The Leonard & Sophie Davis Fund is a private foundation making grants to left-of-center organizations associated with health, education, and Jewish philanthropy. ¹ Alan Davis, the fund’s president, is an advisory board member of Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of rich individuals advocating for left-wing economic policies. ² Leonard Davis, the Fund’s namesake, founded the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company, and cofounded AARP, both of which were involved in non-profit mail scandals in the late 1970s. ³

The fund donated over $11 million dollars in 2016, with substantial annual contributions to notable left-wing advocacy groups like Demos, Tides Foundation, and Proteus Fund. ⁴

Background

Leonard Davis was the founder of the Colonial Penn Group of insurance companies and the co-founder acting president of AARP. Colonial Penn became an incredibly profitable company by being the sole group health insurance policy seller through AARP. ⁵ The US Postal Service headed a 2 ½ year investigation into these groups in the late 1970s, determining that AARP (and related group National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA)) acted as a marketing agent for Colonial Penn. ⁶ As principal stockholder, Davis was receiving $2.9 million in annual dividends from Colonial Penn. ⁷

Davis was a long-time supporter of the Democratic Party, contributing $100,000 to the unsuccessful 1974 New York gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Ogden Reid (D-NY). ⁸

In 2020, the Leonard & Sophie Fund, in collaboration with the WhyNot Initiative, launched the Crisis Charitable Commitment (CCC) to call on nonprofits and charitable foundations in doating 10% of their total earnings that year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. ⁹ It was around the time that Davis released on op-ed to Fortune news media site in July 2020 criticizing, “those who control private foundations, sit on donor-advised funds, and rank in the top 0.1% of households,” ¹⁰ as “hoarders” and urged them to donate to the CCC in order for the philanthropic community to “step up.” ¹¹

Board of Directors

Alan Davis is the son of Leonard and Sophie Davis and president and CEO of the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund. He is an advisory board member of The Patriotic Millionaires and the director of its WhyNot Initiative. ¹²

Mary Lou Dauray is the vice president and CFO of the Leonard and Sophie Davis fund, and wife of Alan Davis. She is a political fine artist whose work focuses on environmental issues, with strong anti-coal and anti-nuclear energy sentiments. ¹³

Grantmaking

The Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund funds a number of major left-of-center advocacy organizations. In the foundation’s 2016 tax year, it made a total of $11.9 million in grants to all recipients. ¹⁴

In the organization’s 2015 tax year, notable grant recipients included the liberal judicial policy group American Constitution Society, the far-left think tank Demos, anti-Electoral College advocacy group FairVote, the state-level organizing group Maine People’s Resource Center, the pass-through funding entity New Venture Fund, the Piper Fund, the Proteus Fund, and the Tides Foundation. ¹⁵

