Schooner Foundation

Grantmaking Activity

In 2017 alone, the Schooner Foundation disbursed $9,099,896 in grants to various nonprofit organizations. ² The Foundation provided grants to nonprofits in a range of issue areas, including education, healthcare, electoral procedures, environmentalist energy, and criminal justice. The Foundation gave nearly a third of these grants to schools and universities, totaling $2,913,539 in 2017. ²

Social Issues

The Schooner Foundation provides grants to numerous left-of-center social issue organizations, ranging from criminal justice to healthcare. In addition to providing grants in specific issue areas, the Schooner Foundation gave a $100,000 grant to the Tides Foundation in 2017. ² The Tides Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization to which individuals can provide donations, then the Tides Foundation redirects the funding to another organization chosen by the donor or its advisory board. ³

The Foundation has offered numerous grants to hospitals and other healthcare organizations, with grants to health causes totaling $1,968,569. Most of these grants were given to international health development programs, including $100,000 to Nyaya Health and $750,000 to Seed Global Health Inc for the purpose of developing community-based healthcare delivery systems. ² The Schooner Foundation also gave substantial grants to domestic health organizations, including $589,569 to the RYR-1 Foundation, $250,000 to Massachusetts General Hospital, and $169,000 to DotHouse Health Inc. ² DotHouse focuses on providing health services to uninsured patients, including “emergency contraceptive” care. ⁴ The Schooner Foundation has openly supported abortion, giving $10,000 to Planned Parenthood of Middle and Eastern Tennessee in 2017. ²

The Foundation has also been active in promoting left-of-center criminal justice reform, giving $20,000 to the ACLU Foundation of Tennessee and $200,023 to the left-of-center legal think tank Brennan Center for Justice in 2017. ²

The Schooner Foundation has also given numerous grants to left-of-center organizations which focus on wealth redistribution by tax increases on wealthy and middle-class Americans, including a $100,011 grant to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and $500,000 to Dream Corps. ²

Environmentalism

In recent years, the Schooner Foundation has become increasingly involved in the environmentalism movement, offering $675,000 in grants to environmentalist organizations in 2017 alone. Several of these grants focused on efforts to conserve oceans, including $300,000 to the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA). ²

In 2017, the Foundation gave $10,000 to the Global Greengrants Fund and $125,000 to Conservation International, both left-of-center environmentalist activism groups. Global Greengrants gives micro-grants to fund community-based efforts to combat climate change, claiming to provide solutions for “environmental harm and social injustice.” ⁵ Conservation International is a research firm which uses environmental research to justify large scale environmental intervention by the government. ⁶

Media and Community Organizing

Aside from providing grants in specific issue areas, the Schooner Foundation has provided funding for various left-of-center organizing and media organizations.

In 2017, the Schooner Foundation gave $100,000 to American Oversight, a left-of-center watchdog organization which launched in March 2017 and conducts opposition research investigating the Trump administration using the Freedom of Information Act. ^{2 7} The Foundation also provided $75,000 to the Center for Community Change, an organization which facilitates grassroots organizing for left-of-center policies ranging from immigration reform to the expansion of social welfare programs. ^{2 8}

The Schooner Foundation also promotes left-of-center ideology in media. In 2017, the Foundation gave $200,000 to the Foundation for National Progress, the organization which publishes left-wing Mother Jones magazine. ^{9 2} That same year, the Foundation gave $10,000 to the Nation Institute, now known as Type Media Center. ² The Foundation also gave $100,011 to Brave New Films, a left-of-center filmmaking nonprofit that creates documentaries to promote left-of-center ideals in areas such as gun control, voting reform, and economic inequality. ^{2 10}

People and Funding

The Schooner Foundation is a private family foundation funded primarily by investments in Iron Mountain Inc, an information management company, and other investments organized by Schooner Capital. ¹¹

Vin Ryan is the founder and primary trustee of the Schooner Foundation. He is the chairman of private equity firm Schooner Capital, which he founded in 1971. ¹² Ryan has served on numerous boards for left-of-center advocacy groups, including the Nature Conservancy, Brave New Films, and Physicians for Human Rights. ¹² Carla Meyer, Ryan’s wife, is also listed as a trustee of the Foundation. ¹³ Meyer is a social worker and philanthropist who also serves on the Boston University Board of Trustees. ¹⁴ Their children are also listed as trustees for the Schooner Foundation.