas, to sponsor a summit on the 50^th anniversary of Title IX; $5,000 to 1,000 Women Strong to support voter education programs; and $5,000 to Voto Latino, $2,500 to Higher Heights Leadership Fund, and $2,500 to the Asian Pacific American Institute all to support a research project examining the obstacles to women running for the office of lieutenant governor. The Foundation published a report based on the research it funded into women running for lieutenant governor in 2023 finding that voters do not have a gender preference for lieutenant governors and that a majority of voters have positive feeling about a governor who appoints a “prominent and active woman” as lieutenant governor. ^{7 8}

In 2021, the Foundation likewise published a single research project on strategies to help women incumbents, especially incumbents campaigning against a female opponent. That same year the Foundation gave $10,000 to 19^th News; $2,500 to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, an organization that trains LGBTQ candidates on campaign staffers on how to run for political office and build a political campaign infrastructure; and $2,000 to Netroots Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for left-wing values in media. ⁹

Additionally, the Foundation endowed a training program for women at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as well as an internship program for students at Simmons College in Boston within the Massachusetts State House. ¹⁰

People

Barbara Lee is the founder and president of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Before creating the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, Lee was the co-founder of the White House Project, focused on mentoring women aged 21 to 35 to attain leadership positions in business and politics. ^{11 12 13}

The executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation is Amanda Hunter. Hunter previously worked as the Foundation’s research and communications director. Before that, she was the director of marketing and communications at the Phillips Collection, a modern art museum in Washington D.C., as well as the senior press representative at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ¹⁴

Funding

The Barbara Lee Family Foundation’s is funded entirely by Barbara Lee. Of the $404,002 in income reported by the Foundation in 2022, $2 came from interest on savings and temporary cash investments and $404,000 came from a personal gift from Barbara Lee. ¹⁵

1. “The Barbara Lee Family Foundation.” Babara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/.
2. “About Us.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/about/.
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Barbara Lee Family Foundation Inc. 2022.
4. “The Barbara Lee Family Foundation.” Babara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/.
5. “About Us.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/about/.
6.  Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Barbara Lee Family Foundation Inc. 2022.
7. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Barbara Lee Family Foundation Inc. 2022.
8. “Second in Command: The Challenges and Opportunities Facing Women Lieutenant Governors.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/research/second-in-command/.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Barbara Lee Family Foundation Inc. 2021.
10. “Barbara Lee.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/about/ourteam/barbara-lee-founder-president/.
11. “Barbara Lee.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/about/ourteam/barbara-lee-founder-president/.
12. “The White House Project.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-white-house-project/.
13. “Barbara Lee.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaraleesays/.
14. “Amanda Hunter.” The Barbara Lee Family Foundation. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.barbaraleefoundation.org/about/ourteam/amanda-hunter/.
15.  Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Barbara Lee Family Foundation Inc. 2022.