Cavali Foundation is a left-of-center private foundation run by Cedomir Crnkovic and Valerie Rubsamen.

The Cavali Foundation frequently makes grants to left-leaning organizations including large grants to get-out-the-vote organizations like the Voter Registration Project, also known as the Everybody Votes Campaign, and the Voter Participation Center.

Funding

In 2021, Cavali Foundation had a revenue of $1,675,922, expenses of $751,730, and net assets of $3,445,128, according to the Foundation’s 2021 tax returns. ¹

Cavali Foundation grant recipients for the year 2021 included the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, the Camfed USA Foundation, Citizens’ Climate Education, Collective Education Fund, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Hopewell Fund ($150,000), Network Advocates (Faithful Democracy), New Classrooms Innovation Partners, New Venture Fund ($65,000), Protect Democracy Project ($20,000), Register 2 Vote Fund ($20,000), Robin Hood Foundation, the Bail Project, the Voter Participation Center, Trustees of Princeton University, Voter Participation Project, and William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ²

Two grant recipients involved in voter activation and registration, Voter Registration Project and the Voter Participation Center, received $25,000 each. ³

In 2020 it funded left-of-center groups such as All Americans Vote, Center for Common Ground, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, Democracy Works, Hopewell Fund, New Venture Fund, ProPublica, Protect Democracy Project, the Bail Project, the Voter Participation Center, Voter Registration Project, and the William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ⁴

Leadership

In 2021, Cavali Foundation reported Valerie C. Rubsamen as its president and Cedomir Crnkovic as its treasurer and secretary. ⁵

Cedomir Crnkovic is a quantitative finance professional. He earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University with a dissertation entitled “Symplectic Geometry of Field Theories and Covariant Quantization of Superstrings and Superparticles.” It was advised by professor Edward Witten. ⁶

According to a 2013 flyer issued by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a joint endeavor with the U.S. Department of Energy, Cedomir Crnkovic gave a talk on Quant Finance and was described as the managing director of investment firm D.E. Shaw and Co. ⁷ D.E. Shaw was a pioneer in computational finance when it was founded in 1988. ⁸

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Cavali Foundation. 2021. Part I, lines 12, 26, 29.
2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Cavali Foundation. 2021. Part XIV. 3 – Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year or Approved for Future Payment.
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Cavali Foundation. 2021. Part XIV. 3 – Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year or Approved for Future Payment.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Cavali Foundation. 2020. Part XIV. 3 – Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year or Approved for Future Payment.
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Cavali Foundation. 2021. Part VII.
6. Cedomir Crnkovic.” Mathematics Genealogy Project – North Dakota State University. https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=206648.
7. “Weekly.04.15.13.” Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory – Weekly. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://w3.pppl.gov/communications/weekly/WEEKLY.04.15.13.pdf.
8. “Who We Are.” D.E. Shaw. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.deshaw.com/who-we-are.