The Pivotal Foundation is a philanthropic giving organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2005, Pivotal Foundation provides grants and donations to several causes, including international awareness initiatives, global and local education, and numerous health, cultural, and civic organizations. The foundation has donated money to right-of-center and left-of-center groups, and remains largely apolitical. ^{1 2 3}

Francis Najafi is the founder of Pivotal Foundation. Najafi is an Iranian-American businessman and billionaire who has been accused of being an advocate for the Iranian regime within the United States. He has donated money to prominent anti-Israel Jewish groups such as J Street, Jewish Currents, and to the pro-Iranian advocacy group National Iranian American Council (NIAC). ^{1 3}

Notable Donations

Pivotal Foundation has made several large donations to local Arizona and global affairs organizations. In 2022, Pivotal Foundation donated $20,000 to American Ideas Institute, the parent company of media outlet the American Conservative; $100,000 to the Atlantic Council of the United States; $131,000 to the Arizona-based Barrow Neurological Foundation; $100,000 to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; $100,000 to the J Street Education Fund; $100,000 to the Iranian culture group Farhang Foundation; and $125,000 to the ULI Foundation, which endorses left-of-center diversity and environmental initiatives in the housing industry. ^{4 5}

In 2023, Pivotal Foundation donated $10,000 to American Ideas Institute; $118,500 to Arizona State University Foundation; $100,000 to J Street Education Fund; $25,000 to the Association for Promotion of Jewish Secularism which publishes Jewish Currents; 100,000 to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; $25,000 to Farhang Foundation; $100,000 to the National Iranian American Council (NIAC); $300,000 to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; and $19,000 to the ULI Foundation. ²

Francis Najafi

Francis Najafi, the founder of Pivotal Foundation, is a billionaire Iranian immigrant who owns an asset management firm and a part of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. He is a Phoenix-area philanthropist as well as a donor to left-of-center foreign affairs groups, Republican and Democratic candidates for office, and at least one pro-Iranian advocacy organization. ^{6 3} He is on the board of numerous academic and research organizations. ¹

In 2024, the Washington Free Beacon featured Najafi due to his multiple large donations to Jewish groups critical of Israel and to the pro-Iranian lobbying group National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), as well as for his presence on the board of directors of the foreign policy non-interventionist Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. ³

Political Donations

Francis Najafi has been criticized by both sides of the political aisle for his donations. In 2024, the conservative Washington Free Beacon profiled his donations to Jewish groups critical of Israel, the National Iranian-American Council, and other left-of-center organizations and candidates for office. Najafi defended donating to J Street Education Fund by noting that his donations total over $5 million annually, and that even the substantial $125,000 reported by J Street was a small amount compared to overall giving. ³

An article published by the left-of-center HuffPost about so-called “dark money” reported that Najafi and groups potentially tied to him gave at least $100,000 to 2016 Republican presidential candidates Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush. ⁷

In 2019, Open Secrets (a project of Center for Responsive Politics) reported that Najafi and his wife had given almost $600,000 to Republican-aligned groups and candidates and $100,000 to Democratic-aligned groups and candidates. ⁸ Najafi has given political donations using different entities since at least the 1990s to candidates in both parties. ⁹

Institutional Affiliations

Francis Najafi is on many academic and research boards, especially those focused on international and foreign affairs. In 2011, he sat on the board of the EastWest Institute, was a trustee of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and was governor of the ULI Foundation. ¹⁰

One of his most controversial board appointments was with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which has been criticized for its views on Israel and Iran. ¹¹

Najafi has also been on the board of the PARS Equality Center, a group focused on helping Iranian Americans integrate into American culture. He is also on the boards of several international business groups. ¹²

Financials

In 2023, Pivotal Foundation reported $24,784,772 in revenue, $2,636,920 in expenses, and $81,685,457 in total assets. ²

1. “Francis Najafi.” Quincy Institute. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/author/francis-najafi/
2. “Pivotal Foundation – 2023 Federal 990 Form.” ProPublica. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/203959093/202413209349108331/full
3. Goodman, Alana. “Meet the Iranian Donor Bankrolling Anti-Israel Jewish Groups.” Washington Free Beacon. May 20, 2024. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://freebeacon.com/israel/meet-the-iranian-donor-bankrolling-anti-israel-jewish-groups/
4. “About Us.” ULI Foundation. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://foundation.uli.org/about-us/
5. “Pivotal Foundation – 2022 Federal 990 Form.” ProPublica. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/203959093/202333189349106248/full
6. Evers-Hilstrom, Karl and Zychal, Kietryn. “Dark Money: Coming from a shell company near you.” Open Secrets. January 29, 2019. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/dark-money-coming-from-a-shell-company-near-you/
7.  Blumenthal, Paul. “We’re Still In The Dark About Some Super PAC Donors.” HuffPost. April 19, 2015. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/disclosed-super-pac-donations_n_55d38968e4b07addcb445bb7
8. Evers-Hillstrom, Karl; Zychal, Kietryn. “Dark Money: Coming from a shell company near you.” Open Secrets, January 29, 2019. Accessed February 7, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/01/dark-money-coming-from-a-shell-company-near-you/.
9.   Donor Lookup. Open Secrets. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=francis+najafi
10. “Pivotal Group CEO, F. Francis Najafi, Awarded Ellis Island Medal of Honor.” Business Wire. May 11, 2011. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110511005357/en/Pivotal-Group-CEO-F.-Francis-Najafi-Awarded-Ellis-Island-Medal-of-Honor
11. Rosen, Armin. “Washington’s Weirdest Think Tank.” Tablet Magazine. April 27, 2021. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/quincy-trita-parsi-soros-koch-armin-rosen
12. Francis Najafi. PARS Equality Center. Accessed February 2, 2025. https://parsequalitycenter.org/who-we-are/board/francis-najafi/?doing_wp_cron=1717941144.7483689785003662109375