The Harold K. Raisler Foundation Inc. (HKRF) is a left-of-center private grantmaker founded in 1958 from family wealth sourced from the Raisler Corporation of New York, a mechanical systems installation business. ¹ HKRF makes multiple small grants each year to organizations associated with the abolition of prisons, increased environmental regulation, and expanded access to abortion. ² The foundation is led by founder Harold K. Raisler’s son-in-law and grandchildren. ³

Organization

The left-of-center Harold K. Raisler Foundation Inc. (HKRF) was founded by Harold K. Raisler with family funds generated by the Raisler Corporation, a New York company that provided mechanical systems installation for skyscraper buildings including the World Apparel Center, Xerox Tower, and the Greenwich Club Residences. ⁴

HKRF is led by Jonathan Cohn, Raisler’s son-in-law, and Cohn’s two children, Josh Raisler-Cohn and Josina Raisler-Cohn. They direct the organization’s small grants, typically $500 to $3,000, to mostly left-wing organizations. ⁵

Leadership

Jonathan Cohn, an advocate for government-controlled single-payer health care, is president of HKRF. His son Josh Raisler-Cohn, a public defender in the Roxbury Defenders Unit, and co-chair of the Mass Defense Committee, is treasurer. Cohn’s daughter Josina Raisler-Cohn, a trial attorney for the Committee for Public Council Services in the Sommerville Superior Court of New York, serves as a board member. ^{6 7 8}

Finances

Revenue for 2018 was $48,516 generated from dividends and interest while expenses totaled $101,951, of which contributions, gifts and grants represented $97,780. Net assets at the end of the year were $1,689,965 down from $1,745,417 at the beginning of the year. ⁹

Notable Grants

A $2,530 grant was made in 2016 to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (NLGF) the funding arm of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), a left-wing organization that advocates for the abolition of prisons and provides legal services for illegal immigrants. ¹⁰ NLG’s Los Angeles branch is a part of the left-wing Check the Sheriff Coalition, formed to oppose alleged violence of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and counts as its members far-left Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLMLA); the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLUSC), and Occupy ICE LA, a supporter of the Palestinian movement, the elimination of national borders, and the elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ^{11 12 13}

HKRF also made grants to Left-wing Critical Resistance, a left-wing organization attempting to end the arrest and imprisonment of criminals; Earthjustice, formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund; the Sierra Club, a left-of-center environmental organization; Planned Parenthood; the Center for Reproductive Rights, a left-of center organization that fights pro-life laws; LGBT Detroit, which seeks to build awareness and advocates for the LGBT community; ¹⁴ Resist, a people of color only organization that is anti-capitalist; ¹⁵ the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), an organization that works to end alleged racism and homophobia; ¹⁶ he LGBT Racial Justice Fund; and the left-of-center Lawyer’s Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, whose former CEO Kristen Clarke heads the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in the Biden administration. ^{17 18}

1. ^[1] GmbH, STR Germany. “Emporis.” EMPORIS. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.emporis.com/companies/113207/raisler-corporation-new-york-city-ny-usa.
2. “Harold K Raisler Foundation INC” Return of Private Foundation (990-PF) 2018 Part XV.
3. “Harold K Raisler Foundation INC” Return of Private Foundation (990-PF) 2018 Part XIII, Line 1.
4. GmbH, STR Germany. “Emporis.” EMPORIS. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.emporis.com/companies/113207/raisler-corporation-new-york-city-ny-usa.
5. “Harold K Raisler Foundation INC” Return of Private Foundation (990-PF) 2018 Part XIII, Line 1.
6. “Board & Staff.” National Lawyers Guild MASS Chapter. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://nlgmass.org/board-staff/.
7. Conte, JD. “CSDI Event Informs Student Protesters of Their Rights.” The Suffolk Journal. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://thesuffolkjournal.com/31158/news/student-protestors-should-know-their-rights-according-to-csdi/.
8. Loaded on Jan. 7, 2020 by Victoria Law published in Prison Legal News January. The Other Family Separation: Prisoners Fight to Keep Their Children | Prison Legal News. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2020/jan/7/other-family-separation-prisoners-fight-keep-their-children/.
9. “Harold K Raisler Foundation INC” Return of Private Foundation (990-PF). 2018. Part I lines 12, 25, 26. Part II, Line 30
10. “#NLG80: Celebrating 80 Years: National Lawyers Guild.” National Lawyers Guild | “Human rights over property interests”, June 29, 2018. https://www.nlg.org/nlg80/
11. “About.” Check the Sheriff Coalition. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.checkthesheriff.com/about.
12. “Log in or Sign up to View.” Facebook. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/occupyicela/.
13. Twitter. Twitter. Accessed September 25, 2021. https://twitter.com/CheckSheriff.
14. ^[1] “Our History.” LGBT Detroit. Accessed September 22, 2021. https://www.lgbtdetroit.org/ourhistory
15. “Organizational Principles Doc.” RESIST. Accessed September 22, 2021. http://resist.org/organizational-principles-doc/.
16. “About us_.” NBJC, February 16, 2021. https://nbjc.org/nbjcabout-us/.
17. “Harold K Raisler Foundation INC” Return of Private Foundation (990-PF) 2018 Part XV.
18. “The LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund Is a Collaborative Philanthropic Initiative Focused On.” LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund. Accessed September 22, 2021. http://www.lgbtqracialjusticefund.org/about/.