Surdna Foundation

Surdna’s advocacy efforts generally support left-of-center organizations, focusing on three left-of-center issue areas: environmentalism, economic redistribution, and political advocacy through the arts.²

The Surdna Foundation is a major player among left-of-center advocacy funders. Surdna is reportedly an institutional member of the Democracy Alliance and co-hosted events at a Democracy Alliance post-2016 election strategy conference alongside many other left-of-center influencers to organize opposition to the Trump administration “on health care, immigration, taxes and the economy, climate, LGBT rights, the Supreme Court, and so much more.” ³

Background

Former U.S. Representative and Mayor of Yonkers, New York John Emory Andrus (R-NY) founded the Surdna Foundation in New York City during 1917⁴ to pursue a range of philanthropic efforts to provide direct service to those in need.⁵

In 1989, The Surdna Foundation established “programs in environment and community revitalization and decided to enlarge the professional staff.” In 1994, the foundation added programs in “effective citizenry” and the arts.⁵

The Surdna Foundation has moved away from Andrus’s personal political philosophy. Andrus’s biographer,  George P. Morrill, wrote that Andrus was “the complete laissez-faire businessman. He believed in simple capitalism all his life.”⁶ Many of the organizations that Surdna funds are anti-free market, such as the Natural Resources Defense Council,⁷  the left-wing community organizing group Center for Popular Democracy,⁸ and the Clean Energy Group, to support weather-dependent energy companies⁹

Activities and Policies

As of 2026, the Surdna Foundation affirms that “social justice guides our internal operations, our programmatic work and our grantmaking partnerships.” Moreover, the group advocates for the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity, stating that its vision is to facilitate an “equitable, and sustainable society in which all individuals can reach their full potential.”  ¹⁰

The Surdna Foundation has consistently backed major liberal movements. Surdna directly donated to a Black Lives Matter chapter in Minneapolis,¹¹ and has also given to other left-of-center organizations such as People Organized to Win Employment Rights,⁷ National Domestic Workers Alliance,⁷ and the Movement Strategy Center.⁷

Additionally, Surdna has supported liberal magazines such as Mother Jones ⁷ and the American Prospect. ⁷

In 2017, the Surdna Foundation announced a plan to give $100 million in grants, or 10 percent of its endowment, to “social justice” causes. In 2019, the foundation’s president, Don Chen, contextualized this initiative in terms of “building an inclusive economy” and “increasing democratic participation by strengthening the power and expertise of often overlooked communities of color to shape decisions that impact their lives.”  ^{12  13}

Environmentalism

Surdna provides environmental grants to numerous left-wing environmental organizations to promote green infrastructure and building requirements, and to use energy systems to shift power to low-income and minority communities.¹⁴

For 2017-2018 Surdna Foundation gave $105,000 to the left-wing Rockefeller Family Fund to address energy issues and help coal and power plant communities transition away from coal.⁷

The foundation has also given at least $1.4 million to the environmentalist Natural Resources Defense Council to address climate change and inequitable development practices; nearly $500,000 to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, $500,000 to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, about $1.2 million to the Clean Energy Group for federal and state weather-dependent energy policy support, about $2 million to the labor union-affiliated BlueGreen Alliance, and about $1.2 million to Climate Interactive to expand the group’s social, environmental, and climate costs simulator nationwide.¹⁵

Economic Policy

Surdna provides grants to advance social left-wing policies that seek to improve the “quality and availability of jobs for low-income people, communities of color, immigrants, and women.”¹⁶

Surdna Foundation has provided $600,000 to the Alliance for a Just Society; $350,000 to Asian Americans for Equality; about $400,000 to the Aspen Institute; about $100,000 to the Center for American Progress; about $1.2 million to Emerald Cities Collaborative; $1.3 million to PolicyLink; $2.4 million to Brookings Institution; and about $1.2 million to Race Forward.⁷

Advocacy Arts Funding

The Surdna Foundation supports advancing the arts to become “economic engines and agents for social change.”¹⁷

From 2013 through 2018, the Surdna Foundation has given about $1.7 million to the Center for Cultural Innovation intending to support artists and provide resources and gifts to artists to increase production.¹⁸

Other grants include almost $800,000 to Efforts of Grace; $1.3 million to First Peoples Fund; about $300,000 to Global Action Project, Inc.; about $900,000 to National Association of Latino Arts and Culture; and about $500,000 to the Sundance Institute.⁷

