The Kohlberg Foundation is a private family foundation founded by private equity billionaire Jerome Kohlberg and his wife Nancy in 1989, based in Mt. Kisco, New York. The foundation provides grants to numerous left-of-center organizations, focused on legal policy related to health programs, the environment, and education. ¹ In 2017, the Kohlberg Foundation was granted nearly $80 million in donations. ² In 2019, the foundation received only $21 million in grants. ³

Background

Jerome Kohlberg, the cofounder of the private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, and Company (KKR) and a pioneer of the leveraged buyout, formed the Kohlberg Foundation with his wife in 1989. ⁴.

At the age of 80, Kohlberg had a net worth of $1.2 billion. ⁵ Jerome Kohlberg died in 2015. ⁶ His wife Nancy served as president following her husband’s death until she passed away in August 2022 at the age of 92. ⁷ The organization’s website has not been updated to reflect a new president being chosen, but as of January 2023 Nancy McCabe is listed as the Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Executive Director for the Kohlberg Foundation. ⁸

Grantmaking Activity

While many of the Kohlberg Foundation’s grants go to local organizations in Westchester, New York, the foundation supports many left-of-center organizations affecting policy on a national level.

Legal Advocacy

The Kohlberg Foundation contributes millions of dollars to the William J. Brennan Center for Justice, a major liberal legal policy advocacy group, providing $3 million in support in 2017. ⁹ The foundation has also supported the Alliance for Justice, a legal policy organization that advocates against the nomination of conservative and Republican-appointed judges and in favor of left-wing and Democratic-appointed ones. ¹⁰ In 2021, the Kohlberg Foundation donated $500,000 in grants to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as to Southern Poverty Law Center. ¹¹

Environmental Advocacy

The Kohlberg Foundation is a regular funder of local and national environmental groups concerned with global warming and environmentalist energy policies. Environmentalist groups receiving contributions from the foundation include the Environmental Defense Fund and the Center for Biological Diversity. ¹²

Other Left-of-Center Policy

The Kohlberg Foundation makes grants to a number of general left-of-center advocacy organizations. In 2017, the Indivisible Fund, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ProPublica, the Marshall Project, and Young Invincibles received support from Kohlberg Foundation. ¹³ In past years, it has provided seven-figure contributions to the assisted-dying advocacy group Compassion and Choices. ¹⁴ In 2021, the Kohlberg Foundation donated roughly $900,000 to grassroots advocacy group Indivisible Civic Engagement, with another $500,000 donated to voter protection advocacy group Protect Democracy. ¹⁵

Donation Recipients

• Alliance for Justice (AFJ)
• Arabella Legacy Fund
• Berkshire Natural Resource Council
• Bill Moyers Journal
• BiodiversityWorks
• Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)
• Center for Health and the Global Environment
• Center for Political Accountability
• Chewonki Foundation
• City Life/Vida Urbana (Urban Revival, Inc.)
• Climate Impact Lab
• Climate Response Fund
• Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
• Compassion and Choices
• Council on Foundations
• Drive Change
• Earth Island Institute
• Earthjustice (formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund)
• EcoAmerica
• Economic Club of New York
• Educational Alliance
• Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Endangered Habitats League
• Energy Foundation
• Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
• Environmental Grantmakers Association
• Foundation Center
• Fractured Atlas Productions
• Franklin Land Trust
• Free Speech for People (Non-profit)
• Fund for Conductive Education (non-profit)
• Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO)
• Global Greengrants Fund
• Hands Up for Haiti
• Heifer Foundation
• Hemlock Foundation
• Hope Enterprise Corporation
• Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison
• Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
• Human Rights First
• Independent Production Fund
• Indivisible Civics
• International Community Foundation (ICF)
• International Rule of Law Project (IROLP)
• Institute for Integrative Health
• Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE)
• Jane Goodall Institute
• JustLeadershipUSA
• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• The Marshall Project
• Mass Audubon
• Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition
• Moyers on Democracy
• NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation
• National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP)
• National Parks Conservation Association
• Natural Resources Council of Maine
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
• New England Forestry Foundation
• New Jersey Conservation Foundation
• New York League of Conservation Voters
• Open Space Institute
• Oxfam America
• Pace Law School
• Partners in Health
• Partnership for Children’s Rights
• Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic
• ProPublica
• Population Council
• Progressive Voices Institute
• Proteus Fund
• Reinventing Schools Coalition
• Rocky Mountain Institute
• Schuster Institute for Investigative Reporting (Brandeis Univ)
• Schwab Charitable Fund
• Second Nature
• Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation
• Silent Spring Institute
• Slow Food USA
• Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs
• Surfrider Foundation
• Tides Center
• Trust for Public Land
• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Waterkeeper Alliance
• Wildcoast
• William J. Brennan Center for Justice
• World Education, Inc.
• Young Invincibles
• Youth INC

1. kohlbergfoundation.org. Accesssed August 15, 2019. http://kohlbergfoundation.org/files/2018/11/ar-fs-2017.pdf
2. Kohlberg Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part I Line 25
3. Suozzo, Andrea, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, and Brandon Roberts. “Kohlberg Foundation Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133496263/202043219349104404/full.
4. “Kohlberg Foundation.” Inside Philanthropy. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/fundraising-in-new-york-city/kohlberg-foundation
5. “#645 Jerome Kohlberg, Jr.” Forbes.com, February 13, 2006. Accesssed August 15, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/1CAW.html
6. De La Merced, Michael  J. “Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Pioneer of the Private Equity Industry, Dies at 90.” The New York Times, August 1, 2015. www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/business/dealbook/jerome-kohlberg-jr-90-a-pioneer-of-the-private-equity-industry-dies.html.
7. Wells, Julia. “Nancy Kohlberg, Quiet and Generous Force for Sustainable Living, Dies at 92.” The Vineyard Gazette – Martha’s Vineyard News, September 1, 2022. https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2022/09/01/nancy-kohlberg-quiet-force-sustainable-living-who-gave-generously-dies-92.
8. “Board & Staff.” The Kohlberg Foundation. Accessed January 20, 2023. http://kohlbergfoundation.org/board-staff/.
9. Kohlberg Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part XV Line 3
10. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of Metasoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the IRS. Queries conducted September 23, 2019.
11. “Kohlberg Foundation 2021 Annual Report.” Kohlberg Foundation. Accessed January 20, 2023. https://kohlbergfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/ar-2021.pdf.
12. Kohlberg Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part XV Line 3
13. Kohlberg Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part XV Line 3
14. Data compiled by FoundationSearch.com subscription service, a project of MetaSoft Systems, Inc., from forms filed with the IRS. Queries conducted September 23, 2019.
15. “Kohlberg Foundation 2021 Annual Report.” Kohlberg Foundation. Accessed January 20, 2023. https://kohlbergfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/ar-2021.pdf.