Cecily M. Carson is a fashion industry figure and philanthropic donor. She is the president of the Carson Family Charitable Trust ¹ and founded CMC Jewelry Designs, Inc. ² She is a member of several nonprofit boards and has been a political contributor mostly to Democratic political candidates. ^{3 4}

Background

Cecily M. Carson is the president of the Carson Family Charitable Trust, a private grantmaking foundation. ¹ She is the daughter of Russell L. Carson — a private equity advisor, and founding partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe — who founded the family trust. ^{5 6}

The trust focuses on education, poverty, healthcare, and culture. ⁶ The Trust largely funds left-leaning organizations, most notably the Robin Hood Foundation, to which it donated $4.75 million. ⁷

Carson, a native New Yorker, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1995, where she majored in government and minored in film. She also has a certificate in women’s studies. ³

She previously worked at Andrew Edson & Associates, Inc., a corporate and financial public and investor relations firm in New York, for two years. ³

Carson also studied for two years in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Jewelry Design program. From there, she founded a jewelry design business, CMC Jewelry Designs, Inc., in 2002. ^{3 2}

Carson has been employed by her family’s foundation in various capacities since 2000. ²

Boards

Since 2015, Cecily Carson has been a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit associated with the financial industry with a stated goal of alleviating poverty in New York City. ⁸

Carson is a board member for the Fischer House Foundation, which provides housing for military families receiving care at military and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals. ⁴

Cecily Carson has been a board member of the Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. ⁹

Further, Carson has been a trustee of The Museum of Arts and Design, the Excellence Girls and Excellence Boys Charter Schools of Bedford-Stuyvesant; a director of The New York City Charter School Center; a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation; a member of the President’s Leadership Council at Dartmouth College, and the New York Public Library’s Library Council. ³

Political Donations

Most of Carson’s political donations have gone to Democrats, but she has donated some to Republican candidates. ⁴

She contributed $10,000 to the campaigns of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. ⁴

She donated $4,000 to the campaigns of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), since 2021 the Senate majority leader. ⁴ She further contributed $2,000 to the Murphy Victory Committee for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) in 2018 ⁴ and $1,000 to the campaign of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), in 2013. ¹⁰

Carson gave $2,500 to the campaign of then-Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) for the 2012 election ¹¹ and $2,000 to former Rep. Dick Zimmer (R-NJ) in 2000. ⁴

Carson contributed $1,000 to the 2020 Republican presidential primary campaign of Bill Weld, a former Massachusetts governor and Libertarian nominee for Vice President. ⁴

1. “Cecily M. Carson.” The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. Columbia University. December 11, 2021. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/socialenterprise/advisory/carson
2. “Cecily Carson.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecily-carson-b5482a4/
3. “Cecily M. Carson.” The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. December 11, 2021. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/socialenterprise/advisory/carson
4. “Cecily Carson.” Little Sis. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://littlesis.org/person/49152-Cecily_Carson
5. Press Release. “Tamer Center Honors Carson Family for Longtime Social Enterprise Work.” Columbia University. March 24, 2016. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/newsroom/newsn/4106/tamer-center-honors-carson-family-for-longtime-social-enterprise-work
6. “Russel L. Carson.” National September 11 Memorial and Museum. 2019. Accessed July 9, 2019. https://www.911memorial.org/russell-l-carson
7. Carson Fam Charitable Trust, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990), 2017, Part One, Line 25 Attachment.
8. “Cecily Carson.” Bloomberg. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/19036181
9. ^[1] Press Release. “Tamer Center Honors Carson Family for Longtime Social Enterprise Work.” Columbia University. March 24, 2016. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/newsroom/newsn/4106/tamer-center-honors-carson-family-for-longtime-social-enterprise-work
10. Cory Booker Federal Elections Commission. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?13020553582
11. Bob Corker. Federal Elections Commission. Accessed December 11, 2021. https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?13020553582