The Courage Project

In 2025, the Surdna Foundation joined a coalition of left-of-center groups to launch The Courage Project, a national initiative recognizing “everyday acts of civic bravery” by individuals and nonprofit organizations across the United States. The project was established with an initial $5 million commitment and provides awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to support grassroots civic engagement efforts.¹⁹

Meet the Moment Initiative

In 2025, the Surdna Foundation partnered with the Trust Based Philanthropy Project through its “Meet the moment” initiative. This initiative seeks to bring its supporters together “in solidarity with nonprofits.” The group claims that the political climate could pose risks to nonprofits through reductions in funding, legal concerns, and lack of staff. ²⁰

Catalytic Capital Consortium

In 2025, Surdna joined the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) along with the Ford Foundation and the Sorenson Impact Foundation. C3 was founded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Omidyar Network. C3 claims the MacArthur Foundation has invested $123 million towards advancing the funding collaborative’s aims. C3 is primarily focused on funding social and environmental issues from a left-of-center perspective. Other members include the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Walton Family Foundation. ^{21 22}

Democracy Alliance

Also see Democracy Alliance (Other Group)

Surdna Foundation is reportedly a partner in the secretive left-wing major donor consortium Democracy Alliance.³

In November 2016, the Surdna Foundation co-hosted an environmental caucus meeting with billionaire Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate organization at the Democracy Alliance’s 2016 post-election conference. The panel focused on the effects of climate change on low-income communities.³

In 2016, the Foundation gave the Democracy Alliance a $30,000 grant.²³ From 2014 through 2017, the Foundation gave at least $1.145 million⁷ to organizations recommended by the Democracy Alliance.²⁴

Criticism

Opposition to the Trump Administration

In November 2016, following the first election of President Donald Trump, the Surdna Foundation released a statement saying that the election “resulted in a president-elect who ran on policies and rhetoric that are at odds with the values of. . . Surdna.”²⁵

Surdna co-hosted events at a post-election Democracy Alliance conference that labeled the prospect of President Trump’s first 100 days in office as a “terrifying assault on President Obama’s achievements-and on our progressive vision for an equitable and just nation.”³

Then-Surdna Foundation president Phil Henderson noted that under Trump’s administration, he expected to miss the “cooperative problem solving” that he received from the Obama administration.²⁶

Throughout the first Trump presidency, the Surdna Foundation circulated anti-Trump news stories and denounced Trump’s reversal of Obama-era policies like the Federal Transportation Jobs Program. ²⁷

Coastal Bias

In an interview assessing the reasons for Trump’s victory, Surdna president Phil Henderson admitted that his organization “had made a mistake in its previous operations strategy.” Henderson acknowledged that the Surdna Foundation was “emblematic” of the geographic bias toward the coasts and bigger cities “where it’s easy to work” in left-wing philanthropy, avoiding places more skeptical of left-wing agendas and interests.²⁶

Funding and Overview

In 2024, the Surdna Foundation reported $56,966,218 in revenues, $77,062,549 in expenses, and $1,086,863,920 in net assets.  ²⁸

In 2020, the Living Cities: National Community Development Initiative gave $243,750 to the Surdna Foundation.  ²⁹

In 2019, the Alliance For California Traditional Arts gave $50,000 to the Surdna Foundation.  ³⁰

In 2017, the Center for Cultural Power gave $75,000 to the Surdna Foundation.  ³¹

Investments

The Surdna Foundation invests its money in a number of organizations that are antithetical to the organization’s purported goals. This allows Surdna’s endowment to grow from the actions of companies that the Foundation or its grantees decry. In 2015, the Foundation made $51 million in income from investment dividends and capital gains and $71 million in “partnership income.”³²

In 2015, Surdna invested $353,000 with agricultural conglomerate Monsanto.³³ In 2016 Surdna grantee NRDC criticized Monsanto for seeking a merger with pesticide maker Bayer³⁴ and another Surdna grantee (the Environmental Working Group) has been a major opponent of Monsanto.³⁵

Similarly in 2015, Surdna Foundation owned over a million dollars worth of stock in payday lenders First Cash Financial and Lending Club.³³ These investments stand in stark contrast to their liberal economic development mission, specifically seeing how in 2016 Surdna funded four local financial institutions as a means to help individuals avoid payday lenders.³⁶

Also in 2015, Surdna owned almost $400,000 of Corrections Corporation of America stock³³ while at the same time giving million-dollar grants to the Good Jobs First organization, which is a major opponent of private prisons.³⁷

