John and Marcia Goldman Foundation

The bulk of the foundation’s giving goes to noncontroversial causes such as the arts, education, and healthcare, but it is also a large donor to left-of-center causes, especially anti-gun and pro-abortion organizations. The foundation is also a major donor towards Jewish causes and organizations. ¹

Overview

The John and Marcia Goldman Foundation is a San Francisco-based private grantmaking foundation. It is the gift giving vehicle for businessman John Goldman and his wife Marcia. ¹

The foundation was founded in 1997 to help underprivileged youth in the San Francisco Bay area. The size and scope of the foundation changed when John Goldman’s father, Richard, died in 2010. The foundation inherited a share of Richard Goldman’s foundation, which had assets of around $280 million. The foundation then began to take on a national focus. ¹

One of the foundation’s major focuses is the support of Jewish causes. It is a major contributor to numerous Jewish cultural and civil rights organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, which has been criticized for becoming an increasingly left-leaning organization. ¹

The foundation is also a major supporter of the arts and cultural institutions. John Goldman served as president of the San Francisco Symphony for twelve years. ¹

The foundation is also a major supporter of left-leaning causes. The major left-leaning causes that it supports are anti-gun and pro-abortion causes. It is a donor to Planned Parenthood and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, among other left-of-center causes. ¹

Leadership

John Goldman was born in 1949 in San Francisco to a wealthy Jewish family with ties to the Levi Strauss clothing company. As a teen, he took a trip to the Soviet Union where he learned to appreciate America’s ideals by experiencing Communism firsthand. The Soviet secret police even retrieved and investigated a letter that he dropped in a mailbox. ¹

He attended Swarthmore College and obtained his MBA from Stanford. After a brief stint working in the California state government, he joined his father’s insurance brokerage where he eventually became CEO. ¹

He married Marcia Goldman in 1979 and they have two grown children. ¹

The foundation has an executive director, Amy Lyons. ²

Finances

According to its 2019 tax return, the foundation had around $13.3 million in revenue and around $10.5 million in expenses. It had $300.8 million in assets. ²

Among the grants that were given in 2019 were $10,250 to the ACLU of Northern California; $125,000 to the Barack Obama Foundation; $10,000 to the Center for Reproductive Rights; $10,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund; $25,000 to NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation; $25,000 to the National Network Of Abortion Funds; $10,000 to Pathfinder International; $35,000 to Planned Parenthood; $10,000 to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte; $10,000 to Planned Parenthood Northern California; $5,000 to the Southern Center for Human Rights; and $5,000 to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project. ²

In 2017, the foundation gave $45,000 to the National Immigration Law Center, ³ part of the “Check the Sheriff” coalition. The coalition seeks the resignation of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva (D) and the investigation of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office by the California Attorney General. ⁴