Klarman Family Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that is the private foundation of investor Seth Karman, the brother of left-of-center academic Michael Klarman. ^{1 2 3}

In 2021 the Klarman Family Foundation donated $82 million to advance its philanthropic interests. ⁴ In 2020, the Foundation issued $80,750,139 in grants, including $16,250,000 to the left-of-center New Venture Fund (NVF) to support the Center for Secure and Modern Elections (CSME), the Voter Engagement Fund, and other initiatives; $2,000,000 to Facing History and Ourselves; $1,050,000 for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL);  $1,000,000 to Massachusetts Immigrant Collaborative; ⁵ $900,000 to Equal Justice Imitative;  $500,000 to the Tides Foundation; $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; $500,000 to NEO Philanthropy; and others. ⁶

Klarman Family Foundation founder Seth Klarman has given at least $3 million to the Democratic Party since the election of President Donald Trump. In the 2014 election cycle, he had been the largest political donor to the Republican Party in New England. ^{7 8}

History and Leadership

Klarman Family Foundation was founded in 1990 by Seth Klarman, president of the Baupost Group, and Beth Klarman. ⁹ The foundation received nonprofit status in 1991. ^{10 11}

Foundation founder Seth Klarman has given at least $3 million to the Democratic Party since the election of President Donald Trump. Previously, Klarman had been the largest political donor to the Republican Party in New England during the 2014 election cycle. ^{12 13}

In 2019, the Foundation hired David Berkowitz to manage the foundation’s assets in a move to give Klarman more time to manage his hedge-fund firm Baupost, which is known for profiting from trades such as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. ¹⁴

Kim McCabe is the executive director of the Klarman Family Foundation, ¹⁵ and Jonathan Horowitz runs the National and Democracy initiatives of the Klarman Family Foundation. ¹⁶

Activities and Funding

The Klarman Family Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that focuses its activities on promotion of democracy, advancing biological understanding of health and illness, and supporting the global Jewish community and Israel. ^{17 18} The foundation is also committed to the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity. ¹⁹

The Klarman Family Foundation reviews grant proposals on a by-invitation-only basis from entities whose goals and mission resonate with the trustees funding principals and areas of focus. ²⁰ It is one of the funders of left-of-center NEO Philanthropy’s State Infrastructure Fund (SIF) ²¹ and has partnered with the left-of-center Democracy Fund to establish the Legal Clinic Fund. ²² The foundation has also provided funds to the Mission Asset Fund to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gives temporary legal status to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. ²³

Klarman Family Foundation founders Beth and Seth Klarman have committed to give away half of their wealth to philanthropy by signing the Giving Pledge, which was created by Warren Buffett, Melinda French Gates, and Bill Gates. ^{24 25}

Grantmaking

In 2021 the Klarman Family Foundation donated $82 million to advance its philanthropic interests. ²⁶ In 2020, the Foundation issued $80,750,139 of grants, including $16,250,000 to the New Venture Fund (NVF) to support the Center for Secure and Modern Elections (CSME), the Voter Engagement Fund, and other initiatives; $2,000,000 to Facing History and Ourselves; $1,620,000 for Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston; $1,500,000 to American Jewish World Service Inc.; $1,050,000 to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL);  $1,000,000 to Massachusetts Immigrant Collaborative; ²⁷ $1,000,000 to Rian Immigrant Center; $1,000,000 to Boston Foundation; $900,000 to Equal Justice Imitative;  $500,000 to the Tides Foundation; $500,000 for Center for Disaster Philanthropy; $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; $500,000 to Community Care Cooperative; $500,000 to NEO Philanthropy; $400,000 to the German Marshall Fund of the United States; $250,000 to Campaign Legal Center; $250,000 for Jewish Funders Network; $250,000 to Georgetown University; $200,000 to Committee to Protect Journalists; $150,000 to Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus; $100,000 for Teach for America; $100,000 to Borealis Philanthropy; $100,000 to GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders; and others. ²⁸

In 2019, the foundation’s donations included $7,875,000 to the Broad Institute; $3,000,000 to the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston; $2,000,000 to Facing History and Ourselves; $1,250,000 to Year Up, Inc; $1,000,000 to Upstream USA; $800,000 to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL); $750,000 to Equal Justice Initiative (EJI); $700,000 to Edvestors; $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund;  $500,000 to Project Citizenship Inc; $500,000 to Protect Democracy Project (PDP);  $500,000 to the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America; $400,000 to German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF); $300,000 to The Project on Government Oversight; $300,000 to Western States Center; $250,000 to NEO Philanthropy; $250,000 to Washington Institute for Near East Policy; $250,000 to the William J. Brennan Jr. Center for Justice; $250,000 to Health Care For All; $200,000 to Keshet; $150,000 to National Center for Transgender Equality; $100,000 to Brookings Institution; and others. ²⁹

Funding

The Klarman Family Foundation is the private foundation of investor Seth Karman, the brother of left-of-center academic Michael Klarman. In 2019, the foundation received a $60,000,000 grant from Seth Klarman for its operating expenses. ³⁰

In 2020, the foundation reported revenue of $116,633,700 and expenses of $95,719,230. ³¹ In 2019, Klarman Family Foundation reported revenue of $95,381,386 and expenses of $81,818,103. ³²

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