In 2015, Surdna owned stock in other companies whose industry or corporate policies run afoul of the Foundation’s mission and advocacy, including approximately $1 million split between Las Vegas Sands, Southwestern Energy, and Chipotle and over $18 million sitting in Bain Capital funds. ³³ The Bain Capital investments are of note because Surdna Foundation gave grants to Mother Jones, ⁷ the liberal magazine that first reported on former Bain consultant and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks on the campaign trail in 2012.³⁸

Grantmaking

In 2024, the Surdna Foundation gave $475,000 to Alternate ROOTS Inc, $650,500 to the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation – BuildUS, $647,000 to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, $375,000 to Allied Media Projects Inc, $400,000 to the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Foundation, $400,000 to the Color Of Change Education Fund, $650,000 to the Common Counsel Foundation, $362,600 to Community LIFT, $425,000 to the Chinese Progressive Association, $350,000 to the Center for Cultural Innovation, $475,000 to the East Bay Community Foundation, $350,000 to the Economic Policy Institute, $350,000 to Efforts of Grace, $371,746 to the Equal Justice Initiative, $500,000 to Fractured Atlas Productions, $403,750 to the Groundswell Fund, $475,000 to Hester Street, $425,000 to the Highlander Research & Education Center, $435,000 to the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, $2,000,000 to the John E. Andrus Memorial, $500,000 to Jobs to Move America, $675,000 to the Jobs with Justice Education Fund, $2,000,000 to the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial, $905,000 to Living Cities, $400,000 to the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production, $350,000 to the Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, $350,000 to MuckRock, $950,000 to the Neighborhood Funders Group, $775,000 to the NDN Collective, $2,280,500 to the New Venture Fund, $825,000 to One Fair Wage, $550,000 to OTV: Open Television, $475,000 to the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, $475,000 to the  National Performance Network, $553,750 to PolicyLink, $700,000 to PowerSwitch Action, $350,000 to the Partnership for Southern Equity, $425,000 to Race Forward, $400,000 to the Right to the City Alliance, $520,500 to the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, $500,000 to the Sustainable Economies Law Center, $400,000 to the Sweet Water Foundation, $400,000 to Taproot Earth, $400,000 to the Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, $350,000 to The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, $775,000 to Third Sector New England, $475,000 to Threewalls, $365,000 to the Tides Center, and $480,000 to the Transforming Power Fund.  ³⁹

In a report entitled “Barriers to Louisiana Energy Dominance” published by the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, the Surdna Foundation was named as a top 30 out-of-state donor to Louisiana-based anti-fuel-energy advocacy groups that make up the coalition Louisiana Against False Solutions. The Surdna Foundation reportedly made $802,000 in grants to these groups between 2020 and 2025.  ⁴⁰

People

President

As of April 2026, Don Chen was the president of the Surdna Foundation, a position he began in 2018. Previously, he was the director of the Ford Foundation’s Cities and States program, the founder and CEO of Smart Growth America, and a research manager at the Surface Transportation Policy Project. He has been on the board of directors of Philanthropy New York, Living Cities, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Hispanics in Philanthropy, the Asian American Foundation, and the Yale School of the Environment. In 2019, Chen described the U.S. economy as “deeply inequitable,” adopting language influenced by critical race theory.  ^{41  13}

Phillip W. Henderson preceded Chen as president of the Surdna Foundation, having served since May 2007. ⁴² Prior to his work at the Surdna Foundation, Henderson worked at the German Marshall Fund of the United States since 1998 where he headed a multitude of projects and obtained the role of Vice President before leaving for The Surdna Foundation. ⁴² Philanthropy observers have identified Henderson’s appointment to head Surdna as the point at which the Surdna Foundation became more explicitly interested in left-of-center political advocacy under the banner of “social justice.” ⁴³

Board of Directors

As of April 2026, the Surdna Foundation’s board of directors was made up of Amachie Ackah; Davis Benedict; Gary Hall; Caitlin Boger-Hawkins; Melissa D’Arienzo; Michelle DePass of the Meyer Memorial Trust; Cameron Griffith, who was founding board member of the Andrus Family Fund; Miguel Santana of the California Community Foundation; Ommeed Sathe; Beth Shogren of Green Minneapolis; Tim Thorpe of Pathways Health Crisis Resource Center; Peter Voorhees; and Shari Wilson.  ⁴⁴