The Horowitz Family Foundation is a grantmaking organization that gives to organizations which provide social services to various groups of people. Its founder Felicia Horowitz is a longtime left-progressive activist and advocate for left-of-center policy. ¹

The Horowitz Family Foundation is funded by Benjamin and Felecia Horowitz. Benjamin Horowitz is an investor in Silicon Valley who has created and invested in several technology companies. ²

Background

The Horowitz Family Foundation is a private foundation created in 2013 by Felecia Horowitz, the wife of investor Benjamin Horowitz. Since the Horowitz Family Foundation’s inception, Benjamin and Felicia Horowitz have been the foundation’s only reported contributors. They jointly contributed $9,891,550 in 2013, $5,000 in 2014, and $7,128,028 in 2018. ³

The Horowitz Family Foundation is a grantmaking organization that funds charitable organizations that provide services for low-income individuals and families, youth programs, and prison education programs. ⁴ Several grantees also advocate for left-of-center and left-progressive policies, including the Obama Foundation and Glide Memorial Church. ⁵

People

Felicia Horowitz

Felicia Horowitz is the founder and CEO of the Horowitz Family Foundation and the wife of investor Ben Horowitz. ⁶ She is also a frequent volunteer with Glide Memorial Church (Glide) in San Francisco where she helps provide social services for the local LGBT community and advocates for left-progressive policy on issues related to gender and sexuality. ⁷ In 2019, Horowitz won a WACO theater Everyday People award for her left-progressive activism and philanthropy. ⁸

Felicia Horowitz has stated one of the goals of her activism is to advocate for mandated diversity standards in all industries. She also advocates for left-of-center social and economic policies. Horowitz aligns herself with Glide’s advocacy initiatives, which include expanding entitlement programs, implementing a government-controlled healthcare system, and advancing left-wing identity politics efforts. ⁹¹⁰

Benjamin Horowitz

Benjamin Horowitz is the husband of Felicia Horowitz, the CEO and founder of the Horowitz Family Foundation. Horowitz is an investor who cofounded a company which Hewlett-Packard purchased for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz has also sat as vice president and general manager of business technology optimization for software at HP. As of summer 2021, Horowitz is a general partner for Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm he co-founded in 2009. Horowitz created the firm’s Cultural Leadership Fund to assist African Americans in entering the technology industry. ¹¹

Financials

The Horowitz Family Foundation has only reported contributions totaling $9,891,550 in 2014, $5,000 in 2015, and $7,128,028 in 2019, all of which came in joint contributions from Felicia and Benjamin Horowitz. ¹² In all other years, it has relied on interest income from its assets to generate revenue for grantmaking. ¹³

In 2019, the Horowitz Family Foundation reported having $9,299,559 in assets. ¹⁴ It also reported spending $1,240,500 on grantmaking out of its $1,316,377 in total expenditures. ¹⁵

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2. Horowitz, Ben. “Ben Horowitz.” Andreessen Horowitz. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://a16z.com/author/ben-horowitz/.
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2014-2015, 2019. Schedule B, Part I, Lines 1-2.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2019. Part XV.
5. Le, Anh-Minh. “The Giving Kind.” Modern Luxury Silicon Valley, November 3, 2016. https://mlsiliconvalley.com/the-giving-kind.
6. “Silicon Valley ELITE Discuss Journalists Having Too Much Power in Private App.” VICE. Accessed July 29, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7w3zw/silicon-valley-elite-discuss-journalists-having-too-much-power-in-private-app.
7. Le, Anh-Minh. “The Giving Kind.” Modern Luxury Silicon Valley, November 3, 2016. https://mlsiliconvalley.com/the-giving-kind.
8. Theater, WACO. “WACO Theater Center Presents 3rd Annual WEARABLE Art Gala Saturday, June 1, 2019.” WACO Theater Center Presents 3rd Annual Wearable Art Gala Saturday, June 1, 2019, March 5, 2019. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waco-theater-center-presents-3rd-annual-wearable-art-gala-saturday-june-1-2019-300806549.html.
9. Le, Anh-Minh. “The Giving Kind.” Modern Luxury Silicon Valley, November 3, 2016. https://mlsiliconvalley.com/the-giving-kind.
10. “About Glide – Fifty Years of Love in Action in San Francisco.” GLIDE, July 28, 2021. https://www.glide.org/about/.
11. Horowitz, Ben. “Ben Horowitz.” Andreessen Horowitz. Accessed July 30, 2021. https://a16z.com/author/ben-horowitz/.
12. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2014-2015, 2019. Schedule B, Part I, Lines 1-2.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2015-2016, 2018. Part I, lines 1-12.
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2019. Part II, line 16.
15. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Horowitz Family Foundation. 2019. Part I, lines 25-26.