Crown Family Philanthropies

Background

Crown Family Philanthropies was initially formed as “Arie and Ida Crown Memorial,” was named after Arie and Ida Crown, originally known as Arie and Ida Krinsky. Both were Lithuanian-Jewish workers who immigrated to Chicago to escape Nazi Germany. Arie changed the family name to Crown after immigrating. One of their seven children was Henry Crown, who, despite dropping out of school in eighth grade, became a steel magnate through the Material Services Corporation, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959. At his death in 1990, Henry was a billionaire. ^{1 2} In the early 1960s, Henry Crown founded the Arie and Ida Crown Memorial to honor his parents and continue his philanthropic work. Crown claimed that by the time he was 79 years old, he had given away “nine-figures” worth of money, mostly to universities, including Northwestern, Stanford, and Brandeis. ⁵

In 2009, the Crown Memorial was renamed Crown Family Philanthropies to provide a greater focus on support for Jewish organizations. However, its 990 form still names it as “Aire and Ida Crown Memorial.” ^{3 4} The Crown Family continues to operate Henry Crown and Company as a family firm that holds a 10 percent ownership stake in General Dynamics and a diversified portfolio including real estate and ski resorts. The Crown family has an estimated net worth of $14.7 billion, making it the 30th wealthiest family in the United States as of March 2024. ²

In June 2023, the chief executive officer of Henry Crown and Company, James Crown, died in a motor racing accident. James was a former member of President Barack Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board. President Joe Biden wrote a note to the Crown family calling James, “a good man, a dear friend, and a great American.” ⁶

As of 2022, members of the Crown family continue to manage the Foundation. In 2022, the group’s board was chaired by Barbara Manilow (formerly Barbara Crown), who is also the founder and president of the Covenant Foundation, another Jewish charity. ^{7 8 9} Manilow is a significant donor to the Democratic Party, including former President Obama and the Democratic National Committee. ¹⁰

Activities

According to a March 2025 article by Inside Philanthropy, Crown Family Philanthropies was listed as one of several organizations funding the Soil Health Opportunities and Tools Fund (or SHOT Fund), a joint funding initiative started by the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation and the Rural Climate Partnership (RCP) to provide “emergency recoverable grants” towards agriculture-based organizations. Other groups that provided funding included the NoRegrets Initiative, the Waverley Street Foundation, and the 11th Hour Project. ¹¹

Grantmaking

In 2022, Crown Family Philanthropies (under the name Arie and Ida Crown Memorial) made contributions to several left-of-center organizations including the New Venture Fund, the Windward Fund, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the Sierra Club, the United States Energy Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the Aspen Institute, and Chalkbeat. ⁷

The Foundation also made donations to Jewish groups including American Friends of the Israel Museum, the American Israel Education Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Anti-Defamation League, and Bend the Arc. ⁷ The Memorial has supported Israeli humanitarian efforts at short notice; in 2006, the Memorial gave $10 million to the Israel Emergency Campaign during the war against Hezbollah in northern Israel. ¹²