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Person

Harrison Steans

Birth:

July 3, 1935
Death:

February 26, 2019 (83 years old)
Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Financial Manager and Philanthropist

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Harrison Steans was a financial manager and banker who founded Financial Investments Corporation (FIC) and the Steans Family Foundation, a philanthropic grantmaking organization that donated funds to several Chicago area community-based programs. Steans died on February 26th, 2019 at the age of 83. 1

Steans had three daughters, one of whom is Jennifer Steans. As of 2025, she was president and CEO of FIC as well as the director and former chair of the board for left-of-center consultancy Arabella Advisors. 1 2  3  4  While Steans’s donations in life were largely apolitical, his daughter donated $5,000,000 of in his honor to a left-wing initiative at a medical institute in Chicago in 2023. 5

Early and Mid-Career

Harrison Steans was born on July 3, 1935, and spent his childhood in Lake Bluff and Springfield, Illinois. He attended Princeton University where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1957. 1  After three years in the Navy post-graduation, Steans became administrative assistant to Tom Watson, the CEO of IBM. After three years, he quit to buy a neighborhood bank, which he expanded into a six-bank holding company that he sold in 1987 for $250 million. In 1994, Steans and his daughter Jennifer co-founded Financial Investments Corporation (FIC). 6

Financial Investments Corporation

Harrison Steans formed Financial Investments Corporation in 1967 to buy the Hyde Park Bank and Trust Company. This resulted in numerous other mergers, and the company lost its name before it was revived in 1994 with the help of Harrison’s daughter, Jennifer Steans. In 2007, FIC combined operations with Concentric Equity Partners, a private investment firm, to increase FIC’s focus on investing directly in private companies. 7

Concentric Equity Partners is listed as a beneficial owner of Arabella Advisors Holdings LLC, a private corporation believed to act as a holding company to Arabella Advisors, the left-wing dark money network manager. 8 9  10  Steans’ daughter Jennifer is also listed as the sole beneficial owner of Arabella Advisors Holdings in filings with the District of Columbia. 9

Philanthropy

Steans Family Foundation

In 1987, Harrison Steans founded the Steans Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization intended to provide grants to impoverished communities in the Chicago area, particularly for low-income students. 11 Initially the foundation sponsored a class of sixth graders through the “I Have a Dream” program. 7

Other projects Steans funded and continues to fund through the Steans Family Foundation included North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School, a Steans-supported charter school that sends 80 percent of its graduates to college, and the Steans Music Institute, which Harrison created in honor of his wife, Lois. Sixty young music professionals from around the world compete annually for grants from this institution. 6 1

In 2023, the Steans Family Foundation reported $19,229,441 in total revenue, $31,911,191 in total expenses, and $295,276,982 in total assets. 12

Recognition from Clinton Administration

During the Clinton administration, Clinton’s White House held a Conference on Philanthropy that honored the country’s most influential philanthropists. This conference highlighted Harrison Steans’ work, particularly his commitment to the North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago where Steans gave grants focusing on capacity building, economic development, education and youth development, housing, health and human services, and quality of life. 13

Other Nonprofit and Charitable Work

Harrison Steans helped lead several nonprofit organizations, including as chairman of the Education Committee of the Civic Committee, chairman of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation/Chicago, chairman of the academic affairs committee for the board of trustees at DePaul University, past president and life trustee of Ravinia Festival, life trustee of Highland Park Hospital, trustee of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, trustee of the Chicago Humanities Festival, trustee of Leadership for Quality Education, and trustee for the Ounce of Prevention Fund. 7

Jennifer Steans

See also: Jennifer Steans

Jennifer Steans is Harrison Steans’ daughter. As of 2025, she was president and CEO of Financial Investments Corporation (FIC), a company she co-founded in 1994 with her father. Steans is also a former chair of the board and, as of 2024, a director for Arabella Advisors, which manages a “dark money” network of left-leaning organizations. 3 2  4  14

