The Smidt Family Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that supports groups that advance race-focused social policy, organizations that seek to halt legal proceedings to remove illegal immigrants, and organizations that provide housing, healthcare, and education services to children and the indigent.

Finances

In 2018, the Smidt Family Foundation received $1,445,597 in total revenue, ¹ incurred $41,001,800 in expenses, ² and possessed $82,619,983 in net assets. ³

History

The Smidt Family Foundation was created in 2007 by Eric and Susan Smidt. Eric Smidt is a businessman and CEO of Harbor Freight Tools, a direct-to-consumer tool retail company. Smidt started the business while in high school with his father, Allan Smidt. ⁴

Grantmaking

In 2018, the Smidt Family Foundation contributed to organizations that seek to advance race-focused activism and social policies, organizations that seek to halt immigration removal proceedings, and organizations that provide shelter and services to children and the indigent.

Race Focused Policies

The Smidt Family Foundation makes contributions to organizations that support race-focused social policies and activism. The foundation has supported InnerCity Struggle, an organization that incubates activists in Eastside Los Angeles and seeks to increase voter registration within Latino neighborhoods to advance left-progressive ideology. ⁵ InnerCity Struggle has participated in the Check the Sheriff Coalition, a group composed of many left-of-center organizations, including the National Lawyers Guild-LA and Black Lives Matter-LA. The coalition seeks to substantially curtail law enforcement’s ability to combat crime by requiring that an independent office within the Los Angeles County Police Department (LAPD) investigate allegations against police officers, require sensitivity training for police officers, and impose disciplinary measures against police officers. ⁶ The coalition has referred to LAPD deputy police officers as “deputy gang members,” ⁷ and claims that police officers harass the families of individuals shot by LAPD. ⁸ On May 10, 2021, the Check the Sheriff Coalition, along with other organizations, delivered a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, requesting that a United Nations report on “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies” in the United States that would take into account alleged “root causes that have enabled systemic racism and police violence, including the legacies of enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, and its context of colonialism.” ⁹

The foundation has contributed to Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs ($10,000), Equal Justice Initiative ($5,000), and InnerCity Struggle ($2,500). ¹⁰

Immigration

The Smidt Family Foundation has made contributions to Legal Aid Foundation and Public Counsel. ¹¹ Public Counsel provides free legal services to illegal immigrants that are subject to removal proceedings. ¹² The Legal Aid Foundation similarly provides services for illegal immigrants and attempts to support asylum and refugee petitions. ¹³ In 2018, the Smidt Family foundation contributed $18,000 to the Legal Aid Foundation and $100,000 to Public Counsel. ¹⁴

Child Services and Education

The majority of grantmaking made by the Smidt Family Foundation goes to organizations that support education, healthcare, and housing services for children.

In 2018, the foundation made contributions to Great Oaks Career Campuses ($100,000), Skills USA Foundation ($100,000), Great Oaks Career Campuses ($100,000), Coaching Corps ($100,000), Children’s Hospital Los Angeles ($85,000), Ventura County Office of Education ($80,700), Alliance for College Ready Public Schools ($50,000), Delaware Area Career Center ($50,000), Bucks County Technical High School ($35,000), Construction Careers Academy ($35,000), Foundation for Sciences and Mathematics Education($35,000), National Board for Professional Teaching Standards ($15,000), Angel Flight West ($10,000), Westside Children’s Center ($7,500), CASA of Los Angeles ($6,000), Queens Vocation and Technical High School ($5,000), The Mayhew Program ($5,000), Jefferson County Public Schools ($5,000), Youth Empowerment Project ($5,000), National Center for Construction Education Research ($5,000), Sacramento Office of Education ($5,000), Baby2Baby ($5,000), Oakland Technical High School ($5,000), Marshall Technical School ($5,000), Roseville City School District ($5,000), Discovery Science Center of Los Angeles ($5,000), Workforce Education Coalition ($5,000) Wicomico County Public Schools ($4,995), and Children Mending Hearts ($2,500). ¹⁵

