The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that supports race-based identity politics, stringent gun-control laws, organizations that seek to weaken voter integrity laws, and organizations that intervene in federal immigration proceedings. The foundation originally intended to support increased access to health care for lower-income individuals. ¹ However, president Scott Moyer has shifted the objectives of the organization to focus on non-health related policy areas.

History

The Langeloth Foundation was established in 1975 by restructuring the Valeria Home organization, a large multi-family residential estate created in 1924 by Valeria Knapp Langeloth, the wife of mining magnate Jacob Langeloth, to provide moderate-income persons “of education and refinement” rest and relaxation at a price they could afford. ² The organization was restructured with the intent of improving the quality of health care for low-income individuals. ³

In the 2020s, the president of the organization, liberal nonprofit operative Scott Moyer, has shifted the purpose of the organization to focus to support left-of-center voting policies, race based policies, and immigration. ⁴

Funding

In 2018 the Langeloth Foundation received $9,443,218 in grants and contributions, as well as $188,173 in dividends and interest from securities. ⁵ The organization reported $9,540,935 in total revenue, ⁶ $5,831,710 in expenses, ⁷ and $15,680,690 in net assets after accounting for all liabilities. ⁸

Grantmaking

The Langeloth Foundation provides grants to organizations that are active in immigration policy, gun control, race-based identity politics, and organizations that advocate for left-of-center voting and election laws.

Immigration Policy

The Langeloth foundation supports several left-of-center groups focused on immigration policy. These organizations have referred to immigration detention centers as “product[s] of racism and a legacy of slavery[,]” ⁹ and have supported sanctuary cities, municipal jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement actions. ¹⁰ Organizations supported by the foundation have opposed the use of mechanisms, such as including citizenship questions in the 2020 United States Census, to determine the number of illegal immigrants in the United States. ¹¹

In 2019 and 2020, the following immigration focused organizations received funding from the foundation: ¹² American Civil Liberties Union ($1,125,000), Freedom for Immigrants ($600,000), The Marshall Project ($400,000), and the New York Immigration Coalition ($100,000).

Gun Policy

The Langeloth Foundation supports organizations that have advocated for universal background checks, including for gun shows and private sales, ¹³ organizations that boycott businesses that sell guns, ¹⁴ and pressure corporations to not contribute to politicians that receive funding from the National Rifle Association. ¹⁵

The foundation has contributed to Guns Down America ($500,000) and the Center for American Progress – Generation Progress Program ($125,000) for work on gun control. ¹⁶

Race Based Policy

The Langeloth Foundation supports organizations that train activists who support left-of-center race-based policies such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as policies that allocate financial support and academic opportunities to individuals based on race. ¹⁷

The foundation has contributed to the magazine Mother Jones ($500,000), Funders for Justice ($308,600), and Grassroots Leadership ($150,000). ¹⁸

Election Administration

On June 4, 2020, the Langeloth Foundation announced that it would provide $10 million to attack voter integrity laws, the majority of which went to the State Infrastructure Fund and the Heartland Fund. ¹⁹

On September 22, 2020, the foundation stated that it would provide an additional $10 million to support left-of-center organizations that are active in voting policy. ²⁰ As a result, the foundation supports a large number of organizations that seek to increase voter registration, as well as left-of-center organizations that seek to weaken voter integrity laws by widening the eligibility window for absentee ballots, prohibiting voter identification checks, and weakening other means of combating voter fraud. ²¹

The foundation has supported the following organizations as part of its second round of funding in 2020: ²² Neo Philanthropy – State Infrastructure Fund ($8,000,000), Center for Secure and Modern Elections ($3,500,000), Heartland Fund  ($3,000,000), Youth Engagement Fund  ($1,100,000), Alliance for Youth Organizing ($1,000,00), the Trusted Elections Fund ($1,000,000), Voto Latino Foundation ($300,000), All Voting is Local ($250,000), Head Count ($250,000), Win Black/ Pa’lante ($200,000), VoteSafe Public Health  ($150,000), VotER ($150,000), and the Fair Elections Center  ($50,000).

Prevention Institute

The Langeloth Foundation has worked with the Prevention Institute, an organization that incubates activists within black and indigenous communities. Funding and support provided by the foundation is used to train activists to push for increased government involvement in health care, more government support for welfare spending, and more stringent gun control laws. ²³

COVID-19 Prison Project

The Langeloth Foundation has supported the COVID Prison Project. ²⁴ The COVID Prison Project created a continuously updated database of COVID-19 infection rates in prisons and jails, and provided visualizations of the data to make it more accessible to the public. ²⁵ While the COVID Prison Project did not directly advocate for the release of prisoners and individuals in immigration detention centers, the information collected by the organization was used to do so. ²⁶On May 7, 2020, the COVID Prison Project encouraged visitors to its website to listen to an online presidential primary campaign speech by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on the status of incarcerated individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. ²⁷