Steans is also a partner at Concentric Equity Partners, a subsidiary of FIC. Concentric Equity Partners is listed as a beneficial owner of Arabella Advisors Holdings LLC, a private corporation believed to act as a holding company to Arabella Advisors. 8  9  10  Steans is also listed as the sole beneficial owner of Arabella Advisors Holdings in filings with the District of Columbia. 9

Left-Wing Donation History

Although Harrison Steans’s philanthropic efforts were largely apolitical and seemed to prioritize direct assistance to those suffering through poverty and other challenges, in 2023, Jennifer Steans made a $5,000,000 contribution through the Stern Family Foundation to Rush University Medical Center to establish an endowed directorship for the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity, a left-of-center health initiative to promote “racial diversity” in healthcare. The article announcing the donation called the gift the “Legacy of Harrison I. Steans” and the director of the left-leaning medical group will be called “the Harrison I. Steans Director of the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity at Rush University.” 5

Jennifer Steans used her father’s estate to expand her own support for left-of-center politics, as expressed in her personal donation history to political candidates. She has donated more than $500,000 to Democratic Party candidates and Democratic Party state affiliates since the mid-1990s, including grants to presidential candidate Kamala Harris such as $50,000 to the Harris Action Fund and $50,000 to the Harris Victory Fund in 2024. 15

References

  1. “Harrison Irwin Steans, banker and philanthropist, dies at 83.” DePaul Newsline. February 2019. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://resources.depaul.edu/newsline/sections/campus-and-community/Pages/Harrison-Steans-obituary-.aspx
  2. “Arabella Advisors Appoints Himesh Bhise as CEO.” Count On 2 News. Nov 14, 2023. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.counton2.com/business/press-releases/globenewswire/8979348/arabella-advisors-appoints-himesh-bhise-as-ceo/
  3. “Jennifer Steans – Board of Trustees.” DePaul University. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://offices.depaul.edu/secretary/board-of-trustees/Pages/trustee-bio.aspx?dpusearchlistbyid=60967
  4. “Jennifer Steans.” Steans Family Foundation. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://steansfamilyfoundation.org/jennifer-steans/
  5. “Legacy of Harrison I. Steans Lives on Through $5M Gift to Rush to Improve Equity.” RUSH. May 5, 2023. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.rush.edu/news/legacy-harrison-i-steans-lives-through-5m-gift-rush-improve-equity
  6. “Harrison Steans ’57.”Princeton Alumni Weekly. June 2020. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/harrison-steans-57  
  7. “Company Founder.”FIC CEP. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.ficcep.com/company-founder/
  8. “Jennifer W. Steans.” Business Leaders. Market Screeners. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.marketscreener.com/business-leaders/Jennifer-Steans-05FP41-E/biography/
  9. District of Columbia Business Filings. “Arabella Advisors Holdings.” Accessed July 14, 2025. https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/arabella-advisors-holdings-beneficial-owners-03.10.22-e1647028966933-644×808.png
  10. Ludwig, Hayden . “What Is Arabella Advisors Holdings? And What Is It Hiding?” Capital Research Center. March 11, 2022. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://capitalresearch.org/article/what-is-arabella-advisors-holdings-and-what-is-it-hiding/
  12. Steans Family Foundation”- 2023 Federal Form 990.”ProPublica. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/363486843/202403199349105120/full
  13. “White House Conference on Philanthropy, Gifts to the Future – Philanthropic Hero Biography – Harrison Steans.”Clinton White House. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://clintonwhitehouse3.archives.gov/Initiatives/Millennium/Philan/html/bio_steans.html
  14. Green, Emma. “The Massive Progressive Dark-Money Group You’ve Never Heard Of.” The Atlantic. November 2, 2021. Accessed July 12, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/11/arabella-advisors-money-democrats/620553/.
  15. “Individual Contributions, Search ‘Jennifer Steans.’” Federal Election Commission. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=jennifer%20steans
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