Educational Foundation of America (EFA) is a major left-of-center grant maker that funds environmentalist, educational, and voter-mobilization initiatives.

EFA purports to be a family foundation that aims to create a society with “an inclusive democracy,” in which each person has “unrestricted access to full reproductive freedom” and lives on a “regenerative planet.” It is guided by the left-of-center and critical race theory-influenced concepts of equity, criminal justice reform, structural change, and sustainability. ¹

EFA has an extensive directory of its grantees available on its website. Its three major funding areas are environmentalism, abortion access and reproductive rights advocacy, and voter mobilization and redistricting groups. ²

In 2020, Educational Foundation of America tax returns reported that the foundation held total assets of $250 million and had made $9.4 million in charitable disbursements that year. ³

Background

Educational Foundation of America (EFA) was created in 1959 by philanthropists Richard Prentice Ettinger and his wife Elsie P. Ettinger. Richard was a finance professor at New York University (NYU) who grew disgruntled with the curriculum and produced his own textbook on creditor’s rights as well as textbook publishing company Prentice-Hall. ⁴

The couple established EFA to further their philanthropic commitment to financial education, particularly higher education. However, Richard Ettinger explicitly gave consent to the use of the foundation’s funds for issues beyond education, reasoning that “tomorrow’s problems would not necessarily be the same as those facing his own generation.” Their son Richard P. Ettinger Jr. and daughter Elaine P. Hapgood continued this philanthropic legacy, with Richard Jr. focusing on Native American causes and Elaine focusing on abortion activism and environmentalism. ⁵

EFA purports to be a family foundation that aims to create a society with “an inclusive democracy,” in which each person has “unrestricted access to full reproductive freedom” and lives on a “regenerative planet.” It is guided by the left-of-center and critical race theory-influenced concepts of equity, criminal justice reform, structural change, and sustainability. ⁶

Funding

Educational Foundation of America engages in both grantmaking, providing grans to largely left-of-center nonprofits that advocate for political causes, develop policies, and mobilize voters, and “Impact Investing.” It defines impact investing as the practice of selectively investing in corporations based on their fulfillment of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and refusing to invest in companies that do not match up to such criteria. In 2015, EFA claims that its investment portfolio became 100 percent fossil-fuel free, and that year it became a signatory for the anti-fossil fuel Divest-Invest Movement. ⁷

EFA publicly endorses and supports the Ceres Investor Network, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and Reproductive Healthcare Investors Alliance. ⁸

Educational Foundation of America has funded many left-of-center organizations over time. In 2019 alone, it gave grants to, among many others, Amalgamated Charitable Foundation for “Latinx Research Insights,” Alliance for Youth Organizing for its Engage Miami Civic Fund, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation, Animal Legal Defense Fund for its “litigation environmental projects,” Center for Reproductive Rights for “engaging the business community to support reproductive rights project,” Ceres, Clean Energy Works, Common Cause Education Fund, Demos, EcoAmerica, Environmental Defense Fund, Garrison Institute, Guttmacher Institute, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for its carbon pricing project, New Florida Majority Education Fund, People for the American Way Foundation for “Vessels Vote,” several Planned Parenthood branches, Proteus Fund, Spread the Vote, State Innovation Exchange, State Voices, Voter Participation Center, Tides Center, Tides Foundation, Voto Latino Foundation, Women Have Options, Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, and You Can Vote. ⁹

EFA has an extensive directory of its grantees available on its website. Its three major funding areas are environmentalism, abortion access and reproductive rights advocacy, and voter mobilization and redistricting groups. ¹⁰

Other environmentalist organizations it has funded, according to its website, include CAN Energy Working Group, Citizens’ Climate Education, Clean Energy Buyers Alliance Institute, Clean up the River Environment (CURE), Environmental Integrity Project, National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, Prime Coalition, Public Citizen Texas, Rocky Mountain Institute, Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, Southern Environmental Law Center, Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, Western Resource Advocates, and World Resources Institute. ¹¹

