The Tara Health Foundation is a grantmaking foundation that funds pro-abortion groups and abortion-rights-related causes. It was founded in 2014 by former Kaiser Permanente researcher Ruth Shaber, who is executive director and board chair. [1] [2]
Programs
The Tara Health Foundation focuses its funding in five areas: domestic reproductive health, global health, gender lens investing, impact investing, and “other women and girls initiatives.” [3]
The Foundation’s website provides several key examples of its models of funding “in action.” [4]
Integrated Capital
The Foundation’s premier example of providing financial assets such as debt refinancing and grants is its involvement with Whole Woman’s Health, the abortion facility in Texas which challenged pro-life Texas laws at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled in favor of Whole Woman’s Health in 2016, but according to the Foundation the abortion center faced financial difficulties in light of the laws it fought. The Foundation helped refinance Whole Woman’s Health’s debt at a low rate and provided “an unrestricted grant” to the group’s nonprofit sister group to reopen an abortion center. [5]
The Foundation provided $683,000 to Whole Woman’s Health through two financial vehicles. [6]
Leveraging Assets
The Foundation’s premier example of using non-financial resources to support its agenda is its role as executive producer and a royalty-based investment in the documentary Birthright: A War Story. The documentary frames pro-life laws in U.S. states as attacks on women’s rights and a “resulting public health crisis,” according to the Foundation. [7] The total investments were $1,005,000 in a direct grant and $675,000 in investment. [8]
“100 Percent” for Mission
Tara Health Foundation’s overarching goal of making left-wing reproductive health priorities public policy is always its goal for involvement and investment. Its premier example of this strategy is its equity in Cadence, a startup focused on making birth control accessible over-the-counter. Cadence seeks federal approval for one of its contraceptives, and the Foundation is involved with the entirety of Cadence’s business strategy. [9] The total amount of funding from the Foundation is $600,000. [10]
Collaboration
The Foundation involves itself with outside organizations to help those groups meet goals. Its premier example of this strategy is a series of three grants provided to Planned Parenthood. Two of the grants were ordered toward research; the third was for increased corporate engagement, including hiring new staff. [11] The total amount of funding is $3.54 million. [12]
Other Funding
Tara Health Foundation provided $4.8 million was provided by in 2015 to the Bay Area Research Consortium on Toxic Stress and Health. The money was used to research “how childhood adversity affects children’s health.” [13]
The Foundation invested $4.1 million invested in Breckinridge Capital Advisors, an investment advisory firm with “municipal investments” which “examine and rank…gender wage gap, nutrition, medical care availability and sexual assault risks” for purposes of investing in “high-scoring counties…” According to the Foundation, Breckinridge prioritizes women-owned businesses in its corporate investments. The Foundation invested in Breckinridge because it broadens their scope of funding and due to the investment firm’s willingness to apply “a unique range of gender lens criteria.” [14]
The foundation invested $2 million in the Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights portfolio through Merrill Lynch. The Foundation invested this money in approximately 30 companies at the advice of its wealth advisors at Merrill Lynch. [15]
Tara Health provided $960,000 to Jacaranda Health for purposes of building maternity clinics in Kenya. Jacaranda Health has received one of three SafeCare Level 5 awards in Africa, and is involved in assisting women during and after pregnancy and abortion. The Foundation provided grants totaling $560,000 and an investment of $400,000.
Tara Health Foundation provided $250,000 to the abortion advocacy group NARAL in 2017 to help the group pressure American businesses to support abortion and abortion-related activism. [16]
The Reproductive Health Investors Alliance (RHIA) received $6.7 million was provided to, a group which focuses on investment opportunities which push left-leaning priorities in reproductive health. The Foundation provided the money for research and to help RHIA’s infrastructure. [17]
Tara Health Foundation pledged $20 million to a consortium of groups which aimed to provide free contraceptives to women on public college campuses in California. [18]
Other Programs
The Tara Health Foundation pushes its left-leaning agenda in a number of ways outside of its four “model” strategies. It launched a fellowship in 2018, and as of May 22, 2019 has had two fellows –feminist writer and researcher Iris Kuo and financial consultant Stasia Obremskey. Obremskey eventually received a position at RHIA. [19]
The Foundation also “supported” five reports and an interactive map, including $93,000 which was provided to the Wharton Social Impact Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. The reports focus on abortion and feminism. [20]
BigDatabase.com reports that the Foundation provided $25,000 in 2016 to the Everytown for Gun Safety organization, a gun control group. The environmental group Sustainable Environmentalism received $12,500 in 2015 and 2014, respectively. [21]
Funding
Tara Health Foundation tax returns show that the Foundation had assets totaling $83,206,441 and revenues which totaled $25,091,004 in 2017. [22]
The Foundation’s 2016 990 shows $77 million in revenues and $7,134,229 in expenses. Over $57 million was donated by Shaber to the Foundation. [23] Much of Shaber’s wealth and the foundation’s endowment derived from her ex-husband David Hung, whom she divorced in 2013. [24] Hung founded Medivation, which he sold to Pfizer for $14.3 billion in 2016. [25]
Shaber donated $10 million in 2014, which was virtually all of the Foundation’s revenue that year. [26] She donated all of the Foundation’s 2015 revenues of $1,003,082 million. [27]
Leadership
Ruth Shaber founded the Tara Health Foundation in 2014 after 24 years as a physician. She was previously the head of obstetrics and gynecology for Kaiser from 1997 to 2003 and founded a women’s health research component of Kaiser’s Northern California chapter. Before leaving, she served in other roles with Kaiser. She sits on the board of directors for Jacaranda Health and is on the Medical Advisory Committee for Planned Parenthood. [28]
Rivka Gordon is the board secretary for Tara Health Foundation. She sits on the Planned Parenthood National Medical Committee and is chief of staff for clinical care and innovation in the Kaiser Permanente Federation in California. [29]
Elise Belusa is in charge of Tara Health Foundation’s grantmaking. She has worked with multiple pro-abortion research groups, such as Ibis Reproductive Health. She worked internationally on “reproductive health research and service delivery” prior to coming to the Foundation. [30]
Ellen George oversees financial and administrative management at Family Philanthropy Advisors. She is the operations manager for the Foundation in addition to sitting on other organizations’ boards of directors. [31]
Emiko Higashi has a background in investment banking and has been involved in technology and venture capitalism. She founded two different firms and serves on several boards in addition to being the Foundation’s treasurer. [32]