Druckenmiller Foundation

Druckenmiller and his wife, Fiona, established the Druckenmiller Foundation to promote medical research, education, and to fight poverty, especially among youth. While Druckenmiller is known to be a political supporter of moderate Republicans. Despite this, the foundation has supported some left-of-center organizations, notably environmentalist and conservationist charities.

Founder

A retired hedge-fund manager of 30 years, Stanley Druckenmiller is worth approximately $4.8 billion, as of December 2018.¹ From 1988 through 2000, Druckenmiller worked with George Soros to oversee the Quantum Fund.² Whilst working for Soros, Druckenmiller says that he was “highly influenced” by Soros’s philanthropy, matching employee giving four to one.³ Druckenmiller then went to manage Duquesne Capital Management, where he enjoyed great success, with a 30 percent average annual return and no net financial loss years.² Duquesne Capital Management was divested in 2010.¹

Stanley Druckenmiller, along with his wife Fiona, established the Druckenmiller Foundation in 1993.⁴ In 2009, the couple announced a personal donation of $705 million to the Foundation.⁵ According to one profile, “the Chronicle of Philanthropy recognized the Druckenmillers as the most charitable couple in America for 2009.”³

Druckenmiller also credits Paul Tudor Jones of the Robin Hood Foundation, along with Jones’s wife, for steering him towards strategic philanthropy.⁶

Druckenmiller is known to be politically active, backing the presidential campaigns of moderate Republicans Chris Christie (NJ), Jeb Bush (FL), and John Kasich (OH).² During the 2018 midterm elections, Druckenmiller donated a total of $152,300 to Republican candidates and none to Democrats.⁷

Grantmaking Activity

The Druckenmiller Foundation generally funds efforts to fight poverty, promote medical research, and support education. However, the foundation has also supported left-leaning environmentalist causes.⁸

Charitable Causes

Efforts to combat poverty include $91.3 million gifted between 2011 and 2015,⁹ to the Harlem Children’s Zone, of which Stanley Druckenmiller is chairman.⁴ The Foundation operates the Oakmont Scholarship, which provides scholarships of $10,000 or under to 20-30 students annually, who have caddied at the Oakmont Country Club.¹⁰ College Summit, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit, has received $3.2 million from the foundation.⁴

The Druckenmiller Foundation regularly provides grants to educational public charities and major institutions, including prominent universities. From 2011 to 2015, Stanford University received $31.1 million, Brown University received $15 million, and Bowdoin College also received $15 million from the foundation.⁹ The Spence School, an all-girls private primary and secondary school in New York City, received $8.35 million in grants during the same period.⁹

Investments in medical research, include a $100 million gift to establish the Langone Medical Center at New York University.⁸ The foundation provided grants totaling $5.75 million to the New York Stem Cell Foundation from 2011 through 2015,⁹ and has supported the Annual Druckenmiller Neuroscience Symposium.⁴ The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center received $9.3 million from the foundation between 2011 and 2015.⁹

Funding for Left-Leaning Groups

The Foundation is known to have provided funds for environmentalist and conservationist groups, including providing $7.2 million in grants to the Environmental Defense Fund over three years, $300,000 to the Cape Eleuthera Institute over two years, $100,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and $100,000 to the Everglades Foundation.¹¹

The Foundation is also known to have supported Human Rights Watch.⁴