EFA funds many groups dedicated to abortion advocacy, litigation, policy, and access. Besides those listed above, EFA has funded Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, Catholics for Choice, Kentucky Health Justice Network, Mayday Health, New River Abortion Access Fund, Power to Decide, Resources for Abortion Delivery, Reprocare, RHIA Ventures, and WV Free. ¹²

EFA dedicates a large portion of its budget to Democratic-aligned redistricting groups and voter mobilization groups that aim to win elections for Democrats in swing states and in local, state, and national elections generally. EFA even allows people to pitch ideas for activist organizations in exchange for funding per approval as part of its Make Democracy Work program. Recipients of EFA grants besides those listed above include Activate 48 Education Fund, A. Philip Randolph Institute, Arizona Democracy Resource Center, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Carolina Federation, Center for New Data, Common Cause Education Fund North Carolina, Democracy North Carolina, Detroit Action Education Fund, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Fund, Florida Rising Together, For West Virginia’s Future, Michigan Civic Education Fund, National Redistricting Foundation, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, Promote the Vote Fund, Rising Voices Fund, and Southern Coalition for Social Justice. ¹³

According to its 2019 tax return, Educational Foundation of America had a total revenue of $13,205,690, spent a total of $10,681,333, and had a total of $162,174,473 in assets per book value ($210,961,787 per fair market value). ¹⁴

In 2020, extracted financial data provided by the IRS to ProPublica indicated that Educational Foundation of America had increased its total assets to $250,019,524, had made $15,297,380 in revenue and had made out $9,492,664 in charitable disbursements. ¹⁵

In addition to providing nonprofit organizations with grants, EFA aims to connect them with vendors, database technologies, and other resources to extend and amplify their effectiveness. The firms that EFA recommends to its clients include the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance, Facebook Social Good, Conservatree, BoardSource, NEW, TechSoup, Fiscal Management Associates, the Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center, and Philanthropy University. ¹⁶

Leadership

Educational Foundation of America’s board of directors is comprised of members of the third and fourth generations of the Ettinger family, who were the original founders of the organization. Its adjunct committee aims to train family members new to the foundation in philanthropic activities and practices. ¹⁷

As of April 2023, its board members included president Heidi Ettinger, vice president Wendy Ettinger, treasurer Bobbi Hapgood, Matthew Hapgood, Matthew Ettinger, and Christian Ettinger. Its adjunct committee was made up of chairman Chris Renner, vice chair Leland Ettinger, treasurer Melissa Renner, and Secretary Britt Rollins. ¹⁸

David Stocks was the executive director of EFA as of April 2023. He was previously the president of Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon in New York and the first executive director of a rail-to-trail conservancy project in Dallas, Texas. ¹⁹

1. “Our Purpose.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/ourpurpose.
2. Grants Directory.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/grants-directory.
3. “Educational Foundation of America.” ProPublica – Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133424750.
4. “Educational Foundation of America.” ProPublica – Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133424750.
5. “Our History.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/our-history.
6. “Our Purpose.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/ourpurpose.
7. “Our Approach.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/our-approach.
8. “Our Approach.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/our-approach,
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Educational Foundation of America. 2019. Part XV – Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year.
10. “Grants Directory.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/grants-directory.
11. “Environment.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/environment.
12. “Reproductive Health.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/reproductive-health-and-justice.
13. ^[1] “Make Democracy Work.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/make-democracy-work.
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Educational Foundation of America. 2019. Part I, lines 12 and 26, and Part II, line 16.
15. “Educational Foundation of America.” ProPublica – Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133424750.
16. ^[1] “Resources.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/resources.
17. “Our History.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/our-history.
18. “Board and Staff.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/board-and-staff.
19. “Board and Staff.” Educational Foundation of America. Accessed April 2, 2023. https://www.theefa.org/board-and-staff.