The Sagner Family Foundation is a private foundation located in New York City. The organization was established in 2017, though it had charitable trust status as early as 1961. ¹² The Foundation supports left-progressive advocacy groups that advance social, economic, and racial issues,³ including the Tides Foundation, the ACLU, and Congressional Progressive Caucus Center. ⁴

Foundation president Deborah Sagner, the daughter of former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey commissioner and Clinton administration-era Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chair Alan Sagner, is a prominent donor to left-progressive racial advocacy associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and the radical-left Movement for Black Lives organization that purports to lead it. ⁵

Leadership

Deborah Sagner is the president of the Sagner Family Foundation. ⁶ She is the daughter of the late Alan Sagner, the former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting during the Clinton administration. ⁷ She earns $99,640 in her role as president of the family foundation. ⁸

She has made several donations to the Movement for Black Lives, a radical-left-aligned⁹ organization within the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020, she gave $50,000 to the organization. ¹⁰ Also in 2020, she signed a letter asking for a congressional mandate for nonprofits to give at least 10 percent of their assets to charitable causes, rather than the current 5 percent requirement, as a temporary condition during the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹¹

As of summer 2020, individuals listing the Sagner Family Foundation as their employer had given thousands of dollars in disclosed contributions to Democratic political candidates and left-leaning candidates. The contributions to candidates include U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), according to Open Secrets, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics that tracks campaign contributions. ¹²

Funding Projects

The Sagner Family Foundation helped fund a $5.5 million donation to the Newark Museum in 2017 for opening the front entrance that had been closed for two decades. ¹³

In 2018, the Foundation made substantial grants to the illegal immigrant advocacy group Movimiento Cosecha (through ActBlue Charities), liberal grantmaker North Star Fund, left-progressive organizing group Public Policy and Education Fund, LGBT advocacy group Southerners on New Ground, and the pass-through funding entity Tides Foundation. ¹⁴

1. “Sagner Family Foundation: A Nonprofit Corporation.” Manta. Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.manta.com/c/mkx3rtd/sagner-family-foundation-a-non-profit-corporation
2. “Sagner Family Foundation.” Big Data Base. Accessed July 4, 2020. http://www.bigdatabase.com/Big-DB/USFoundation-profiles/THE%20SAGNER%20FAMILY%20FOUNDATION-221711646.HTML
3. “Sagner Family Foundation.” Big Data Base. Accessed July 4, 2020. http://www.bigdatabase.com/Big-DB/USFoundation-profiles/THE%20SAGNER%20FAMILY%20FOUNDATION-221711646.HTML
4. Sagner Family Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV Line 3
5. Daniels, Alex. “The Movement for Black Lives Calls On Philanthropy to Provide $50 Million.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. June 10, 2020. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Movement-for-Black-Lives/248960
6. Daniels, Alex. “The Movement for Black Lives Calls On Philanthropy to Provide $50 Million.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. June 10, 2020. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Movement-for-Black-Lives/248960
7. Daniels, Alex. “The Movement for Black Lives Calls On Philanthropy to Provide $50 Million.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. June 10, 2020. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Movement-for-Black-Lives/248960
8. “Sagner Family Foundation.” Grantmakers. Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.grantmakers.io/profiles/v0/221711646-sagner-family-foundation/
9. French, David. “Black Lives Matter Keeps Getting More Radical – Will the Media Care?” National Review. National Review, August 9, 2016. https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/08/black-lives-matter-media-left-radical/.
10. Daniels, Alex. “The Movement for Black Lives Calls On Philanthropy to Provide $50 Million.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. June 10, 2020. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Movement-for-Black-Lives/248960
11. Daniels, Alex. “The Movement for Black Lives Calls On Philanthropy to Provide $50 Million.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. June 10, 2020. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/The-Movement-for-Black-Lives/248960
12. “Sagner Family Foundation.” Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary?id=D000037330
13. Strunsky, Steve. “After 20 Years, Newark Museum to Reopen its Main Entrance.” Newark Star-Ledger. May 31, 2017. Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.nj.com/essex/2017/05/after_20_years_newark_museum_to_reopen_its_main_en.html
14. Sagner Family Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2018, Part XV Line 3