Support for the Poor

The Smidt Family Foundation has made contributions to organizations that provide housing, healthcare, and food to the indigent and veterans. Organizations that have received contributions include American National Red Cross ($250,000), United Way of Greater Los Angeles ($125,000), National Center for Homeless Veterans ($100,000), States Veterans Initiative ($100,000), Food Forward ($60,000), Friends of the Saban Community Clinic ($15,000), Seniors First ($5,000), and International Medical Corps ($5,000). ¹⁶

Universities

The Smidt Family Foundation has contributed to various universities across the country. In 2018, the foundation made contributions to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania ($400,000), ¹⁷ Trustees of Columbia University ($25,000), ¹⁸ California State University Foundation ($5,000), ¹⁹ University of Southern California ($25,000), ²⁰ and Northern Arizona University Foundation ($5,000). ²¹

Controversy

In 2010, the founder of the Smidt Family Foundation, Eric Smidt, was sued by his father Allan Smidt for purportedly “looting” from Harbor Freight Tools to finance his own lavish lifestyle. ²² Allan Smidt alleged that his son leveraged company assets to access loans, which he used for personal gain. According to Allan Smidt’s complaint, Eric Smidt used the loans to purchase a $46 million estate in Beverly Hills, a $20 million Manhattan apartment, and a single painting worth $100 million. ²³ The case was settled out of court. ²⁴

Leadership

Eric Smidt is the executive director and president of the Smidt Family Foundation. Smidt began working for his father while in high school, first for his father’s struggling phone sales business, and then in Harbor Freight Tools, where he took on increasing responsibility over time in his twenties and became president of the company at the age of 25. ²⁵

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part I, line 12. 2018.
2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part I, line 26. 2018.
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part II, line 16. 2018.
4. “Eric Smidt” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-smidt/?sh=55619fc726fc
5. “Democracy” Innercity Struggle. https://www.innercitystruggle.org/democracy
6. “No Justice No Peace – Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Targeted Harassment of Grieving Families” Check the Sheriff Coalition. May 2021. Accessed August 1, 2021.
7. “No Justice No Peace – Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Targeted Harassment of Grieving Families” Check the Sheriff Coalition. May 2021. Accessed August 1, 2021.  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/608642aec0f6531f1411b0a8/t/609077012af19a6b8d378156/1620080386223/FINAL+LASD+Family+Harassment+Report.pdf
8. “No Justice No Peace – Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Targeted Harassment of Grieving Families” Check the Sheriff Coalition. May 2021. Accessed August 1, 2021.  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/608642aec0f6531f1411b0a8/t/609077012af19a6b8d378156/1620080386223/FINAL+LASD+Family+Harassment+Report.pdf
9. “Coalition Calls for United Nations Inquiry into US Police Violence” Human Rights Watch. May 10, 2021. Accessed August 1, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/10/coalition-calls-united-nations-inquiry-us-police-violence#
10. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-Schedule I). Smidt Family Foundation. Part II, line 3. 2018.
11. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
12. “Immigration Rights” Public Counsel. http://www.publiccounsel.org/practice_areas/immigrant_rights
13. “Immigration” Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. https://lafla.org/get-help/immigration/
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
15. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
16. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
18. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
19. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
20. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
21. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Smidt Family Foundation. Part XV, line 3. 2018.
22. “Eric Smidt” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-smidt/?sh=55619fc726fc
23. Hoops, Stephanie. “Harbor Freight CEO accused by parents of ‘looting’ company” VC Star. July 19, 2020. Accessed August 1, 2021. http://archive.vcstar.com/business/harbor-freight-ceo-accused-by-parents-of-looting-company-ep-368199642-348750891.html
24. “Eric Smidt” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-smidt/?sh=55619fc726fc
25. “Eric and Susan Smidt Pledge $25 Million Gift to LACMA’s Campaign” LACMA. October 29, 2016. Accessed August 1, 2021. http://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/Smidt%20announcement%20release%2010.29.16.pdf