Francine A. LeFrak
Francine A. LeFrak is a New York City real estate heiress and donor best known for founding the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation and the Same Sky Foundation, two grantmaking institutions which focus on women’s economic mobility, job training, and financial fluency. The daughter of the late New York real estate tycoon Samuel LeFrak of the LeFrak Organization, Francine LeFrak’s substantial grantmaking flows largely to higher-education initiatives and workforce programs, with a focus on programs in Africa. She and her husband, Rik Friedberg, are 2019 signatories of the Giving Pledge. 1 2 3
Background
Francine LeFrak is the daughter of late New York developer Samuel J. LeFrak, who headed the LeFrak organization, which was founded in 1901 by Samuel’s father Harry LeFrak. According to Forbes, the LeFraks “oversee one of the largest real estate empires in New York City and the tri-state area.” In 2015, the LeFrak family was worth $6.6 billion and was on Forbes’s America’s Richest Families list. 4
Francine LeFrak’s biography notes that she ran a theatrical, television, and film company, LeFrak Productions, and “received several Tony, Emmy, and Peabody awards for her successful career on Broadway and as a social issues film producer.” She later became engaged in “humanitarian work through employment and training programs serving HIV+ survivors of the Rwandan genocide and women recently released from prison looking for a second chance. By providing access to training, education, and fluency programs.” 5
Grantmaking
Francine LeFrak founded the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation in 2010. The foundation states that it funds training, education, and financial-fluency programs aimed at women’s “economic security,” including the Women in Tech Scholars program operated with Per Scholas in New York City. According to the foundation’s 2023 tax records, the foundation held $17 million in assets at the time. 6
Grantees of the foundation include Bridge2Rawanda, Facing History and Ourselves, Fashion Institute of Technology Foundation, Grace Institute, LEAP Inc., New Jersey Reentry, Per Scholas, the Kings Trust USA, and the Milken Institute. The largest recipient of the foundation’s grants in 2023 was Barnard College, where at the time LeFrak was a board trustee. Barnard received $1 million from the foundation. 6 7 8
LeFrak also founded the Same Sky Foundation, an initiative that focuses on providing economic opportunities to Rwandan genocide survivors through sales of handmade jewelry, which has expanded to supporting other constituencies, including formerly incarcerated women in New Jersey, through micro-grants and skills initiatives. Its public materials emphasize work, training, and micro-capital rather than direct cash assistance. 9 10 11
In 2019, LeFrak and her husband, Rick Friedberg, joined the Giving Pledge, a public commitment created by Warren Buffett to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes. The couple was part of the 2019 cohort of signatories that included MacKenzie Scott. 3
Barnard College announced the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being in October 2024 to provide physical, mental, and financial well-being programming in a dedicated campus facility that cost $36 million to build, with LeFrak’s foundation as the lead donor. 11 2
Time included LeFrak on its 2025 “TIME100 Philanthropy” list, noting her emphasis on replicating the Barnard well-being model at other colleges and her earlier work with Rwandan women artisans that informed her focus on “dignity of work.” 2