Wallace Genetic Foundation II

The Wallace Genetic Foundation II seeks to fund projects and organizations that are working on environmental issues such as conservation, agriculture, and pollution. ¹

Founding and History

The Wallace Genetic Foundation was founded in 1959 by former Vice President of the United States and agricultural entrepreneur Henry A. Wallace and his wife Ilo. Wallace’s descendants continued to run the foundation after his death. Upon the death of his daughter, Jean, in 2010, it appears that her children desired to split the foundation’s assets. Her daughter, Joan D. Murray, who was the former President of the Wallace Genetic Foundation, formed another environmental-focused nonprofit, the Farvue Foundation, named after Henry Wallace’s farm. In a process that took several years, the original Wallace Genetic Foundation was dissolved, with one-third of its assets going to the Farvue Foundation. The remaining two-thirds were rolled over into the Wallace Genetic Foundation II, with the original foundation dissolving in 2017. Wallace Genetic Foundation II is headed by Jean’s son, David Douglas. ^{1 3 4 5}

Finances

In 2023 the Wallace Genetic Foundation II reported $542,323 in revenue, of which the entire amount stemmed from dividends and returns on securities. It had $5,080,976 in expenses, of which $130,000 was spent on compensation for officers, executives, and trustees, and $4,535,000 was paid out in grants. The foundation ended the year with a net loss of $4,538,653 and net assets of $86,169,475. ⁶

Projects and Initiatives

The Wallace Genetic Foundation II funds a variety of nonprofits, most of them concerned with the environment, though it also funds a few religious charities and schools. Notably, the foundation has provided grants to the Environmental Defense Fund, a left-of-center environmental activist group; the New Venture Fund, a major funder and incubator for left-of-center nonprofits; and Catholic Relief Services, a major facilitator of migrant resettlement in the United States. ⁷

Leadership

Henry A. Wallace

Henry A. Wallace, along with his wife, Ilo, founded the Wallace Genetic Foundation in 1959. Wallace had a long career in American politics, having worked at various times as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce. He was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Vice President from 1941 through 1945, though he was removed from President Roosevelt’s campaign ticket in 1944 and replaced by future President Harry Truman. Wallace had left-of-center politics and was a major supporter of the New Deal. He was working as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce during the Truman administration when he was fired for making a pro-Soviet speech. He later went on to found the Progressive Party of the United States, though he did not enjoy much political success with it and later left. He would go on to focus on his agricultural business enterprises, which ended up being rather successful, providing the funding that would be used to establish the foundation. ^{8 1}

David Douglas

David Douglas is the president and treasurer of the Wallace Genetic Foundation II and is the grandson of former Vice President Henry Wallace. In addition to his environmental work with the Wallace Genetic Foundation II and other organizations, he has maintained his grandfather’s left-of-center political legacy and signed onto a statement by descendants of New Deal politicians that condemned President Donald Trump as a fascist. ^{9 2}