The Walentas Foundation (also Walentas Family Foundation) is a grantmaking organization managed by billionaire father and son duo, David and Jed Walentas. The Walentas family’s Two Trees Management is a real-estate development company and the driving source of capital for the foundation. The family firm develops and transforms run-down neighborhoods in Brooklyn into postindustrial business and residential districts, like DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). ^{1 2}

The Walentas Foundation is the family’s private grantmaking arm through which it funds and invests in Brooklyn-area real estate, educational, and cultural projects. ^{1 2}

Philanthropy

The Walentas Foundation engages in various philanthropic activities, mostly through awarding grants to educational, cultural, and left-of-center causes in the Brooklyn area. In 2017, the Walentas Foundation awarded $350,000 in grants to 21 North Brooklyn schools through its Neighborhood School Grants program. The grants were intended to support school-determined initiatives like science, tech, literacy, and the arts. ³

In 2019, David Walentas announced a $100,000,000 grant to David Walentas’s alma mater, the University of Virginia. Most of the funds, which were to be paid over five to 10 years, were earmarked to help the school fund opportunities for first-generation college students. David Walentas was a first-generation student at UVA. ⁴

In 2022, the Walentas Foundation awarded a $30,000 grant to the Open Space Alliance (OSA) for North Brooklyn, a conservation group that advocates for increasing and protecting public parks in the Brooklyn area. ⁵

Leadership

Jed Walentas was a director at the Walentas Foundation and principal at Two Trees Management. ⁶ In 2019, Walentas launched the David Prize, named after his father David Walentas, which gives $1 million per year to an underrecognized New York City entrepreneur. ^{7 3}

David Walentas was a director at the Walentas Foundation and helped his son Jed Walentas run Two Trees Management. Walentas owns more than two dozen residential and commercial properties across Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, and Manhattan. He was worth over $2.3 billion at the time. ^{8 9}

Financials

In 2023, the Walentas Foundation reported $3,5950,000 in total revenue, $3,595,000 in total expenses, and $0 in total assets. ⁶ Each year since 2021, the foundation had spent all the money it receives in revenue. ¹⁰

1. “Walentas Family Foundation.” Idealist. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/08b985dcc6fd42bfa3afbaff46e0f4b8-walentas-family-foundation-brooklyn
2. Sherman, Gabriel. “The Flying Walentases.” New York Magazine. June 13, 2014. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://nymag.com/news/features/walentas-two-trees-management-company-2014-6/
3. Stremple, Paul. “North Brooklyn Schools Awarded $25,000 Grants for Individually Determined Programs. Bklynr. November 16, 2017. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://bklyner.com/north-brooklyn-schools-awarded-25000-grants-for-individually-determined-programs/
4. Coudriet, Carter. “Rags-To-Riches Billionaire David Walentas To Donate $100 Million To University Of Virginia, Helping First-Generation Students.” Forbes. October 13, 2019. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoudriet/2019/10/13/billionaire-david-walentas-donate-100-million-university-of-virginia/
5. “Walentas Foundation Ltd – 2022 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/455331864/202323199349104267/full
6. “Walentas Foundation Ltd – 2023 Federal Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed June 2, 2025. ​​https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/455331864/202413209349103476/full
7. “Jed Walentas.” RPA. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://rpa.org/assembly/speakers/jed-walentas
8. “David Walentas.” Forbes. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/profile/david-walentas/
9. Jackson, Liz. “Philanthropic Gentrification.” Medium. January 11, 2022. Accessed June 2, 2025.  https://eejackson.medium.com/philanthropic-gentrification-9dba67da4d30
10. “Walentas Foundation Ltd.” ProPublica. Accessed June 2, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/455331864