Leadership

Scott Moyer has been president of the foundation for the past fifteen years. Before joining the organization, he worked at the Mercer County HIV Care Consortium and Planned Parenthood. Moyer played a key role in shifting Langeloth Foundation from a health quality foundation to an organization focused on left-of-center immigration policies, race-based social policy, and gun control laws. In 2020, the foundation announced that it would be committing 10 percent of its assets, the largest commitment in the foundation’s history, to oppose voter identification and other election-integrity laws. ²⁸

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2. “Records of Valeria Home, ca. 1930s” West Chester Virtual Archives. https://www.westchesterarchives.com/HT/muni/cortlandt/valeria.html
3. “Scott Moyer.” Council on Foundations. https://www.cof.org/person/scott-moyer
4. Rojc, Philip. “Unprecedented: Why a Modest Health and Equity Funder Is Digging Deep for Democracy.” Inside Philanthropy. June 17, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/6/17/unprecedented-why-a-modest-health-and-equity-funder-is-digging-deep-for-democracy.
5. Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF), 2019. Part I, lines 8-10.
6. Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF), 2019. Part I, line 12.
7. Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF), 2019. Part I, line 18.
8. Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF), 2019. Part I, line 22.
9. “Policy Advocacy” Freedom For Immigrants. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/policy-advocacy
10. “ACLU Comment On Trump Administration Plan To Include Citizenship Question In 2020 Census.” ACLU. March 27, 2018. Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-comment-trump-administration-plan-include-citizenship-question-2020-census
11. “Immigrant Plaintiffs Claim Victory In Census Question.” New York Immigration Coalition. January 15, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/01/15/immigrant-plaintiffs-claim-victory-census-question
12. “Grants – Justice Reform.” Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. https://www.langeloth.org/funding-priorities/justice-reform
13. “We Demand Senate Attention For Gun Reform.” Guns Down. https://gunsdownamerica.org/campaign/filibuster-guns/
14. “VICTORY: Walmart Takes Steps to Reduce Gun Violence.” Guns Down. https://gunsdownamerica.org/campaign/walmart-must-take-action/
15. “Tell Warner Bros. to Help Keep Us Safe.” Guns Down. https://gunsdownamerica.org/campaign/warner-bros-step-up/
16. “Grants – Safe & Healthy Communities.” Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. https://www.langeloth.org/funding-priorities/community-violence-reform
17. “About Our Programming.” Funders For Justice. https://fundersforjustice.org/programs/
18. “Grants.” Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. https://www.langeloth.org/grants
19. “Langeloth Foundation Grants $10 million to Support Urgent Initiatives to Get Out the Vote, Focusing on Communities of Color.” Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. June 4, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. http://storage.googleapis.com/langeloth-prod-uploads/documents/Langeloth-Press-Release-6.2.pdf?mtime=20200604073300
20. “Doubling down for democracy: Our $20 million investment in civic participation and engagement.” Medium. September 22, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. https://medium.com/the-jacob-valeria-langeloth-foundation/doubling-down-for-democracy-our-20-million-investment-in-civic-participation-and-engagement-1e894f7584e7
21. “Arizona.” All Voting Is Local. https://allvotingislocal.org/fighting-back-2021/arizona/
22. “Civic Engagement Fund 2020.” Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. https://storage.googleapis.com/langeloth-prod-uploads/financials/LANGELOTH-FOUNDATION-CIVIC-ENGAGEMENT-FUND-2020.pdf?mtime=20210405133221&focal=none
23. “Community Safety Through Racial Justice and Health Equity (2021-2023).” Prevention Institute. https://www.preventioninstitute.org/projects/community-safety-through-racial-justice-and-health-equity-2021-2023
24. Peterson, Meghan et al. “Uneven Rollout Of COVID-19 Vaccinations In United States Prisons.” Health Affairs. April 15, 2021. Accessed April 18, 2021. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210413.559579/full/
25.  “Data Visualization.” The COVID Prison Project. https://covidprisonproject.com/data-visualizations/
26. Melamed, Samantha. “With 13,000 infected, 100 dead of COVID-19 in Pa. prisons, advocates urge faster releases.” Philadelphia Inquirer. February 3, 2021. Accessed April 18, 2021. https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-prison-pandemic-coronavirus-parole-doc-20210203.html
27. “Incarcerated in a Crisis – A virtual town hall with Bernie Sanders.” COVID Prison Project. https://covidprisonproject.com/in-the-news/
28. Rojc, Philip. “Unprecedented: Why a Modest Health and Equity Funder Is Digging Deep for Democracy.” Inside Philanthropy. June 17, 2020. Accessed April 18, 2021. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/6/17/unprecedented-why-a-modest-health-and-equity-funder-is-digging-deep-for-democracy.