Donation Recipients

• 350.org
• ACLU of Northern California
• Agenda Project
• Alliance for a Just Society
• Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Institute (ACCE)
• America Votes Action Fund
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation
• American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
• American Constitution Society for Law and Policy
• American Technion Society
• Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS)
• Amnesty International USA (AIUSA)
• Appalachian Voices
• Ballot Initiative Strategy Center
• Bioneers
• Blueprint NC
• Bus Federation Civic Fund
• California Community Foundation
• California Budget and Policy Center
• California Calls
• California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)
• Carter Center
• Causa Justa Just Cause
• Center for American Progress (CAP)
• Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)
• Center for Public Interest Research
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
• Center on Policy Initiatives
• Citizen Engagement Laboratory (CEL)
• Common Cause Education Fund
• Community Catalyst
• Compassion and Choices
• Demos
• Earth Island Institute
• East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
• Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
• Every Voice
• Fairewinds Energy Education
• FairVote
• Free Speech for People
• Fund for the Republic
• Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP)
• Haight Ashbury Free Clinic
• Issue One
• Jewish Federation of New York
• Jewish Federation of Palm Beach
• Jobs With Justice Education Fund
• Just Alternatives
• Justice at Stake
• Kipp Foundation
• KQED
• Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly known as the Legal Community Against Violence)
• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (LCVEF)
• League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF)
• Leonard Davis Institute
• Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
• Maine People’s Resource Center
• MapLight
• ME Citizens For Clean Elections
• Media Matters for America
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
• Midwest Academy
• Movement Strategy Center
• Museum of Tolerance
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)
• National Economic & Social Rights Initiative
• NEO Philanthropy
• New Organizing Institute
• New Venture Fund (NVF)
• Nonviolence International
• Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD)
• Ottinger Foundation
• People for the American Way (PFAW)
• Piper Fund
• Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida
• Proteus Fund
• Public Campaign
• Real News Project (WhoWhatWhy)
• RePower Fund (Wellstone Action Fund)
• Responsible Endowments Coalition
• Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC)
• Roosevelt Institute
• San Francisco Foundation
• Sandy Hook Promise Foundation
• Sophie Davis School, CCNY
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
• State Innovation Exchange (SIX)
• State Voices
• Tides Foundation
• University of San Francisco
• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
• Vermont Workers’ Center
• Video Veracity
• Violence Policy Center (VPC)
• William J. Brennan Center for Justice
• Wooden Floor
• Working Partnerships USA

1. “Leonard and Sophie Davis.” The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. September 2019. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://en.davis.huji.ac.il/book/leonard-and-sophie-davis-0
2. “Who We Are.” Patriotic Millionaires. 2010. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://patrioticmillionaires.org/who-we-are/
3. Mintz, Morton. “2 Groups for Elderly May Lose Nonprofit Postal Status.” The Washington Post. January 3, 1979. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/03/2-groups-for-elderly-may-lose-nonprofit-postal-status/67c4968d-a978-4e4a-95f2-54a86f521020/
4. Leonard & Sophie Davis Fund, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part VX Line 3a
5. “Colonial Penn: What Next?” The New York Times. July 22, 1981. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/22/business/market-place-colonial-penn-what-next.html
6. Mintz, Morton. “2 Groups for Elderly May Lose Nonprofit Postal Status.” The Washington Post. January 3, 1979. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/03/2-groups-for-elderly-may-lose-nonprofit-postal-status/67c4968d-a978-4e4a-95f2-54a86f521020/

7. Mintz, Morton. “Two Nonprofit Organizations Accused as a ‘Cover.’” The Washington Post. May 3, 1978. Accessed September 5, 2019.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/05/03/two-nonprofit-organizations-accused-as-a-cover/155d9f05-e3a8-40d1-9d11-69284c7c79b6/
8. Wayne, Leslie. “Leonard Davis Dies at 76; Philanthropist and Insurer.” The New York Times. The New York Times, January 20, 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/20/business/leonard-davis-dies-at-76-philanthropist-and-insurer.html.
9. Davis, Alan. “Commentary: America’s Billionaires Have a Hoarding Problem.” Fortune. Fortune, July 14, 2020. https://fortune.com/2020/07/14/billionaires-philanthropy-coronavirus-crisis/.
10. Davis, Alan. “Commentary: America’s Billionaires Have a Hoarding Problem.” Fortune. Fortune, July 14, 2020. https://fortune.com/2020/07/14/billionaires-philanthropy-coronavirus-crisis/.
11. Davis, Alan. “Commentary: America’s Billionaires Have a Hoarding Problem.” Fortune. Fortune, July 14, 2020. https://fortune.com/2020/07/14/billionaires-philanthropy-coronavirus-crisis/.
12. “Who We Are.” Patriotic Millionaires. 2010. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://patrioticmillionaires.org/who-we-are/
13. “Bio.” Mary Lou Dauray. 2019. Accessed September 5, 2019. https://www.maryloudauray.com/bio/
14. Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part XV Line 3
15. Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2015, Part XV Line 3