The Kanter Family Foundation is a left-leaning grantmaking foundation operated by the descendants of the late Burt Kanter, who amassed a personal fortune while service as a notable tax attorney to celebrities and billionaires. The foundation’s board includes Burt Kanter’s son Josh, a left-leaning wealth advisor and donor who uses his family fortune to fund a variety of left-leaning causes, groups, and Democratic campaigns.

Left-leaning organizations funded by the foundation include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Brookings Institution, and the ProgressNow Education Fund. The foundation also donates to many left-leaning Utah-based organizations with which Josh Kanter is involved, including the education fund of the Alliance for A Better Utah, which he founded. Josh Kanter and his brother Joel Kanter are also members of the left-leaning funding collaborative the Democracy Alliance. ^{1 2}

Background

The Kanter Family Foundation was founded in 1990 with funds from the estate of the late Burt Kanter, who amassed a personal fortune while working as a well-known tax attorney to celebrities and billionaires. Among Burt Kanter’s most notable clients were Chicago’s Pritzker family, a family made up of the heirs to the Hyatt hotel chain which includes notable democratic donors and politicians such as Obama Administration Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D). ³

Burt Kanter was allegedly deeply associated with Castle Bank and Trust, a scandal-plagued Bahamas-based bank that was ultimately shut down amid allegations that it was used for tax evasion for wealthy families and organized crime members; the bank was also reportedly used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to funnel money towards covert operations. Burt Kanter was acquitted on tax evasion charges stemming from Castle Bank and Trust in 1977 while his law partner was convicted of similar charges. ^{4 5 6}

According to the most recently available tax documents as of 2021, the foundation manages total assets valued at just over $10 million. ⁷

Art Collection

Aside from the Kanter Family Foundation, the Kanter Family maintains a large art collection through a holding company called Art Enterprises, Limited. The family’s art collection at one point numbered over 1,200 pieces. ⁸

Organizations funded

The Kanter Foundation has assets totaling just over $10 million and distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, mostly to left-leaning advocacy organizations across the United States including many local to Utah, where Josh Kanter lives, such as the education fund of Alliance for a Better Utah. The foundation also funds a handful of ostensibly nonpartisan charitable causes. ⁹

Organizations funded by the foundation include the Alliance for a Better Utah Education Fund, the ACLU Utah, Action Utah, Black Student Fund, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Mellon University, Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, Equal Justice America, Equality Utah, HEAL Utah, the Jerusalem Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, ProgressNow Education, the Utah Contraceptive Research Fund, Voices for Progress, and the William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ¹⁰

Josh Kanter

Josh Kanter, the son of Burt Kanter, was raised in Chicago and completed undergraduate studies at Emory University before following in his father’s footsteps and graduating from the University of Chicago Law School in 1987. Following law school, Kanter began working in real estate, corporate, and securities law at Chicago-based law firm Barack Ferrazzano. In 1999, he began working as counsel for the firm until he left the firm in 2020. ¹¹

Kanter’s most notable case as an attorney was the handling of his own family’s estate following his father’s death which involved several disputes with the IRS causing the ensuing litigation to be elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kanter touts his handling of his family’s case in his promotion of Josh Kanter Wealth Advisory Services. ^{12 13}

Josh Kanter founded Josh Kanter Wealth Advisory Services in 2019, a firm that provides consulting and advisory services for clients managing multi-generational wealth. Kanter touts his experience in his own family’s family office and estate planning and offers services that include setting up a family office, trust, estate, and tax planning, risk mitigation, and philanthropy consulting. ¹⁴

In 2011, Kanter founded the Alliance for a Better Utah, a left-leaning advocacy group that promotes left-of-center policy in Utah, a predominately right-of-center state politically. The organization operates several projects promoting left-of-center approaches to climate change, race, abortion, and taxes as well as promoting opposition research against elected Republicans in the state. ¹⁵

1. “Josh Kanter.” Community Foundation of Utah. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://utahcf.org/about-us/board/josh-kanter
2. “Alliance for a Better Utah.” Truth Utah. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://truthutah.com/organizations/alliance-for-a-better-utah/
3. “From the Grave, Tax Lawyer to Rich Beats IRS Again.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, December 15, 2009. https://www.forbes.com/2009/12/15/irs-tax-court-pritzker-billionaire-personal-finance-burton-kanter.html?sh=545c349c1615.
4. Attorney is Acquitted of Tax Evasion Charges.” New York Times Archives. September 13, 1977. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/13/archives/attorney-is-acquitted-of-taxevasion-charges.html?_r=0
5. “Alliance for a Better Utah.” Truth Utah. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://truthutah.com/organizations/alliance-for-a-better-utah/
6. Drinkhall, Jim. “CIA Helped Quash Major, Star-Studded Tax Evasion Case.” The Washington Post. WP Company, April 24, 1980. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/04/24/cia-helped-quash-major-star-studded-tax-evasion-case/a55ddf06-2a3f-4e04-a687-a3dd87c32b82/.
7. “IRS form 990.” Kanter Family Foundation. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/363682199/11_2020_prefixes_27-37%2F363682199_201910_990PF_2020112517458465?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_GRs1vXwlt0RT978tCgeFyGIKU.zd1kxzH3tglTA0ZRg-1631301450-0-gqNtZGzNApCjcnBszQpR
8. “Josh Kanter.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-kanter/
9. “IRS form 990.” Kanter Family Foundation. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/363682199/11_2020_prefixes_27-37%2F363682199_201910_990PF_2020112517458465?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_GRs1vXwlt0RT978tCgeFyGIKU.zd1kxzH3tglTA0ZRg-1631301450-0-gqNtZGzNApCjcnBszQpR
10. “IRS form 990.” Kanter Family Foundation. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/363682199/11_2020_prefixes_27-37%2F363682199_201910_990PF_2020112517458465?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_GRs1vXwlt0RT978tCgeFyGIKU.zd1kxzH3tglTA0ZRg-1631301450-0-gqNtZGzNApCjcnBszQpR
11. “Josh Kanter.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-kanter/
12. “Home.” Josh Kanter Wealth Advisory Services. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://joshkanter.com/
13. “Estate of Burton W. Kanter, Deceased, Joshua S. Kanter, Executor, and Naomi Kanter, Petitioners-appellants, v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent-appellee, 337 F.3d 833 (7th Cir. 2003).” Justia US Law. Accessed September 13, 2021.  https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/337/833/588128/
14. “Home.” Josh Kanter Wealth Advisory Services. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://joshkanter.com/
15. ^[1] “Author: Josh Kanter.” Alliance for a Better Utah. Accessed September 13, 2021. https://betterutah.org/author/josh-kanter/