Leah Kaiser is a nonprofit consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of George Kaiser, a billionaire oilman and donor to left-of-center causes and the Democratic Party. Leah sits on the board of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which is her father’s main charitable giving vehicle. The foundation is a donor to numerous left-of-center organizations and numerous organizations in and around the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area. ¹

Kaiser is a relatively minor donor to Democratic Party causes and candidates, only making two FEC-reportable political contributions in recent years. ²

Kaiser is an advocate for the arts in Chicago. She currently sits on the board of the organization Danceworks Chicago, which funds organizations related to dance in the Chicago area. She was previously the organization’s president. ³

Early Life

Leah Kaiser is the daughter of George Kaiser and his first wife. George Kaiser is a billionaire oilman and later donor to numerous left-of-center causes and candidates,. She is one of three children from the first marriage. ⁴

Kaiser attended Harvard University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English. She would later relocate to Chicago. ⁵

From 1992 to 1997 she worked on the development staff at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where as a part of a four-person team she helped conduct a $6 million campaign for a permanent facility, repertoire expansion, and an endowment. ⁶

After the completion of the work at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 1998, she became an independent nonprofit consultant. She works with Chicago-based foundations and nonprofits on things such as reviewing grant requests, researching and developing fundraising strategies, writing grant proposals, capital campaign case statements, and assessing overall operations. ⁷

Danceworks Chicago

In 2015, Kaiser joined the board of Danceworks Chicago. Danceworks Chicago is an organization that supports the promotion of dance in the city of Chicago. The organization has its own dance team and sponsors dancers. ⁸

In 2019, while Kaiser was president of the board, the organization had a budget of $212,572. The organization used the money to train and sponsor dancers. It worked on the individual growth of dancers and choreographers and developed them in the early stages of their career. ⁹

George Kaiser Family Foundation

Leah Kaiser sits on the board of the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation is the main giving vehicle of her father, billionaire oilman and energy investor George Kaiser. ¹⁰

The foundation makes most of its donations to relatively noncontroversial organizations in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area. Among the main recipients of the Kaiser family largesse is the Tulsa Community Foundation, which supports programs and nonprofits within Tulsa, Oklahoma. ¹¹

One of the programs that the foundation has supported is a program to encourage remote workers to move to Tulsa. It offers remote workers $10,000, plus a host of discounts and freebies, to any remote worker who moves to Tulsa for a year. The plan is to encourage these upwardly mobile workers to stay in Tulsa and make it their permanent home. ¹²

The organization also makes donations to left-of-center organizations and causes. In 2018, it made a donation to the New Venture Fund, a left-of-center fiscal sponsorship organization. ¹³

Political Donations

Kaiser, unlike other members of her family, is not a major political donor. Her last FEC-reportable contribution was a $50 contribution of the 2020 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). ¹⁴

1. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
2. “Browse Individual Contributions”. 2022. Federal Election Commission. Accessed February 28. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Leah%20Kaiser.
3. “Leah Kaiser”. 2022. Danceworks Chicago. Accessed February 28. https://www.danceworkschicago.org/company/leah-kaiser/.
4. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
5. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
6. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
7. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
8. “Leah Kaiser”. 2022. Danceworks Chicago. Accessed February 28. https://www.danceworkschicago.org/company/leah-kaiser/.
9. “Danceworks Chicago Form 990”. 2019. Propublica. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260281932/04_2021_prefixes_25-26%2F260281932_202007_990_2021040517888063.
10. George Kaiser Family Foundation Board Of Directors”. 2022. GKFF. Accessed February 28. https://www.gkff.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors/.
11. Freund, John, and David Callahan. 2021. “Future Of Big Philanthropy: 15 Heirs Of Top Mega-Givers To Watch Closely — Inside Philanthropy”. Inside Philanthropy. https://web.archive.org/web/20210630055532/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/9/4/heirs-to-big-philanthropy-15-kids-of-top-mega-givers-to-watch-closely.
12. Freund, John, and David Callahan. 2021. “Future Of Big Philanthropy: 15 Heirs Of Top Mega-Givers To Watch Closely — Inside Philanthropy”. Inside Philanthropy. https://web.archive.org/web/20210630055532/https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/9/4/heirs-to-big-philanthropy-15-kids-of-top-mega-givers-to-watch-closely.
13. “George Kaiser Family Foundation Form 990”. 2019. Propublica. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/731574370/02_2020_prefixes_64-73%2F731574370_201812_990_2020021217138057.
14. “Browse Individual Contributions”. 2022. Federal Election Commission. Accessed February 28. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Leah%20Kaiser.