Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund

Most grants from Goldman Sachs Gives are not explicitly political, with recipients including educational institutions, healthcare providers, art projects, and Catholic and other Christian organizations. In addition, the fund has supported many Jewish and pro-Israel initiatives, which has attracted criticism from left-wing observers. However, Goldman Sachs Gives has also issued grants to abortion advocacy groups such as the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, as well as the New Venture Fund (NVF), a major liberal activism funder and incubator. ^{1 4}

Parent Organization

Goldman Sachs has grown into one of the largest and most influential financial institutions in the world since its founding in 1869 by German Jewish immigrant Marcus Goldman. Numerous former Goldman Sachs executives have held senior positions in both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations. Under the tenure of chief executive officer David Solomon, the firm has become increasingly involved in left-of-center racial and gender advocacy, as well as environmentalist projects informed by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activism. ⁵

Since its founding, Goldman Sachs, its leadership, and its practices have generated significant controversy and resulted in numerous investigations. The firm has been accused of contributing to the 2008 global financial crisis by misrepresenting its investments in the residential mortgage market. ⁶ In the aftermath of the crisis, Goldman Sachs also came under criticism for paying out more than $1 billion in employee bonuses after receiving $10 billion in taxpayer dollars as relief funding. ⁷

In addition, the firm has been accused of avoiding taxation by maintaining hundreds of shell companies in “tax haven” nations with weak financial regulations. ⁸ Meanwhile, the large number of former Goldman Sachs executives and associates who have gone on to take high-level federal government posts has prompted concerns about conflicts of interest. ⁹ Numerous former Goldman Sachs employees have claimed that the corporation’s internal culture encourages disregard for the interests of clients and a cavalier attitude towards risk. ^{10 11}

Notable Grants

In 2009, Goldman Sachs Gives transferred nearly $1.1 million to its parent organization to support the multi-billion-dollar grantmaking initiative it had launched in 2008. Nonprofit Quarterly described the effort as “redemptive” charity and as an effort to create a “counter-narrative” after reports surfaced that the firm had set aside tens of billions of dollars for executive bonuses despite accepting $10 billion in taxpayer-funded federal relief funds. ¹²

In 2021, the fund’s largest grants included $650,000 for a hospital in New York City, more than $400,000 to a New York City theater company, and just over $500,000 to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The fund also contributed to conservationist and environmentalist causes. ¹

That year, more than $250,000 of the fund’s contributions went to the New Venture Fund, a project of the left-of-center philanthropy consulting firm Arabella Advisors and a leading backer of start-up liberal activism initiatives. ¹ The fund also issued at least $20,000 to the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, the legal and educational arm of NARAL Pro-Choice America (formerly the National Abortion Rights Action League). ¹

The fund has contributed to dozens of Jewish organizations in the United States and Israel, including the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The fund’s financial support to Jewish communities in Hebron, a Palestinian-majority city in the disputed West Bank where Israeli Jews have established controversial settlements, has generated controversy: in April 2016, the leading left-of-center Israeli publication Haaretz published an opinion piece describing the situation in Hebron as a “perpetual nightmare” and blaming Goldman Sachs for supporting what it called “the worst of the Israeli occupation.” ^{4 1}

Leadership

The fund is administered by the current and former management of Goldman Sachs. Former firm chairman and chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein continued running the fund after he stepped down from the firm in 2018. ^{1 13}

Financials

In 2022, Goldman Sachs Gives received more than $246 million in contributions from Goldman Sachs employees–a decrease from more than $310 million the previous year. The fund distributed a total of just under $250 million and ended the year with more than $640 million in net assets. ¹