The Zoom Foundation is a left-of-center family foundation based in Greenwich, Connecticut and established in 2001 by hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel, Jr. and his wife Susan Zadek Mandel. The foundation controls $1.2 billion in assets and contributes most of its disbursements to donor-advised funds directing $58.4 million of $60.1 million in 2023 to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, effectively allowing the foundation to meet its annual disbursement requirements while being able to distribute the funds over time without disclosing the ultimate recipient. ^{1 2}

Mandel was described by Inside Philanthropy as a “black box billionaire.” ³

Background

In 2001, Stephen and Susan Mandel founded the Zoom Foundation (which bears no relation to the videoconferencing platform). Stephen Mandel, Jr. is a hedge fund manager who founded Lone Pine Capital in 1997. Mandel’s net worth was estimated at $2.5 billion in 2024, down from a high of $3.9 billion in 2022 likely due to his accelerated political and charitable giving. Mandel is a prolific donor to Democratic politics donating millions to Democratic leadership PACs each election cycle. He met his wife Susan Zadek Mandel when the two were classmates at Harvard Business School. He later served as chair of the board of trustees at Dartmouth. ⁴ He has sat on the boards of Teach for America and the Environmental Defense Fund. ⁵

Mandel is also a prolific donor to Democratic political committees and candidates. Since 2020 he has made multiple seven-figure donations to Democratic campaign PACs including to the Senate Majority PAC, Future Forward USA, American Bridge, Forward Majority Action, and the Lincoln Project. ⁶

Activity

The Zoom Foundation has drawn criticism for directing virtually all its annual giving to donor-advised funds, directing $58.4 million of $60.1 million in 2023 to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, effectively allowing the foundation to meet its annual disbursement requirements while being able to distribute the funds over time without disclosing the ultimate recipient. ⁷

Stephen Mandel, Jr. was described by Inside Philanthropy as a “black box billionaire” meaning that he directs contributions from the Zoom Foundation to donor-advised funds that receive the vast sum of his giving, circumventing traditional requirements for private foundations to disclose their grantees, as well as allowing the foundation to meet its annual legally required disbursements. ⁸

Inside Philanthropy separately reported that Mandel and his wife Susan granted nearly half a billion dollars to through the Zoom Foundation from 2014 to 2024 with 99.9% going to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund. An investigation from Inside Philanthropy revealed some online acknowledgments from the Zoom Foundation indicating that some funds had been disbursed from the Fidelity donor-advised fund to the Environmental Defense Fund, Teach for America, and Blue Meridian Partners. ⁹

A spokesperson for the Mandel family office stated that the foundation has a “no-press policy and does most of its giving confidentially.” ¹⁰

Other recipients identified include Teach for All, Summer on the Hill, Connecticut education nonprofit ConnCAN, SummerSearch, Waterside School, gap year group Omprakash, and Care.org. ¹¹

The Mandels and Zoom Foundation also focus on environmental funding. In addition to funding the Environmental Defense Fund, the foundation has also appeared to fund the Columbia Law School’s Center for Public Research and Leadership, and funded a Columbia report detailing which U.S. states “are least prepared for climate-change fueled flooding” in 2015. The foundation also participates in the Biodiversity Funders Group. ¹²

The foundation has also supported the Campaign Legal Center. ¹³

1. “Stephen Mandel Jr.” Forbes. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephen-mandel-jr/
2. Kavate, Michael. “Meet the Black Box Billionaires: Are These America’s Most Secretive Megadonors?” Inside Philanthropy. July 10, 2024. Accessed July 27, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024/7/10/meet-the-black-box-billionaires-are-these-americas-most-secretive-mega-donors
3. Kavate, Michael. “Meet the Black Box Billionaires: Are These America’s Most Secretive Megadonors?” Inside Philanthropy. July 10, 2024. Accessed July 27, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024/7/10/meet-the-black-box-billionaires-are-these-americas-most-secretive-mega-donors
4. “‘Visible and Accessible’: Chair Steve Mandel ’78 on Priorities for the Board.” Dartmouth. November 28, 2010. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2010/11/visible-and-accessible-chair-steve-mandel-78-priorities-board
5. “Stephen Mandel Jr.” Forbes. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/profile/stephen-mandel-jr/
6. Donor Lookup: Stephen Mandel.” OpenSecrets. Query Conducted August 1, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Stephen+Mandel&order=desc&sort=A
7. Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). Zoom Foundation. 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61600601/202323179349101377/full
8. Kavate, Michael. “Meet the Black Box Billionaires: Are These America’s Most Secretive Megadonors?” Inside Philanthropy. July 10, 2024. Accessed July 27, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024/7/10/meet-the-black-box-billionaires-are-these-americas-most-secretive-mega-donors
9. Kavate, Michael. “This Hedge Fund Billionaire is a Black Box. Here’s What We Know About His Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. October 13, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/10/13/this-hedge-fund-billionaires-foundation-is-a-black-box-heres-what-we-know-about-his-giving
10. Kavate, Michael. “This Hedge Fund Billionaire is a Black Box. Here’s What We Know About His Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. October 13, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/10/13/this-hedge-fund-billionaires-foundation-is-a-black-box-heres-what-we-know-about-his-giving
11.  Kavate, Michael. “This Hedge Fund Billionaire is a Black Box. Here’s What We Know About His Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. October 13, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/10/13/this-hedge-fund-billionaires-foundation-is-a-black-box-heres-what-we-know-about-his-giving
12. Kavate, Michael. “This Hedge Fund Billionaire is a Black Box. Here’s What We Know About His Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. October 13, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/10/13/this-hedge-fund-billionaires-foundation-is-a-black-box-heres-what-we-know-about-his-giving
13. Kavate, Michael. “This Hedge Fund Billionaire is a Black Box. Here’s What We Know About His Giving.” Inside Philanthropy. October 13, 2022. Accessed August 1, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/10/13/this-hedge-fund-billionaires-foundation-is-a-black-box-heres-what-we-know-about-his-giving